![]() According to Mayan belief, the supernatural affected daily life, and a good ruler recognized this. Not only was the Mayan king the chief political authority but also he was considered semidivine, mediating between the physical world and the supernatural. The Mayan city-states were ruled by monarchies. By approximately 1100 at least 90 percent of the Mayan population was lost and the once-vibrant cities were reduced to small villages. By 800 these factors led to a precipitous demographic decline and the collapse of dynasties. Historians cannot pinpoint the exact cause of the decline of the Mayan civilization, but it was likely attributable to a combination of foreign invasions, the exhaustion of agricultural systems, and the fall of Teotihuacán, which would have disrupted trade and communication routes. These structures recorded the birth, genealogy, titles, alliances, and achievements of the dynasties and featured elaborate carvings intended to glorify the rulers.īeginning in approximately 600, the rapid urban growth of the previous centuries began to take its toll: The expanding population could only feed itself by degrading overworked farmlands, resulting in food shortages in the cities and lasting environmental damage, including deforestation and soil erosion. The dates also figured prominently on the large stone monuments constructed by the Mayans called stelae. Mayan rulers used these dates to place themselves within the Great Cycle (periods of thousands of years) and within their ancestral lineage. In particular, they developed a complex calendar system that dated events in terms of the time elapsed since a zero point in the past (the fourth millennium BC), known as the Long Count. The Mayans were renowned for their accomplishments in mathematics and astronomy. The most successful kings were those who controlled trade routes, particularly to the important city of Teotihuacán (in modern-day Mexico). There is evidence that a few large states may have dominated the region, and one theory suggests that a system of overkingship was present in the Mayan regions, whereby the local kings of smaller states were beholden to the ruler of a larger, more powerful neighbor. However, historians and archaeologists debate whether the Mayans had some sort of regional power structure. At its peak, the Mayan civilization comprised at least forty cities the most important were Bonampek, Calakmul, Copán, Dos Pilas, Palenque, Río Bec, Tikal, and Uaxactún.Įven though they shared a common culture, the city-states remained autonomous, each having its own ruling dynasty at no time in Mayan history was there any unified political structure or single ruler. ![]() The Mayan cities did not define themselves so much in terms of territorial borders but more as hubs that were networked-both politically and economically-to one another. Cities were formed and became the political, cultural, and social focal points of the civilization.īy AD 250 Mayan civilization was organized into distinct city-states, not unlike those of the ancient Greeks. At the same time, systems of social and political organization began to develop, with the first dynasties established around 100 BC. ![]() As Mayan agriculture became more sophisticated and trade networks expanded, communities flourished and populations grew. The preclassic period saw the establishment of agricultural settlements (as early as 1500 BC), the development of trade networks among regions, and the emergence of an identifiable Mayan culture. Archaeologists divide the history of the Mayan civilization into three periods: the preclassic (2000 BC–AD 250), the classic (250–900), and the postclassic (900–1500). The Mayans are described as a Mesoamerican civilization-that is, they existed before the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America in the sixteenth century. ![]() The Mayans were an indigenous people who occupied the areas of present-day southern Mexico (the Yucatán peninsula and the state of Chiapas), Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras and El Salvador. The king’s chief duties were religious and military. The king served as both the chief political authority and a semidivine figure. The Mayan civilization was organized as a network of city-states, with each state being ruled by a hereditary monarchy.
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