Maya

1.    That which does not exist and is illusory. The glamors, illusions, or delusions perceived by limited mind.

2.    In Hindu tradition, the Great Cosmic force responsible for the phenomena of material existence.

3.    An ancient Mesoamerican high civilization of which little is known. The term Maya means "mother."

(See also: Maya, Body Mind and Soul)

Yucatán - Prehistory. Yucatán - Pre-Columbian era. Before the arrival of the Spanish in the area, the Yucatán was the home of the Maya civilization, and in particular the Yucatecan Maya people. Archaeological remains show ceremonial architecture dating back some 3000 years; some Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions found in the area date back to the Maya Pre-Classic era (before c. 200). Maya cities of the Yucatán continued to flourish after the central and southern lowland Classic-era M ...

See also:

Yucatán, Yucatán - History, Yucatán - Prehistory, Yucatán - Pre-Columbian era, Yucatán - Arrival of the Spanish, Yucatán - Independence and the turbulent 1840s, Yucatán - Mid 19th century through mid 20th century, Yucatán - Late 20th century: An end to relative isolation, Yucatán - Footnotes

Read more here: » Yucatán: Encyclopedia II - Yucatán - History

c. 20th century BC - 2nd century AD The start of nation-states. The first large scale ceremonial architecture, development of cities. The development and flourishing of the Olmec civilization at such sites as La Venta. Early Zapotec and Maya civilization. Important early Maya cities include El Mirador and Cival. ...

See also:

Mesoamerican chronology, Mesoamerican chronology - Paleo-Indian Period, Mesoamerican chronology - Archaic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Pre-Classic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Classic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Post-Classic Era

Read more here: » Mesoamerican chronology: Encyclopedia II - Mesoamerican chronology - Pre-Classic Era

c. 20th century BC - 2nd century AD The start of nation-states. The first large scale ceremonial architecture, development of cities. The development and flourishing of the Olmec civilization at such sites as La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. Early Zapotec and Maya civilization. Important early Maya cities include El Mirador and Cival. Also called the Formative Period. ...

See also:

Mesoamerican chronology, Mesoamerican chronology - Paleo-Indian Period, Mesoamerican chronology - Archaic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Pre-Classic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Classic Era, Mesoamerican chronology - Post-Classic Era

Read more here: » Mesoamerican chronology: Encyclopedia II - Mesoamerican chronology - Pre-Classic Era

The lake is surrounded by many villages, in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress is worn. The Maya people of Atitlán are predominantly Tz'utujil and Kakchiquel. During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Kakchiquel initially allied themselves with the invaders to defeat their historic enemies the Tz'utujil and Quiché Maya, but were themselves conquered and subdued when ...

See also:

Lago de Atitlán, Lago de Atitlán - Geological history, Lago de Atitlán - Culture, Lago de Atitlán - Guatemalan Civil War, Lago de Atitlán - Hurricane

Read more here: » Lago de Atitlán: Encyclopedia II - Lago de Atitlán - Culture

El Petén was already the site of ceremonial architecture by the Maya civilization around 500 BC. El Mirador is El Petén's most important Pre-Classic Maya site; other important sites from this era include Cival. Later El Petén became the heartland of the Maya Classic Period (c. 200 – 900). At its height around 750 it is estimated that El Petén was home to several million people, being one of the most densely populated regions of the world at the time. Some areas are estimated to have had 1,000 people/km². Agriculture was very extensive ...

See also:

Petén department, Petén department - History, Petén department - Municipalities

Read more here: » Petén department: Encyclopedia II - Petén department - History

Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. Monumental architecture was built here as early as the 4th century BC. The city was at its height in the Maya Classic Period, approximately 200 AD to 850 AD, after which no new major monuments were built, some of the palaces of the elite were burned, and the population gradually declined until the site was abandoned by the end of the 10th century. The name "Tikal" means "Place of Voices" or "Place of Tongues" in Maya, which may be an ancient name for the cit ...

See also:

Tikal, Tikal - Tikal in the Classic era, Tikal - The site, Tikal - Ancient history of Tikal, Tikal - Rulers, Tikal - Modern history of Tikal

Read more here: » Tikal: Encyclopedia II - Tikal - Tikal in the Classic era

The pre-Columbian Maya civilization developed and used an intricate and versatile writing system which, out of the various historical Mesoamerican scripts known, displays the highest degree of correspondence to a spoken language. Earlier-established civilizations to the west and north of the Maya homelands also had scripts which are recorded in surviving inscriptions, such as those of the Zapotec, Olmec, as well as the Zoque-speaking peoples of the southern Veracruz - western Chiapas area. There is however insufficent available evidence to d ...

See also:

Mayan languages, Mayan languages - Note on terminology, Mayan languages - Overview, Mayan languages - Language families, Mayan languages - Relation to Mesoamerican writing

Read more here: » Mayan languages: Encyclopedia II - Mayan languages - Relation to Mesoamerican writing

The idea of Mu first appeared in the works of the antiquarian Augustus Le Plongeon (1825–1908), a 19th century traveler and writer who conducted his own investigations of the Maya ruins in Yucatán. He announced that he had translated the ancient Mayan writings, which supposedly showed that the Maya of Yucatán were older than the later civilizations of Atlantis and Egypt, and additionally told the story of an even older continent of Mu, which had foundered in a similar fashion to Atlantis, with the survivors founding the Maya civil ...

See also:

Mu lost continent, Mu lost continent - Le Plongeon and Churchward, Mu lost continent - Other authors, Mu lost continent - Mu in politics, Mu lost continent - Mu in the arts

Read more here: » Mu lost continent: Encyclopedia II - Mu lost continent - Le Plongeon and Churchward

The Tz'utujil date from the post-classic period (circa 900-1500 ) of the Maya civilization, inhabiting the southern watershed of Lake Atitlán, in the Solola region of the Guatemalan highlands. Today they dwell in the towns of San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo La Laguna, San Marcos La Laguna, San Pedro La Laguna, Santiago Atitlán, Panabaj and a very few in San Lucas Tolimán, although they used to inhabit a much wider region. In 1523 the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, with the help of the Kaqchikel Maya, defeated them in a battle close to the town of Panajachel in which they lost a po ...

See also:

Tz'utujil, Tz'utujil - The Tz'utujil People

Read more here: » Tz'utujil: Encyclopedia II - Tz'utujil - The Tz'utujil People

Main article: History of Belize The Maya civilization spread over Belize between 1500 BC and AD 300 and flourished until about AD 900. The first Europeans arrived in the area in the early 16th century and settlement began with British privateers and shipwrecked English seamen as early as 1638. The origin of the name Belize is unclear but one explanation is that it derives from the Spanish pronunciation of Wallace, the name of the pirate who created the first settlement in Belize in 1638. Another possibility is that the name is from the Maya word belix, meaning "muddy wa ...

See also:

Belize, Belize - History, Belize - Politics, Belize - Districts, Belize - Geography, Belize - Economy, Belize - Demographics, Belize - Culture, Belize - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Belize: Encyclopedia II - Belize - History

Sylvanus G. Morley was born in Chester, Pennsylvania[1]. After first studying civil engineering, he went on to attend Harvard University as an undergraduate. Whilst there his interest in archaeology was sparked by the arrival in 1904 at the University of a collection of Maya artefacts[2] which had been recovered by Edward Herbert Thompson from a cenote n ...

See also:

Sylvanus Morley, Sylvanus Morley - Early life, Sylvanus Morley - First expeditions and espionage work, Sylvanus Morley - Carnegie Institution and Chichen Itza proposal, Sylvanus Morley - Fieldwork in Mexico and Central America, Sylvanus Morley - Influences on other scholars, Sylvanus Morley - Eric Thompson, Sylvanus Morley - Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Sylvanus Morley - Excavations at Chichen Itza, Sylvanus Morley - Context, Sylvanus Morley - Major finds, Sylvanus Morley - Result summary, Sylvanus Morley - Project completion and final years, Sylvanus Morley - Theories and retrospective assessment, Sylvanus Morley - Views on ancient Maya society, Sylvanus Morley - Maya writing, Sylvanus Morley - Archaeology, Sylvanus Morley - Summation, Sylvanus Morley - Publications, Sylvanus Morley - The other Sylvanus G. Morley

Read more here: » Sylvanus Morley: Encyclopedia II - Sylvanus Morley - Early life

While the site was occupied by the middle Pre-Classic, it did not gain importance until several hundred years later. By 600 the first of the famous structures now visible were being constructed. Situated in the western reaches of Maya territory, on the edge of the southern highlands, B'aakal was a large and vital center of Maya civilization from the 5th century AD to the 9th century. The B'aakal state had a chequered career. Its original dynasts were perhaps Olmec. Politically, the city experienced diverse fortunes, being disastro ...

See also:

Palenque, Palenque - The name, Palenque - The Maya Classic city, Palenque - Rulers, Palenque - The abandonment of Palenque, Palenque - Modern examinations of Palenque

Read more here: » Palenque: Encyclopedia II - Palenque - The Maya Classic city

In Pre-Columbian times this area was part of the Maya civilization. When the Spanish Conquistadores came in the 1520s they conquered the central and southern highlands of Guatemala, but were driven back from this region by fierce native resistance. Spanish friars asked for a chance to peacefully convert the land to Christianity, which they succeeded in, giving the area the name "Verapaz" meaning "True Peace" since it was brought to Christianity and control of the King of Spain without warfare. In the 19th century this beca ...

See also:

Alta Verapaz, Alta Verapaz - History, Alta Verapaz - Municipalities

Read more here: » Alta Verapaz: Encyclopedia II - Alta Verapaz - History

Apart from their use to display the skulls of ritualistically-executed war captives, tzompantli often occur in the contexts of Mesoamerican ballcourts, which were widespread throughout the region's civilizations and sites. In these contexts it appears that the tzompantli was used to display the losers' heads of this often highly-ritualised game. Not all games resulted in this outcome, however, and for those that did it is surmised that these participants were often notable captives. Tollan, the former Toltec capital, has a well-pres ...

See also:

Tzompantli, Tzompantli - Distribution, Tzompantli - General, Tzompantli - Maya, Tzompantli - Aztec, Tzompantli - Association and meaning, Tzompantli - Etymology

Read more here: » Tzompantli: Encyclopedia II - Tzompantli - Association and meaning

Howlers are seen in the art of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Alexander von Humboldt said that "their eyes, voice, and gait are indicative of melancholy", while John Lloyd Stephens described those at the ruins of Copán as "grave and solemn as if officiating as the guardians of consecrated ground". While seldom aggressive, they do not take well to captivity and are of surly disposition, and hence are the only monkey in t ...

See also:

Howler monkey, Howler monkey - Howlers and humans, Howler monkey - Classification

Read more here: » Howler monkey: Encyclopedia II - Howler monkey - Howlers and humans

The Maya civilization flourished throughout much of Guatemala and the surrounding region for close to 2000 years before the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. Most of the Great Classic Maya cities of the Petén region of Guatemala's northern lowlands were abandoned by the year 1000 AD. The states of the central highlands, however, were still flourishing until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, who brutally subjegated the native states in 1523–1527. Native peoples of the Guatemala highlands, such as the Cachiquel, Mam, Quiché, and Tz'ut ...

See also:

History of Guatemala, History of Guatemala - Pre-Columbian Guatemala, History of Guatemala - The Era of Spanish Rule, History of Guatemala - The 19th Century, History of Guatemala - The Early 20th Century, History of Guatemala - The Ten Years of Spring, History of Guatemala - Operation PBSUCCESS, History of Guatemala - Civil war, History of Guatemala - 1986 to 2000, History of Guatemala - The 21st Century, History of Guatemala - Resources, History of Guatemala - External links, History of Guatemala - Notes, History of Guatemala - Further reading

Read more here: » History of Guatemala: Encyclopedia II - History of Guatemala - Pre-Columbian Guatemala

Civilizations were started long after migration. Several large, centralized civilizations developed in the Western Hemisphere (e.g., the Chavń in the Andes, the Aztecs and the Maya in Central America). The capital of the Cahokians, Cahokia - located near modern East St. Louis, Illinois may have reached a population of over 20,000. At its peak, between the 12th and 13th centuries Cahokia was the most populous city in North America. Monk's Mound, the major ceremonial center of Cahokia, remains the largest earthen construction of the prehistor ...

See also:

History of the Americas, History of the Americas - Migration into the continents, History of the Americas - Before advanced civilizations, History of the Americas - Civilizations, History of the Americas - North America, History of the Americas - Mesoamerica, History of the Americas - South America, History of the Americas - European discovery and following colonization

Read more here: » History of the Americas: Encyclopedia II - History of the Americas - Civilizations

The first users of cacao were most likely the Olmecs, a Native American people of Mesoamerica and the oldest civilization of The Americas (1500-400 BC). Later, the Maya civilization consumed cacao-based drinks made with beans from their plantations in the Chontalpa region of present-day Tabasco, Mexico. They created a drink which in Nahuatl was called "xocolatl" (xococ, bitter + atl, water), the "x" being an archaic Spanish phoneme with a similar pronunciation as the modern English "sh". This drink was made from roasted cocoa beans, water, and a little spice. ...

See also:

Hot chocolate, Hot chocolate - History, Hot chocolate - Development, Hot chocolate - Place in modern society, Hot chocolate - Resources

Read more here: » Hot chocolate: Encyclopedia II - Hot chocolate - History

Main articles: History of Honduras, Timeline of Honduran history The Pre-Columbian city of Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán Department, near to the Guatemalan border. It is the site of a major Maya kingdom of the Classic era. The ancient kingdom, named Xukpi (Corner-Bundle), flourished from the 5th century AD to the early 9th century, with antecedents going back to at least the 2nd century AD. The Maya civilization decayed, and by the time the Spanish came to Honduras, the once great city-state ...

See also:

Honduras, Honduras - History, Honduras - Politics, Honduras - Subdivisions, Honduras - Geography, Honduras - Economy, Honduras - Demographics, Honduras - Culture, Honduras - Environment, Honduras - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Honduras: Encyclopedia II - Honduras - History

The origins of the celebration of The Day of the Dead in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, such as the Aztec, Maya, Purepecha, Nahual and Totonac. Rituals celebrating the lives of dead ancestors had been performed by these Mesoamerican civilizations for at least 3,000 years. It was common practice to keep skulls as trophies and display them during rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. The festival which was to become Día de Muertos fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, ...

See also:

Day of the Dead, Day of the Dead - History of the Day of the Dead in Mexico, Day of the Dead - Beliefs and customs, Day of the Dead - In fiction

Read more here: » Day of the Dead: Encyclopedia II - Day of the Dead - History of the Day of the Dead in Mexico

The name "Quetzalcoatl" literally means quetzal-bird snake or serpent with feathers (Amphitere) of the Quetzal (which implies something divine or precious) in the Nahuatl language. The meaning of his local name in other Mesoamerican languages is similar. The Maya knew him as Kukulkán; the Quiché as Gukumatz. The Feathered Serpent deity was important in art and religion in most of Mesoamerica for close to 2,000 years, from the Pre-Classic era until the Spanish conquest. Civilizations worshiping the Feathered Serpent included the Olmec, the Mixtec, the Toltec, the Aztec(who adopted it fr ...

See also:

Quetzalcoatl, Quetzalcoatl - Antecedents, Quetzalcoatl - Origins, Quetzalcoatl - The cult, Quetzalcoatl - Moctezuma Controversy, Quetzalcoatl - Atributes, Quetzalcoatl - In archeology, Quetzalcoatl - Modern media

Read more here: » Quetzalcoatl: Encyclopedia II - Quetzalcoatl - Antecedents