MAYAN CIVILIZATION (PART 1): TIMELINE, LOCATION & PHYSICAL FEATURES

Timeline

The Mayan Civilization is one of the newer civilizations, unlike the ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Indian civilizations. 

It started around 1800 BC and made small progress upto 300 BC, which is also known as Pre-Classic Period.Between 300 BC and 250 AD, the civilization grew and spread to multiple locations. This is known as the Middle Pre-Classic Period. The Mayan Civilization flourished between 250 AD to 900 AD, also called as the Golden Period of Mayan Civilization. 

 

During the Golden Period, the Mayan people successfully spread across many cities and became advanced. They invented many new things and had an organized management set up. At its height, Mayan civilization consisted of more than 40 cities, each with a population between 5,000 and 50,000. It started to decline after 900 AD.

 

"The Mayan Civilization lasted for almost 2000 years!"

Geographical Location – On the Map

 

The Maya were centered in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador – CENTRAL AMERICA.

 

The peak Mayan population may have reached two million people, most of whom were settled in the lowlands of what is now Guatemala. Among the principal cities were Tikal, Uaxactún, Copán, Bonampak, Dos Pilas, Calakmul, Palenque, and Río Bec.

"At its height, Mayan civilization consisted of more than 40 cities, each with a population between 5,000 and 50,000." 

 

Geographical Location – Spread & Cities 

 

The Maya were spread across an almost continuous territory of roughly 311,000 square kilometres (120,000 square miles), comprising three areas:

1.     The tropical rain forest of the lowlands, stretching from northwestern Honduras, through the Petén region of Guatemala and into Belize and the Chiapas. This became the heart of Classic Maya civilization and included cities such as Copán, Yaxchilán, Tikal, and Palenque.

2.     The Guatemala highlands and the Pacific Coast, where Aztec influence in the early Classic period caused some differences in cultural development from the Central, or Lowlands, Maya.

3.     The northern Yucatán peninsula, whose sites include Labná, Chichen Itzá and Uxmal, which had scrub vegetation, thin soil, and little surface water. 

 

 

Mayan Rivers

 

A series of rivers originated in the mountains and flowed towards the Pacific Ocean on the west coast in the Mayan region like the Usumacinta river. These rivers served as passageways for canoes to travel from one city to another. Most of the Maya cities of the Classic period were built near rivers that provided water for human consumption, agriculture and access to trade routes. In the northern Yucatán lowlands, however, there are no major rivers.

Mayan Mountains

 

The highlands to the south are a wide section of valleys and volcanic mountains that are a part of the Sierra Madre range. The mountains of the volcanic Highlands were the source of obsidian, jade and cinnabar (shown in the masks below), hematite and other precious metals and minerals.

 

 

"The name of the Mayas comes from the ancient Yucatan city of Mayapan, the last capital of one of the Maya kingdoms."