Maya Page

Geography and Goverment	Religion and Daily Life	Science, Technology, and Architecture
The Mayan civilization existed in the rain forest of Central America. The Mayans were in places that are today occupied by the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, southern Mexico and Belize. At its peak, the Mayans ruled from the Yucatan Peninsula to Guatamala. Mayan civilization was made up of independent city-states; there was no centralized government uniting the independent city-states. Each city-state was ruled by a king and had its own laws. The king was the most important religious and military leader in each city-state. Although the Mayan city-states were independent, they were linked by trade, language and culture.	Mayans were polytheistic, that means that they believed in many gods. They practiced animal and human sacrifice in order to keep the gods happy. Priests followed daily scheduled rituals. Some historians think that they sacrificed the losing team in a game called Pok-a-Tok. Blood was very important to their religion and the king's blood was especially important. They believed that they could see their gods in the rising smoke of burning blood. They built temples with colorful and detailed murals that told religious stories and history. They also used hieroglyphics on walls and columns to tell stories. Mayan society had 5 levels: king; nobles and priests; artisans and mercahnts; peasants and laborers and slaves. Most Mayans were farmers. The most popular crop was maize, corn. Mayans had well developed trade routes and systems of trade. Pok-a-Tok was a very popular game, played for fun as well as for religious purposes. Pok-a-Tok is similar to basketball except you cannot use your hands to make a basket.	The Mayans built a great plaza in the centers of their cities. The plazas were surrounded with courtyards. They built pyramids with temples on top. They developed a very complex writing system based on hieroglyphics. They made advancements in astronomy and developed a calendar based on a 365 1/4 day year. They had a highly developed math system with a numbering system based on 20 and they used the zero.

Geography and Goverment

Religion and Daily Life

Science, Technology, and Architecture

The Mayan civilization existed in the rain forest of Central America.
The Mayans were in places that are today occupied by the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, southern Mexico and Belize.
At its peak, the Mayans ruled from the Yucatan Peninsula to Guatamala.
Mayan civilization was made up of independent city-states; there was no centralized government uniting the independent city-states.
Each city-state was ruled by a king and had its own laws. The king was the most important religious and military leader in each city-state.
Although the Mayan city-states were independent, they were linked by trade, language and culture.

Mayans were polytheistic, that means that they believed in many gods.
They practiced animal and human sacrifice in order to keep the gods happy.
Priests followed daily scheduled rituals.
Some historians think that they sacrificed the losing team in a game called Pok-a-Tok.
Blood was very important to their religion and the king's blood was especially important.
They believed that they could see their gods in the rising smoke of burning blood.
They built temples with colorful and detailed murals that told religious stories and history.
They also used hieroglyphics on walls and columns to tell stories.
Mayan society had 5 levels: king; nobles and priests; artisans and mercahnts; peasants and laborers and slaves.
Most Mayans were farmers. The most popular crop was maize, corn.
Mayans had well developed trade routes and systems of trade.
Pok-a-Tok was a very popular game, played for fun as well as for religious purposes.

Pok-a-Tok is similar to basketball except you cannot use your hands to make a basket.

The Mayans built a great plaza in the centers of their cities.
The plazas were surrounded with courtyards.
They built pyramids with temples on top.
They developed a very complex writing system based on hieroglyphics.
They made advancements in astronomy and developed a calendar based on a 365 1/4 day year.
They had a highly developed math system with a numbering system based on 20 and they used the zero.