Latin America Unit Lecture 1

1. The
Maya

2. Chichen Itza
- approx. 80 feet high

4. Mayan Cities
The Mayans lived in the dense,
lowland rain forests of Central
America
Only major ancient civilization to
live in dense jungle
From 300 A.D. to 900 A.D. the
Mayans reached their peak
Ruled under a government of city-
states

5. Mayan Government
There was no single unified
empire, only multiple city-
states
Bulk of population was
urbanized (lived in cities)
Mayan cities all shared a
common language and culture
and thus would trade together

6. Mayan Farming
Mayans used a complex system of farming
A system of raised land platforms caught
rain water.
Then used gravity to redirect the water
and trap nutrients
Corn or maize was their main crop (65% of
diet)
Corn is world’s first genetically
altered plant

7. • Mayans built terraces to trap silt as it flowed down river
–Increased agricultural yields (maize, cotton, cacao)
• Population growth due to agricultural strength leads to growth of Mayan cities or
increased urbanization.

8. Mayan Religion
Believed in multiple gods
(polytheistic) that controlled
the forces of nature.
Priests preformed the rituals
Pyramids were the site of
religious worship and sacrifice
People were killed in the
thousands during ceremonies
Spanish
told of
80,000
killed in 4
days

9. Mayan Achievements
•Mayans were the most advanced
astronomers of the ancient world
•Created the most accurate
calendar of the ancient world
–365.242 days
–17 seconds shorter than the figure
reached by modern astronomers
Mayan priests also developed advanced
mathematics, including the number zero
and the symbol to represent it.
And of course...the Mayan Architecture
Examples: Tikal, Chichen Itza

10. Mayan Achievements

11. Mayan Writing •Codices
–Mayans recorded all of their knowledge
in books made of tree bark paper or
animal skins
–stored these in massive libraries
•All but 4 were burned by the
Spaniards making Mayan history
relatively unknown

12. 26
Mayan game of pok-a-tok
• Objective: to score points by
propelling a rubber ball through a
hoop without using your hands and
feet
• Two teams
• Goal is to keep ball in play without
using hands and feet
• If ball goes through hoop game ends
• Losing team is killed/sacrificed
• Extremely popular
• Played for several reasons
–Sport
–Politics
–sacrifice

14. 29

15. Mayan Predictions
Mayan calendar ends
12/21/2012
Cosmic alignment between
the Sun and Earth and Milky
Way Galaxy (polar re-
alignment)
Nostradamus predicts end of
world!

16. Fin