Who Were The Mayans?

The Maya Were Not One Unified Group of People. Each city had it’s own ruler. Pakal Ukit Took

They were more like City-states They were more like City-states. These rulers formed alliances, traded and they also fought each other.

The Mayans were similar though because they all shared the same culture. They had the same language. They had the same class system. They had the same calendar. They had the same religion. Quetzalcoatl

Mayan rulers filled their cities with sky high pyramids and ornate (decorated) palaces in order to show their great power and their connections to the gods.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/map-flash.html

But where did they live? They lived in Meso America.

We need to know about the land they lived on. There were many different types of terrain (land). They call the Land : Highlands Lowlands Topographical Map

This is a map that shows elevation (How high the land is).

They ate foods we are all familiar with. Beans Corn Peppers Squash Turkey Fish (along the coast) Chocolate

But what does it take to grow enough food to feed a whole city? Beans Seeds Pre-Columbian food

They had to learn to grow a lot of food on what ever land they lived on. In marshy Swamps On steep hillsides

In thick Rainforests where the sun never shows through the thick canopy. (The top of the trees.)

Grasslands Peten Jungle

Some of these practices were wise and some were destructive. They had developed many different agricultural techniques to deal with the challenges of: Limited sunlight Erosion which led the nutrients to run off with the rain Swampy, wet land Some of these practices were wise and some were destructive.

Agricultural challenges: 1.The Maya depended on Rain . Chac-The Mayan Rain God

And most of the rainwater flowed into the lowlands and created swamps And most of the rainwater flowed into the lowlands and created swamps. (They called them Bajos.)

So how did they grow crops on this land?

Maya farmers dug canals through the swamps…… Man made canals

…..piling the excess soil on to man made fields (platforms) in between the canals. This was called Raised-Field Farming.

2. They had another technique when they needed to farm on hillsides. It was called Terraced Farming.

They cut wide steps or “benches” into the side of the mountain.

These steps were supported by either sod or stone walls. Sod Stone Walls

Each level slows the flow of water runing off, slowing the erosion process.

A few times each season the Maya harvested water plants from the canals and spread them on the fields to further enrich the soil.

3.Lastly, they had to come up with a way to grow food in the forests and Rainforests. This type of farming is called Slash and Burn.

First, the farmer cut down all the trees in the area he wanted to plant crops in. Cutting down the trees was the “slash part” of the slash and burn farming method.

Next, he burned the tree stumps, and the trees he had cut down.

The ashes from the fires mixed with the soil The ashes from the fires mixed with the soil. The ashes made the soil rich, or fertile.

But this was unproductive in the long run! They get 100 percent productivity (100% of what they planted) the first year 60 percent the next year And less than that in the years to come.

So in three to five years, the land is basically useless, and they have to move on.” We now call this deforestation.

Summary of how they adapted to their environment: Hillsides  Terraced Farming Jungles and Rainforests  Slash and Burn Swamps  Raised field Farming