Mayan Civilization

The Maya civilization developed in Mesoamerica and has a history spanning more than two millennia. Maya communities emerged by the second millennium BCE, and major cities flourished during the Classic period, roughly from 250 to 900 CE. Their civilization covered parts of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Unlike an empire ruled from a single capital, the Maya world consisted of many independent or competing city-states, sometimes linked by alliances, trade and warfare.

Cities such as Tikal, Palenque and Copán developed large ceremonial centers with temples, palaces, plazas and monuments. Maya rulers also sponsored writing, astronomy and the recording of historical events, leaving inscriptions that help researchers reconstruct their past. The Maya made important advances in mathematics and calendrical systems. They used a positional number system based on twenty and understood the concept of zero in mathematical contexts.

Their astronomers carefully observed the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets, while several calendars helped organize religious ceremonies and agricultural activities. Maya farmers cultivated maize, beans and squash and adapted their methods to different environments, including tropical lowlands. From around the 9th century, many cities in the southern lowlands declined, but Maya civilization did not disappear.

Other centers remained active, and Maya peoples continued to live in the region and develop their cultures. Spanish conquest and colonization later transformed Maya societies, but they survived. Today, millions of Maya people still speak Maya languages and maintain cultural traditions rooted in this long history.