The Mayan Empire Essay - 492 Words

The Mayan Empire The Mayan Empire was one of the most innovative and interesting civilizations. It was an ancient civilization that was one of the most advanced and innovative ones. They inhabited the Yucatan peninsula and the empire lasted for about 3500 years ending around the year 1500 AD. It is considered the greatest civilization among the original cultures of the western hemisphere. The empire was located in what is now known as Central America. They lived in the area that is now Belize, Honduras, Mexico, and Guatemala. The whole are lies south of the tropic of cancer, and north of the equator. It contained over 120,000 sq miles, which is the about the size of Great Britain, or a little bit smaller than California. It is†¦show more content†¦The climate is very hot from May to August and rainy through the rest of the year, so the farmers have a lot of free time to serve the king. This serving time helped make the amazing developments from the Maya. By far, the major innovations and skills were in astronomy. Mayan priests would consistently take measurements using tools such as a forked stick. Using their amazing astronomical knowledge, they were able to predict future eclipses. They were also able to chart the complex motions of the sun and other astronomical bodies. Using this knowledge, they designed a calendar that was the most complex and accurate of all ancient calendars. In fact, it was only 19 minutes per year off from the actual calendar. It even contained month and week divisions. One of these months was only five days long, called the Wayeb, and was considered unlucky. In mathematics, the Mayans were quite intelligent. They developed a number system using a combination of dots and bars. These dots and bars were stacked together in piles of twenty, with the dot meaning one and the bar meaning five. They also made the original discovery of the number zero. This is a very important development. They also developed an advanced system of writing similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphics. They contained over 800 signs, and each one usually represented an entire word. It was a very visual language and the meaning of the sign reflected what it looked like. Their writing was highly sophisticated; onlyShow MoreRelatedThe Fall of the Mayan Empire Essay1517 Words   |  7 Pages The fall of the Mayan Empire The collapse of the Mayan Empire is one of history’s greatest mysteries. It was one of the most advanced and developed civilizations of its time period, reining during the Pre-Classic period and into the Classic and Post-Classic Periods (2000 B.C. – 900 A.D.). The territory stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, down to modern day El Salvador in Central America. 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