Rihla #7 Mesoamerican Mayans

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The Mesoamerican Mayans was a pre-Columbian civilization in the western hemisphere. They are recognized for their unique writing style, government, and architecture.

Writing Style:
The writing style of the Maya was very complex. They have a system of 30 phonetic sounds in the alphabet that could be written with 30 signs,but it was originally written with hundreds. They also used glyphs instead of letters to depict the phonetic sounds. Glyphs are pictures.

Government:
The Maya did not have a single ruler. Political power wasn't given to just one person, but a council of people.They were divided into city-states and had individual leaders who were seen as powerful men. Women could have power in this civilization too. If a women in to succeed a king, she will become the new leader. Expansion was very important because it was seen as a way to include territorial and resource acquisition, prestige, and increased power.

Architecture:
Many of the Mayan structures were made of limestone. These structures consisted of corbel arches, tombs, temples, and multiroom structures. Tombs were often placed in or beneath other Mayan structures. Temples where usually built over existing structures, and the multiroom structures were built as palaces or places for government affairs.

Agriculture:
Agriculture was based on slash and burn farming. This meant that the field wasn't cultivated for 5-15 years after 2-5 years of cultivation. They grew crops such as Maize (Corn), squash, chile peppers, and beans. They also made their own tortillas using crushed maize.

Religion:
This civilization was polytheistic. They had more than one god because each region believed in a different one. There were patron gods for each location, which is similar to Mesopotamia. The following is a list of some gods and their duties:
Hunab Ku- the creator god
Cizin- Death god
Chac- rain god
Itzamna- aged god
Hun Hunahpu- Maize god
and so on.

Technology Advancement:
They created a calendar of a 260-day cycle.
They also developed a math system where they used bases of 20 and 5.

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