The Collapse of the Maya Civilization The Maya Civilization was a Mesoamerican complex society. This ancient civilization is known for its fully developed writing system of hieroglyphics, the creation of the Mayan calendar and ball game, as well as its architecture, mathematical and astronomical system. It began in 7000 BCE, and until 2000 BCE; this period was known as the Archaic Period. Then from 1500 BCE to 950 CE, the empire thrived. However, from 950 CE- 1524 CE, recognized as the Post-Classic Period, the Maya Civilization commenced its declined and mysterious disappearance. This decline was the result of several environmental factors. Because of deforestation, ‘slash and burn’ agriculture, drought, and unexpected natural disasters, …show more content…
In slash and burn agriculture, regions of a forest are burned, and then that area is cleared for cultivation of crops. Due to this practice, the soil becomes fertile for several years. However, after those years, the farming land becomes unusable and a new plot of land must be cleared to support the growing Mayan population, while the former land rejuvenates itself, something that can take decades or longer. Due to this, areas where crops can be grown become sparse. Slash and burn agriculture results in deforestation, which is “the clearing or thinning of forests”. As a result, thinning of forests, the Mayan farmers lost the land where they would harvest crops. Therefore, there was a lack of food for the Mayans, as according to David Drew, an archaeologist, “the picture that emerges is one of the environment progressively degraded, of Maya agriculture reaching the very limits of its capacity and being unable to feed populations adequately.” Slash and burn agriculture, along with deforestation, destroyed the Mayan environment. These practices made it so farmers were ultimately unable to have enough cultivated land to provide for the population. Therefore, this led to more environmental issues, such as drought. Deforestation and slash and burn agriculture are two causes for the collapse of the Mayan …show more content…
The climate change caused by deforestation created less rainfall consequently, and the rainfall was very unstable. The amount of rain would vary greatly from year to year. This instability of rain made it difficult to have enough water for drinking and farming purposes. Repercussions of this instability included a smaller harvest. If all farmers had a small harvest, the small amount of crops would be insufficient for the Mayan people to live off of. BBC has stated that, “Climate records show that rainfall diminished dramatically for the best part of a century, between around AD 1020 and 1100.” The continuous lack of water led to more failed crops, which in turn led to less food for the ever growing population. Thus the people had begun to run out of food and water, two necessities for life. This would cause increased tensions among the people as well. Drought is a reason why the Mayan civilization broke down, as it resulted in less water and food for the
The Mayans did not grew up with technology, they grew by using their instincts. The way Mayan’s grew their crops were all done by their hands. The Mayan people did not use any wildlife such as an ox, bull, nor caribou. The work they have done was purely all muscles. Not only was the Mayan civilization was not polluted, but their population was not massive as well. They had a decent amount of people. They had to balance out their water and food consumption because the weather was bipolar. The weather would be hot for four months and it would rain for six to eight months. The people had to figure out how to save enough water during the hot season and how to preserve their crop during the rainy season. The Mayans somehow knew about the environment more than the people
The Mayan empire was doing well until they started burning down trees. The reason why they fell was not because of other empires, but technically on themselves. In the article “Why Did the Mayan Civilization Collapse? A New Study Points to Deforestation and Climate Change” by Joseph Stromberg has many points on how they fell because of this. In the article it states that, “As a result, the rapid deforestation exacerbated an already severe drought—in the simulation, deforestation reduced precipitation by five to 15 percent and was responsible for 60 percent of the total drying that occurred over the course of a century as the Mayan civilization collapsed” (Stromberg). As the Mayan’s kept burning down the trees the Mayan empire started to get lower and lower. When the precipitation went down, that wasn’t what made the Mayan empire fall
Popular believe we want to believe that the Mayan culture collapsed because of disintegration of the political structure. Actual reasons of the collapse were much more complex than a breakdown of the political hierarchy, contrary to this belief evidence suggests a disorganization of system structures such as agriculture. Variables that caused the Mayan collapse started with the late classic Maya and their issues with reproduction and raising children due to a series of nutritional problems which cause the burden of disease. These depopulation factors coupled with the decrease of full production because of a lack of labor required to maintain the agricultural ecosystems which cause erosion of the systems economic base. The insight of this article suggests that the collapse of the Mayan civilization was caused primarily to environmental instability of their ecosystem. The author is evidence in this article allows the conclusion to be drawn that the Mayans religion was not the cause to the collapse of their civilization, but rather the inability to sustain population growth and ecosystem erosion lead to their
Some of the direct effects of the droughts were that many of the farmers’ crops were damaged by deficient rainfall, high temperatures, and high winds, as well as insect infestations and dust storms that accompanied these conditions. What essentially happened was that the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” The constant dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The effects of the drought happened so rapidly and progressively over time that there was very little preparation and planning the farmers could do before having to abandon their homes.
During what is referred to as the historic time period there was not enough water to support the agriculture, this caused many people to move to
The low land setting of the Maya Civilization was varied, depended upon a rain cycle, not always reliable. The land mass occupies a significant part of modern Mexico, comprising of the eastern parts, spreading to all northwestern high kinds. The weather varied due to?
Mayan architectural achievements were remarkable, given the difficulties brought on by fragile soil, dense forest, and a harsh tropical climate. During the Classic period (250-900 A.D.), the largest Mayan cities had populations in excess of 50,000 people. These high populations required them to practice more intensive agriculture, instead of the typical slash-and-burn.
During this time period, it is the dry season, in which it is very hot and uncomfortable for the people. When the practice this slash and burn technique, the sky becomes gray and smoky, making the weather even more unbearable. Than in late May the rains come and clear the gloomy atmosphere. The climate of the Highlands greatly contrasted with that of the Lowlands as it was much cooler and drier. In regard to trade, both the Highlands and Lowlands were important to the Mayan civilization.
The example of societal collapse in which I will be making reference to throughout this essay is the Maya civilization. The Maya civilization is, “probably the best known of all early American civilizations.” (Fagan, 1995) It was at its strongest point between AD 300 AND 900. Around AD 900 was the time of its collapse. This civilization was developed in a densely, tropical forest on either highlands or lowlands. Today to visit a Mayan site, people would go to the modern Mexican state, capital city of Merida. This site was once home to the “New World's most advanced Native American civilization before European arrival.” (Diamond, 2009) Over the years there has been many predictions on what had caused the Maya civilization to collapse. At the moment the most recent cause that geographers and scientists have come up with is that climate change may have had a major impact on this collapse. It is said that the rainfall received during the creation of the civilization was a key factor in the continuity of life for the Mayans. This and the addition of societal factors such as religious beliefs, ethnicity and education all had an affect on their way of life, an effect on their societal well-being. Art and architecture that was formed by the Mayans is the foundation for the archaeologists work today. They look at these features and the ruins of the buildings created to depict the kind of lifestyle they lived. Looking at the art and architecture of a specific civilization or community of the past is just one way that can help to inform future adaptations. Another way in which the Europeans received knowledge on the collapse was that they sent out geographers and researchers not long after the collapse to gather as much data and information ...
The climate in the environment is unexpected and affects agriculture. Recently In Florida “Late January torrential rains decimated crops and prevented growers from entering fields throughout south Florida, damaging winter and spring plantings of sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and other vegetables” (Ohlemeier). These things make food prices increase and then there becomes a food shortage. These crops are depended on, because in the Midwest and other regions they experience cold winters that wipe out half of the year for crop growing potential. Back in the Mayan Empire they could have succeeded for a longer period of time if they would have taken care of the environment. The Mayans may have been able to figure out how to grow successful crops, but they didn’t know how to keep the soil fertile. They used this method for clearing crops and trees “However, after two or three years, the soil and ash was depleted and must be allowed to lie fallow for five to 15 years. The Maya would then move on to a new area and repeat the process” (Maya Agricultural Methods). They were stable for a couple of years and then were nomads running from place to place to grow their crops. The environment can throw curve balls and there are so many things that can happen that can speed up the process of an empire falling at a fast
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.
The Mayan civilization was located in southeastern Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the first American civilizations, it lasted from about 1000 B.C.-1542 A.D. Their civilization flourished during the Sixth Century. They built many temples and over forty cities. The Mayan population consisted of almost fifteen million people who were all living in one of the many cities. The Mayan people were extremely religious and believed in multiple gods which meant they were polytheistic. Their most commonly worshiped god was the Maize God, or god of corn, as corn was the most grown and most relied on crop. The Mayans grew all of their own food so they needed to have useful farming methods. The one they used most often was the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down trees and burning them to make the soil fertil which was necessary to grow crops. This method worked for many years, but soon started to backfire. The Mayans were ahead of their time, but that did not prevent their mysterious decline which occurred between the years 800 A.D.-900 A.D. Although it is not known exactly why the powerful empire fell, but there are various probable theories. The mysterious decline of the Mayans may have been caused by
The European and Mayan civilizations had inverse experiences during the Classical era, but they were similar in some aspects. While the Mayans were basking in their glorious success as a civilization, the Europeans stood in their shadow. However, after the Renaissance Era, it was as if the Mayans stood in the shadow of the European revival. These two societies have a definite inverse relationship, in that while one was succeeding, the other was squandering. For example, the forward thinking of the Mayans and their knowledge of arithmetic and science was overshadowed by the revolutionary ideas created by European scientists, the fact that the Mayans had created a complex, and accurate calendar wasn’t nearly as celebrated as a European man who got hit by an apple.
Maya civilization was based mainly on agriculture and religion. Maya every day life revolved around an innumerable number of earth Gods. The most important God was chief, ruler of all Gods. The Mayans prayed to these God’s particularly about their crops. For example, they prayed to the Rain God to nourish their crops. They practiced their religion during ceremonies conducted by priests. They also practiced confession and even fasted before important ceremonies (Gann and Thompson 1931 118-138). The Mayans also b...
The transformation between the simple hunter-gathers society and the complex Mayan state occurred from the Pre-Olmec Period between 1200 and 400 BC to the Late Classic Maya society between AD 700 and 800.The Pre-Olmec Period signified pre-complex society due to the structure of egalitarianism and diversity in cultures, this is significantly different to the Maya society that witness not only the upheave of literature, counting system, religious ideology and political hierarchy. What is significant about this era is these innovations not only created social classes and allowed high upkeep for large population densities, they were able to unify the geopolitical sphere of cities under the same language and belief system through accepted iconography in art repre...