Mayan History Mesoamerican Civilizations 1

Explore Write down 5 things you know about the Mayan civilization. Write down 3 things you would like to know about the Mayan civilization.

Mayans 2500 BC to 950 AD 3

Where is Meso-America?

GEOGRAPHY LOCATION Western hemisphere north of the Equator Tropic of Cancer Mountain range travels down the western edge: – Sierras in North America – Andes in South America Central America – Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. 5

GEOGRAPHY Climate & Topography Tropical climate – Hot rainy summers – Warm dry winters Located in river valleys Rain forest – Marshy grounds – Abundance of fresh water Pacific Ocean to west Caribbean Sea to east 6

Mayan Civilization 7

Adaptations Discuss with your neighbor: How would you go about adapting to living in a jungle? – Think about: Climate The environment Transportation Housing Food supply Safety Share out as a class.

Mayan Civilization Located on the Yucatan peninsula. Based heavily on the Olmec civilization. – Religion – Architecture – Science – Written Language – Games 9

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Agriculture The Mayan Civilization is located in the Tropic of Cancer. During the rainy season it gets up to 100 inches of rain.

Adaptation Due to the location of their civilization the Maya had to overcome two logistical problems: – The rainforest – The excessive amounts of rainwater They addressed these 2 problems with their: – Farming techniques – Building materials – Architectural engineering – Calendar – Religion

Agriculture Practiced slash and burn farming

Farming was hard work Labor intensive 1. Fields are hand watered 2. No work animals such as the ox 3. Used wood and stone hand tools 4. Small family size plots of land 5. Distribution of food difficult

Agriculture The Mayans farmers practiced genetic engineering. They took basic plants: – Maize (corn), squash, beans and peppers and created hundreds of varieties. These varieties were traded throughout the American continents.

Agriculture While the Maya are responsible for most of the varieties of corn, tomatoes, and peppers we have today. Their success came with a price. Their farming practices were not environmentally friendly. Very difficult to support large populations.

Prewriting Create a T Chart to graph the pros and cons for slash and burn farming techniques when applied to the rainforest. The next slide will guide you in forming and filling out a T Chart. 17

Able to grow crops Clears the area for farming Reason example Slash and Burn Farming Pros Cons 18

Writing Activity Using 5-6 sentences describe the benefits and the problems with using slash and burn farming techniques in a rainforest in your notes. 19

MAYAN ARCHITECTURE 20

Mayan Civilization (About 2000 BC to 250 AD) – small villages Classic period (about 250 to 900 AD) – building large city-states, – huge monuments, – constructing causeways, – economic dominance 21

Architecture The Mayans constructed huge monuments to honor their kings and their gods. The grueling physical labor was seen as a sacrifice offering to their gods. 22

Architecture The Mayan building material of choice was stone. – Manual labor – Covered in stucco Built cisterns for storing water. – Sewer systems for draining water out of the city. Developed 1 st arch in the Americas 23

Corbelled arch at Copan, Honduras During the Pre-Classic period, Maya architects devised a method for the construction of corbelled arches. Corbelled arches were also used in ancient Greece by the Mycenaean. 24

Architecture Built: – Temples – Roads – Religious centers out of stone Had: - sewer systems -indoor plumbing -water cisterns. 25

Architecture The Mayan’s favorite building material was stone. All monuments and palaces were built of stone. Even roads were cobbled with stone. This road was built over 1500 years ago connecting Mayan cities. 26

Pop Quiz! 27

Which of the areas on the map was the center of Maya civilization? A.1 B.2 C.3 D

A long range problem with slash and burn practices for agriculture: A. Drove away the wild animals B. Caused erosion C.Made the soil more productive D. Caused periods of drought 29

Writing Opportunity How did the Mayan overcome the problem of too much water? Using 5 to 6 sentences write a paragraph that answers the above question. 30