The Mayas

The cultural region of Middle America includes the southern half of Mexico and the northern portion of Central America. The Olmecs were the "mother civilization" of Middle America. The Mayas built their civilization on what had been learned from the Olmecs.

The Mayas were located on the Yucatan Peninsula. They began about 500 B.C. and built more than 100 stone cities. Each city was a city-state with its own ruler and its own government. Tikal was the largest Mayan city. It was located in Guatemala, and was home to more than 50,000 people. The Maya built many monuments. Some were shaped like tall columns and had pictures of Mayan rulers. Other monuments were religious. They built stone temples that were hundreds of feet tall.

The Mayas were divided into social classes. Each Mayan social class was treated with a different amount of respect. The higher the social class, the
more respect the class was given. At the top were the powerful priests. At the bottom were the farmers and slaves. Slaves were considered the property of their owners. Most slaves were people who had been accused of crimes.

Mayan farmers were very successful. In hilly areas they built terraces to make level surfaces for planting. In swampy areas they built raised islands by piling up soil above the water. Mayan farmers knew it was important to move crop fields, so the soil did not become worn out. Corn was one of their most important crops. Corn was used to make corn tortillas.

The Mayas were a very advanced civilization. They had an organized religion, they studied the stars, and they were artists. The Mayas believed in gods of the sun, rain, and other qualities found in nature. Their understanding of the stars helped them to develop several calendars. One Mayan calendar had 365 days like our calendar. The Mayas also made advances in math. They developed a way of counting which included the concept of "0." Their system of writing used individual pictures. Each picture stood for one word.

Central America - Today's Central American countries that were part of the cultural region of Middle America include Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

counting - The Mayas sometimes used symbols called "glyphs" to write numbers. They also had a dot and bar system. A dot stood for one unit. A
bar stood for five units.

pictures - The Mayas were an advanced civilization in Middle America long before the Aztecs. The Mayas developed a writing system using pictographs. Pictographs is a form of writing in which each picture stood for a different word. Reading pictographs meant memorizing thousands of pictures.

social classes - The top social class were the all-powerful priests. Then came the nobles who were people from important families. Below the nobles were the traders and the craftsmen. Craftsmen worked with wood, stone, leather, gold, and clay. Near the bottom of the social class ladder were the farmers. And at the very bottom were the slaves.

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