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Essay on Mayan Civilization
In 1521, when the Spanish began their conquest of Mexico and Central America, they subdued the declining remnants of a Mayan civilization dating from 2000 B.C. During 35 centuries it had spread over some 125,000 square miles, but the Mayan world was not a unified empire like the Roman, Egyptian, or other empires in the Eastern Hemisphere. Physically, on today's map, it comprised the northern half of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, plus the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and those on the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Mayan civilization developed as a series of independent cities, some with us many as 50,000 inhabitants, yet apparently linked only through slight variations of a commonly understood language, trade, and commerce. Their gods were the same. Their buildings were similar. Their glyph writing the same. Theirs was a civilization with royalty--and priests who understood mathematics, engineering, and astronomy--supported by a peasant-type agricultural system based on maize .
It was a civilization built by a people without metal tools, knowledge of the wheel, or beasts of burden. When you see the towering pyramids of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Copan, you're fascinated. But upon realizing all were built solely by man-power, not horse-power, you're amazed. Building stone pyramids 200 feet, huge buildings, and stone ball courts by hand seems impossible, but the Mayas did it for a thousand years. In their efforts to offer passengers new and varied itineraries, cruise lines plying the Carribean have added routes that call along the coasts of Yucatan and central America. Frequently, shore excursions there offer opportunities to glimpse the Mayan world at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Isle Mujeres, El Rey, San Gervacio, Kabah, and Tulum in Yucatan; Xunantunich and Altun Ha in Belize; Tikal and Quirigua in Guatemala; and Copan in Honduras. Each site is unique and fascinated, and a welcome change-of-pace from touristy Caribbean islands......
