Essays on Mayan Civilization

Even if the fall takes centuries the collapse of society is inevitable. Throughout history there have been numerous societies that have collapsed. Rome for example collapsed because of a number of reasons such as expansion, greed, religion, barbaric tribes, politics. The collapse of the slave system lack of conquest. Less conquest eventually meant fewer cheap slaves, which in turn meant fewer human resources to keep the wheels of industry, agriculture and infrastructure turning. Meanwhile, Rome's rulers lessened the value of the currency through oppressive taxation and inflation. The remains of these civilization are on every continent. Abandoned relics, broken ...

Introduction

Mayan civilization existed for more than three thousand years and for 1200 years their civilization dominated the Central American region. The Mayan civilization reached their crest around 900 A.D. as Maya cities were teemed with around 2,000 Mayans living per square mile. Even in the rural Mayan areas, their population used to be between 200-400 people for every square mile. Therefore, it seemed mysterious when the whole civilization disappeared completely soon after their peak. The disappearance of the Mayan civilization has been considered as one of the biggest demographic disasters of human history as a vibrant society went ...

Theoretical Explanations of Two Prominent Pre-Industrial Civilizations: The Mayan Civilization and the Roman Empire from the Lens of Joseph Tainter and Arnold Toynbee

Introduction

Civilizations have characterized much of human history and have laid the groundwork for several innovations on human organization. As humans have learned to congregate in societies, they have developed their respective ways of living based on their understanding on the natural and social environment enveloping them within a given geographical area. Human organization inevitably comes into play, in which positions of authority are recognized and tasked to maintain and improve the political, economic and religious affairs of ...

The Downfall of the Mayan Civilization: Attempting to solve a riddle

Introduction Human history has been haunted with one particular question: Why did the Mayan civilization, one of the most powerful empires in the world, with a population of more than 190 million individuals, mysteriously disappear between the 8th and 9th centuries? Though the descendants of the Mayans can still be found across the Central American region, a significant number of urban region in the Yucatan region were transformed from vibrant and strong cities to deserted rubble-strewn areas over a period of 100 years. Experts and ordinary individuals have offered numerous postulates for the down spiral that buffeted the once mighty empire. ...

Mystery of the Mayan people

Introduction Among the most indigenous societies of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) was the Mayan people. It is believed that the earliest Mayan settlement took place around 1800bc. They settled within the expansive Central American geographical blocks but in three separate areas. These included the Southern lowlands in Pete’s district of northern Guatemala, Western Honduras and the northern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula (Demarest, 2002). The Maya were majorly agriculturist who grew crops such as beans, squash, maize and cassava. In addition to farming, they displayed intriguing cultural traits. The Mayans are famous for their unique works ...

Part, one of these essays the focus of my learning discusses the Basketmaker II peoples living in the northern Southwestern United States in what is now the Arizona and Utah connecting borders. In the lecture series presented, number one of this online course, the information discussed how this band of people living around 600 B.C.E. or 2600 years ago came to the area through migration north from Mexico. Their lives as outlined in the lecture, the PDF about Unit 9 of the course, as well as the unit chapter on “The Story of Maize” explained how living in the ...

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Genocide in Guatemala: An Outline Guatemala is mostly hilly country in Central America. It was erstwhile the heart of the well-known Mayan civilization, which was prevalent till the 10th century AD. When Spanish voyagers invaded Maya in the 16th century, the indigenous Mayans were enslaved in their own native soil. They are even now the most underprivileged majority of the Guatemala's population. Such kinds of inequalities and cruelties of Mayan people led to bitter Civil war in Guatemala which resulted in the mass genocide of this community. In ...

The Mayan Apocalypse: Assessing the Mystery

The Maya are an ancient civilization that have long captured the attention of popular media. Like the ancient Egyptians, the mysteries surrounding their rites, rituals, and everyday life are compelling. Both civilizations built pyramids in inhospitable places, created writing systems, and were ahead of their times in the realms of art, mathematics, linguistics, trade, and so on. The Maya have been particularly heavily featured in the media recently, as the end of the Mayan calendar was slated to be in December of 2012, causing some speculation about the end of the world. But the interest in the Maya is ...

Apocalypto, 2006 is a movie directed by Mel Gibson. It is set during the age of the Mayan civilization in Mexico. It tells of the time when the Mayan civilization was declining and the rulers recommend offering human sacrifices and building of more temples to appease their gods and restore the civilization to prosperity.

Apocalypto outlines the tale Jaguar Paw, whose village is attacked by Mayans seeking slaves for human sacrifice. He hides his son and pregnant wife in a deep hole and is unfortunately captured. He is spared from sacrifice by an eclipse and has to struggle to survive. He ...