The Maya

1. AP World History Mr. Fenlon NHSS The Maya

2. Lands of the Maya

3. Political Characteristics • Never form a unified political system • Do create a unified culture • Larger city-states dominated smaller city-states • Large city-states built elaborate commercial and religious centers • Chichen-Itza

4. El Castillo at Chichen Itza

5. El Castillo

6. Cultivated maize, cotton, and cacao • Increased agricultural production by draining swamps, terraced fields, and irrigation ditches • Led to environmental degradation • Hereditary nobility controlled most of the land • Maya merchants came from ruling class • Traded primarily in luxury products Maya Economy

7. Maya Society • Elite women participated in bloodletting rituals and other ceremonies • Women rarely held any political power • Common women played a role in agriculture and textile production • Coercive labor used to build large palaces and temples

9. Polytheistic • Cosmos consisted of three layers: the heavens, the human world, and the underworld • Priests could communicate with residents of both supernatural worlds • Mayan developments: calendar, writing system, and mathematics • Used to determine religious holidays Maya Religion

10. Maya sacrifice • Had to please the gods via sacrifice • Piercing of bodies with needle • Human Sacrifice • Sacrificed prisoners of war, slaves, and children

14. Understood movement of heavenly bodies • Invented the concept of zero • Calculated the length of a solar year • Off by 17 seconds • Created an elaborate calendar • Two calendars: solar and ritual • Glyphic writing system Maya Accomplishments

15. Maya Writing

16. Maya city-states were abandoned or destroyed between 800-900 CE • Causes for decline include: • The disruption of trade after the decline of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico • Environmental degradation caused by overpopulation • Epidemic disease Maya Decline