Michael Huang's Reviews > The Maya: A Very Short Introduction

* Broad history outline:
Maya achieved advanced culture without a centralize polity. Their history is separated into 3 periods with the classic period (250-950 CE) more advanced than before or after.

The region had been settled by 9000 BCE with maize farming by 3000 BCE. In their creation myth men are created using while and yellow cornmeal. Some of the myths are recorded in temples of the so-called “Cross group”. Giant monuments were created around El Mirado c. 300 BCE. The region has numerous cities by 300 BCE forming a political network.

The classic period saw divine kings reign. Stelas document their conquests often using both a yearly dating system and a linear long-count system dating from 3114 BCE. Teotihuacan is the greatest urban center with about 100K population. Trade and warfares occurred between kingdoms. In the 9th and 10th.c. The system started to disappear, possibly due to natural resources and warfares. There is no abrupt collapse and there is regional variation.

* Life and art:
Art was central to Mayan life and so ubiquitous that there is no term for it in their language. Also writer-painter is one term. Their writing system was logophonetic (signs used for meaning as well phonetic) and only decoded in 1980s.

Homes are one large room. At death, the body is interred in the house floor. Beyond family, they are organized by kinship with a large group of people living together. There are rituals for puberty, beyond which girls are kept at home for marriage and boys removed to train for warfare, hunting, and trade. Maize is of central importance and became mythological. The Mayans are very successful for food production. Due myriad of factors led to frequent ecological crises. Cities are not just ceremonial. There were markets too. Literacy rate is uncertain but it’s likely most Mayans could read basic glyphs.

The similarities between architecture and iconography of Mayan regions were once thought to be sign of conquests, but now believed to be due to contact and trade. The general pattern is regional variation plus external influence.

* Spanish conquest:
Most of the Spanish conquest occurred during 1517-1547, but some independent Mayan kingdom lasted until 17th.c, and the final subjugation of a Mayan polity is in 1933. The Mayans had more than 40 polities by 1500 with no big empire. The Spaniards exploited the local rivalry, but the claim of conquest was tenuous, sometimes there was initial welcome and later revolt. Mayans are sometimes independent and other times accepting Spanish rule. There were significant missionary pushes, but most Mayans stay independent. During conflict between Spain and England, many Mayan retreated further inland from Belize region, leading to claims of Belize being uninhabited. Mayan scribes perform many duties such as recording deeds. During the campaign against “idolatry” many books and effigies were destroyed. Scribes gradually start to use an new alphabet for documents.

* Today:
Mayans didn’t disappear in modern times. In fact, there are as many Mayans today as 1000 years ago, except they now represent a much smaller percentage. But they are spread over 5 countries and occasionally face genocidal pressures. Early studies tend to romanticize Mayan. Today many Mayans are constantly adapting.