| The Mayan civilization was the height of pre-Columbian | | | | Chiapas, Mexico, and Honduras. For most of this |
| culture. They made significant discoveries in science, | | | | period, the majority of the Mayans population lived in |
| including the use of the zero in mathematics. Their | | | | the central lowlands of Mexico and Belize. |
| writing was the only in America capable of expressing | | | | The Mayan culture, beginning in Central America |
| all types of thought. Glyphs either represent syllables or | | | | hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, became |
| whole concepts and were written on long strips of | | | | the first highly developed civilization in the Western |
| paper or carved and painted n stone. They are | | | | Hemisphere. The May, as early as 600 BC, had |
| arranged to be read from left to right and top to | | | | developed a sophisticated calendar, a system of |
| bottom in pairs of columns. The Mayan calendar | | | | picture writing, a style of architecture, sculpture and |
| begins around 3114 BC. They could measure time well | | | | metalwork, as well as a highly organized government. |
| into the future. They wrote detailed histories and used | | | | Without question, the Maya greatly influenced the later |
| their calendar to predict the future and astrological | | | | development of Latin America. |
| events. Fray Diego de Landa, second bishop of the | | | | Teotihuacan that controlled the Mexican highlands from |
| Yucatan ordered a mass destruction of Mayan books | | | | the first to the seventh centuries also influenced the |
| in 1562 and only three survived. | | | | Maya. The Mayan golden age lasted five centuries |
| Most artistic and cultural achievement came about | | | | from 300 to 800 AD. Then, they stopped building |
| during the Classic period 300 � 900 AD. The | | | | temples, declined and became fragmented in |
| Mayans developed a complex hierarchical society | | | | competing states that were easy prey for invading |
| divided into classes and professions. Centralized | | | | forces from the north such as the Toltec, which had |
| governments, headed by a king, and ruled territories | | | | been expelled from Tula around the end of the 10th |
| with clearly defined boundaries. These borders | | | | century. The Toltec's became the ruling elite of the |
| changed as the various states lost and gained control | | | | Maya in the post classic period. Toltec gods were |
| over territory. Mayan centers flourished in Mexico, | | | | added to the Maya pantheon but the Toltec's were |
| Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The | | | | absorbed as they leaned to speak Yucatec Maya. All |
| major cities of the Classic period were Guatemala, | | | | in all a marvelous and fascinating history. |