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Hundreds, even thousands, of years ago, before
Europeans came to explore and conquer, the
Maya ruled in Mesoamerica.
One of the most powerful civilizations ever
to exist in what is now Central America, the
Maya created huge stone temples and pyramids,
elaborate artwork, and a complex system of
heiroglyphics that puzzled academics for centuries.
Despite these achievements, the Maya never
unified and formed an empire under a single
leader: instead, many small city-states, each
ruled by its own king, shared a common culture
to make up the Maya civilization.
The Maya people worshiped nature gods - gods
of the sun, the moon, rain, and corn.
According to the Popol Vuh, a book that contains
the legends of the Maya, the gods began by
creating the earth and the sky.
Next they made the animals, the birds and
the flying creatures.
There was just one problem: the animals could
not speak to worship the gods.
So, the gods decided to make humans.
The first humans were made out of mud, but
they crumbled back into dirt.
The gods tried a second time, carving humans
out of wood.
The wooden people were strong, but they did
not worship the gods, and so the gods destroyed
them with a flood.
Finally the gods tried a third time, and made
humans out of white and yellow corn.
The precious corn was the material that finally
produced real humans who would worship the
gods.
The Maya civilization developed in the thick
jungles of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, spreading
into what is now Guatemala, Belize, western
Honduras, and El Salvador.
Four thousand years ago, around 2000 BC, the
Maya began to farm, cultivating corn, beans,
squash, and chili peppers.
They would have hunted deer, turkeys, rabbits,
monkeys, and iguana.
The Maya were also one of the first people
learn to use cocoa beans.
The cocoa beans were made into a paste and
mixed with water, cornmeal, honey, and chile
peppers to make a spicy, frothy drink for
the Maya kings and priests.
Cocoa beans were so valuable that they were
often used as a form of money.
Over time, these farms developed into permanent
settlements - towns, and villages.
By 750 BC these towns developed into bigger,
more sophisticated cities.
Some of their cities may have been home to
more than 100,000 people.
Most people lived in huts made out of poles and
vines and plastered with mud, but the ruling
class lived in huge stone palaces.
Maya cities were the center of their culture.
As their cities grew, the Maya built elaborate
stepped stone pyramids, paved roads and raised
causeways, wide plazas with tall stone monuments,
and altars for religious sacrifices.
Another common feature of Maya cities were
large stone courts that could be used to play
a sport known simply as 'the ballgame.'
The Maya ballgame was central to their culture
and their cities, and was a symbol of their
wealth and power.
The stone courts had high sides where people
could sit and watch as two teams competed
for control of a heavy ball made of rubber.
Players were not allowed to move the ball
with their hands or feet, instead hitting
it with their hips, elbows, and knees to keep
it in the air.
The players tried to get the ball through
a small stone hoop, high up on a wall of the
court.
Getting the ball through the hoop ended the
game, but it was so difficult to do that the
games could go on for weeks.
The ballgame was more than just a sport.
It symbolized a battle between the Maya gods
in the heavens, and the rulers of Xibalba,
the underworld.
The winning team would represent the Hero
Twins of Maya legend, and the losers were
sometimes sacrificed to the gods.
Sacrifice was important in Maya culture.
An offering of blood was seen as food or nourishment
for the gods.
Sometimes the Maya would cut themselves and
offer their blood to the gods.
Other times they would sacrifice animals.
Human sacrifice was usually limited to important
events, like the dedication of a new temple
or a new king, or times of trouble, like famine,
drought, or war.
War was frequent in the lands of the Maya.
They were not unified under a single ruler.
Instead, each city and its surrounding land
was ruled by its own king, or 'holy lord,'
who claimed to be related to the gods and
communicate with them for their people.
These small kings fought each other for resources,
for territory, and for power.
It was common for warriors to make small raids
into their neighbor's territory, taking captives
and looting their riches.
Prisoners were sometimes tortured and forced
to play the ballgame, after which they would
be sacrificed.
Sometimes larger battles resulted in a strong
city conquering or destroying a weaker one.
The Maya were proud of their battles.
Warrior kings had their victories recorded
on stone monuments, which endure to this day.
Between the frequent warring and human sacrifice,
you might think that the Maya were a violent
and warlike people, but they were also scholars
and astronomers, who made many advances in
mathematics, writing, and art.
The Maya developed a complete system of numbers
based on the number 20, nearly 1,000 years
before the development of the Arabic number
system that we use today.
They also discovered the concept of zero,
one of only a few cultures in history to invent
it independently.
They used their number system to create one
of the most accurate calendar systems ever
made, one which would not be rivaled for a
thousand years.
They made great advancements in astronomy,
observing the skies as closely as possible
without a telescope.
With these, they were able to track the motions
of the sun, the moon, and the planets very
accurately, and correctly predict their motions
even thousands of years in the future.
Around 300 BC, the Maya began to write.
It was the only true writing system ever to
be developed in the Americas.
Instead of 26 letters, like the English alphabet,
the Maya used more than 800 different heiroglyphs.
Some of the heiroglyphs represented words,
while others represented syllables that could
be combined to spell out words and write sentences.
The Maya made paper books from the inner bark
of trees that folded up like an accordian.
A book of this kind is called a codex.
In the 16th century, all but a handful of
the Maya codices were burned by Spanish priests
and conquistadors.
Fortunately, the Maya left written records
many other places, carved in stone in temples,
sculptures, and on monuments, which lets us
piece together some of their history.
The Maya have been called by some the greatest
artists in Mesoamerica.
Although they had no metal tools, they were
expert carvers, creating elaborate objects
out of bone, flint, and jade.
They carved the stone of their buildings - the
walls, the doorways, and the stairs.
They carved their sacrificial altars and the
markers of the ball courts.
Most of all, they carved monuments to their
kings and their warriors, recording victories
and important events for their history.
The Maya were also skilled in ceramics, making
pottery of many different shapes and sizes.
Cups, bowls, plates, and vases were often
elaborately decorated with paintings or carvings,
sometimes even with heiroglyphic writing.
The Maya also made detailed and realistic
figurines in the shape of people and animals.
Although few examples survived the tropical
climate of the Maya homeland, they also made
beautiful paintings and murals.
Some of the brightest and most vivid murals
remaining used a special color called Maya
blue.
This bright blue color was very strong, and did
not fade as cities were overtaken by jungle.
After the fall of Maya civilization, the secret
to making this color was lost, puzzling chemists
and artists alike for hundreds of years.
At the height of their culture, Maya population
may have topped 5 million people, but around
900 AD, their civilization began to decline.
It did not fall all at once - because it was
never an empire with a centralized government,
the fall was slow and gradual.
One by one, cities fell into chaos and were
abandoned to be reclaimed by the jungle, but
no one is really sure why.
Perhaps the population grew too large for
the land to produce enough food for everyone
to eat.
Maybe constant wars between city-states destroyed
trade routes and alliances.
Even a long drought could have caused people
to abandon their cities.
By the time the Spanish arrived in the 1500s,
most Maya were living in small farming villages,
their ancient stone cities forgotten and lost
beneath a layer of living jungle.
A few cities were still inhabited, but they
were not used ceremonially the way they had
been centuries earlier.
The Maya were one of the most enduring and
longest-lasting civilizations in the history
of the world.
Many people have wondered, where did they
go?
The truth is, the Maya are not gone.
Millions of Maya still live in their ancestral
homeland in the Yucatan, speaking Mayan languages
and practicing the traditions of their people.
As for the ancient Maya, we are still learning
about them.
Many Maya structures are hidden in the jungles
of the Yucatan, overgrown and just waiting
for explorers and archaeologists to find them.
Pyramids and cities, as well as the artifacts
and treasures inside them, are constantly
being discovered.
As they are, we add more pieces to the puzzle
and improve our understanding of the Maya,
the ancient builders of Mesoamerica.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the Maya
today.
Goodbye till next time!
