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Why is the Maya civilization significant to our understanding of Latin America?

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Why is the Maya civilization significant to our understanding of Latin America?

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Because of its complex astronomical, political, mathematical, and scientific achievements. It makes the Mayan Civilization the most researched and studied ancient culture in all of Latin America. The Maya civilization were one of the greatest civilizations in history and the empire thrived for a very long time.

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The earliest Maya settlements date around 1800 B.C. The Classic period of the Maya began around 250 A.D and was the golden age of the Maya empire, and by 900 A.D The southern lowlands were abandoned and the Maya civilization in the region collapsed.

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The Maya civilization existed in the Yucatan Peninsula, northern Belize, southern Mexico, modern day Guatemala, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador.

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What happened to the Maya?/What led to its collapse. 

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What happened to the Maya?/What led to its collapse. 

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There not exactly sure what happened but heres what I found while researching. In the 9th century lots of Mayan city sates had a sudden collapse in population and this could have been due to environmental decline, meaning that the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to where they couldn't support a large population but others believe that it was likely that a very long and intense period of drought could have wiped the Maya civilization.

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The Maya were known for there very high level of artistic achievement in there architecture and sculpture. They also were skilled in calendar making and there calendars were very accurate. They were also very skilled in mathematics and had a mastery of the science of astronomy! One of the most amazing thing about the Maya civilization was there ability to build a great empire in the tropical rainforest climate.

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Who were the people that made up this civilization?

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Who were the people that made up this civilization?

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The Maya were Mesoamerican that lived in southern Mexico, Northern Belize and Guatemala. The Maya had one of the greatest civilizations of the western hemisphere and practiced a form of hieroglyphic writing, agriculture, mathematics and built great stone buildings. I learned that the Mayan social stucture was class based, meaning the highest class were supreme rulers or emperors.