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https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/maya-history/important-people-ancient-maya-civilization/

https://mayansandtikal.com/mayan-people/mayan-queens/#Lady-Six-Sky

https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Maya_Civilization/

https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/aztec-and-maya-law/maya-social-structure#:~:text=Maya%20society%20was%20rigidly%20divided,on%20through%20elite%20family%20lineages.

https://sites.google.com/site/ancientmayancivilization/ancient-mayan-economics
https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwest/mayan/agriculture.htm#:~:text=The%20Mayans%20developed%20a%20hierarchical,in%20religion%2C%20power%20and%20prestige.
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/mayan-scientific-achievements
https://www.worldhistory.org/Maya_Religion/
https://www.historyonthenet.com/distinctive-features-of-the-maya-culture

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This is the Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar consisted of 20 day months and they had two calendar years. One was 260 days and the other was 365 days; the two calendars coincided every 52 years. The Mayan calendar is one of the biggest accomplishments that we look at today because of its accuracy. It is important today because the calculations that were done by the Mayan priests were 10,000th of a day more exact than the standard calendar the world current uses.

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How did the Mayan cities communicate and what did they exchange?

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How did the Mayan cities communicate and what did they exchange?

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The Mayans used many different forms of communication. The Mayans had a spoken language, but because they were spread out into many different cities, there were different languages that were spoken between the Mayan society. When two cities who spoke different languages came into contact, they had a lot of trouble trying to communicate. The Mayans created a writing system that was largely based on symbols, this was used for them to tell stories. They had over 800 symbols, this caused multiple symbols to mean the same letter. Mayans would really only communicate with other cities when they traveled and came across them. When this did happen, and they could effectively communicate, many cities would form allies with one-another and then these cities would help each other in times of war. Trade was a big part of Mayan society, trade happened between separate cities and within their own. After items were traded they would either be used personally or used to buy and trade for something else. The most common items for trade were crops, salt, cloth, honey, fruit, and animals.

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Map of Mayan Land Compared to Surrounding Civilizations

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Map of Mayan Land Compared to Surrounding Civilizations

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The Mayans had a hierarchical community. The order has Nobles at the top, then commoners and serfs, and at the bottom were slaves. The nobles had elite family lineages; this group normally consisted of rulers, government officials, high priests, and military leaders. The commoner group were normally farmers, laborers, servants, artisans, merchants, and people who served in the military. This group of people were not allowed to wear what was considered noble clothing and they could not purchase luxurious items. The third groups was serfs, these were the people who worked on the lands that belonged to rulers or local town leaders. The last social group was slaves; people became slaves for many different reasons. You could become a slave as punishment for certain crimes or failing to pay back debt, prisoners from war who were not sacrificed, unwanted orphan children, or people would sell themselves or family members into slavery. Slavery status was not passed on to children. If a man got married to a woman or was a slave, or a woman married a man who was a slave, then they would now be that owner's slave as well. Nobles and commoners were both allowed to own slaves but serfs could not.

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Economics was largely based on food and agriculture for the Mayans. Farming was the main labor source and it mainly consisted of male workers; these workers got paid with portions of crop, cloth, honey, salt, fruit, and domestic animals. They then used this pay to buy and trade with others for other goods. The Mayans relied on trading instead of money.

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The Mayans had a hierarchical government which was ruled by kings and priests. The Mayans lived separately in independent city-states of rural communities and large urban ceremonial centers. There was no official standing government even though war was a big part of the Mayan's society.

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The Mayans made a lot of development in the science of astronomy. They believed that the cosmos influenced their daily life. They were able to predict solar eclipses and used astronomy to develop two calendars. The Mayans were very accurate with calendars they created. Their calendars were of a 260 day sacred year and a 365 day secular year. The Mayans also had elaborate structures; they created pyramids, temples, palaces, and observatories. They built all of these structures without metal tools. One famous structure is Chichen Itza, which is believed to have been a religious structure for the Mayans.

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One of the main religious texts of the Mayan society is called the Popol Vuh; it contains text about human creation, prophecies, and tritonal myths and history. The Mayans believed that the Gods have created three creatures to this day. The first were mud people, they were destroyed because they were immortal, unproductive, it is said they "spoke but had no mind." The second creatures were men built from wood and women built from reeds; these people were destroyed because they were immortal as well and they were productive but did not honor the Gods. The third creatures are what are thought to be modern humans. They were said to be built from white and yellow maize dough and blood from the Gods, these people were mortal and at first considered too wise, but after the Gods fogged their memory they were kept. The Gods of Creation was called Itzam Na and Ix Chebel Yax. The God called Huracan is possibly another god of creation and is also referred as the Heart of Heaven, Heart of Sky, or Heart of Earth. The Mayans believe in different realms in the afterlife; the Upper World, which has 13 levels, the Middle World, which has one level, and the Under World which has 9 levels. The Mayans also had many rituals; the first was bloodletting. They would give blood to the Gods to return the blood that the Gods gave to the humans they made. The second was human sacrifice, many times they would take prisoners from war to sacrifice. They had many other rituals as well, some involved giving the Gods valuable goods like Jade or Gold.

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The Mayan civilization began in 2600 BCE. They lived in what is now Mexico and Northern Central America, which included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Belize, also known as Mesoamerica. These areas included the northern lowlands, central lowlands, and southern highlands. Rainforests, savannas, semi-arid highland plateaus, semi-alpine peaks, and swampy areas were also apart of these areas. Due to this type of area, there was a lot of diversity in wildlife and plants. At the peak of the Mayan society they were spread over about 120,000 square miles, or 311,000 square kilometers. If the Mayans had not been located where they were then they would not have been able to trade obsidian and would not have been able to grow good crops.

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1. The first important person in Mayan history is Jasaw Chan K'awiil. Jasaw was a prominent Mayan ruler who had a lot of interest in art and architecture. He was responsible for building many temples such as the Temple of Great Jaguar. He reformed Mayan politics and brought many provincial states together under his rule. He offered these states economic and administrative help.

2. The second person is Yax K'uk Mo'. Yax was a prominent leader as well. He ruled for over 350 years and made major contributions in arithmetic and astronomy. He had a keen interest in defense and the army as well. Lastly, he built the city of Copan.

3. The third person is the longest female Mayan Queen. Lady Six Sky was the queen of the city Naranja, and she served from 682 until she died in 741. Upon her arrival in Naranja, she established a new dynasty. She carried immense power and supreme political authority over Naranja. She also had military authority and is assumed to have religious authority due to the fact that she overlooked the important calendric rituals in Naranja.