My Science School

          The Incas were prominent among the Andean civilizations. The Inca Civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. They built a powerful empire by defeating their neighbours and were the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, and possibly the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century.

          Under their great ruler, Pachacuti, they even extended their territory to the north, south and west. The Inca called their empire Tahuantinsuyu, meaning ‘land of four quarters’.

          The Incas were unique in many aspects. They never used wheeled vehicles. Instead, they carried goods on llamas. They did not use metals such as iron and steel. Above all, they lacked a system of writing.

          Today, it is remembered as one of the great civilizations that ever existed. 

             The Maya lived in city states, each with its own ruler. The cities were well organized. The largest Maya city was Tikal, in today’s Guatemala. It was settled in around 900 BC. But it rose to become an important city state only around AD 200. Tikal was in constant dispute with its neighbouring state Calakmul. The city had about 3,000 buildings. It extended over an area of 64 square kilometres, with a population of about 50,000.

            Palenque was another great city of the Maya. It became important from about AD 550. King Pakal the great, who ruled from AD 600 to 683, made this city great. But, after AD 780, the city’s power and glory declined.

            Another great city of the Maya Civilization was Chichen-Itza. It was founded in around AD 435. By AD 987, the city flourished, and become a major trading centre. The city Chichen-Itza is famous for its architectural wonders like the step pyramid of Kukulcan, the Temple of the Warriors, and the largest Maya ball game court.

          The Spanish conquest stripped away most of the defining features of Maya Civilization.

          However, many Maya villages remained remote from Spanish colonial authority, and for the most part, continued to manage their own affairs.

          The basic Mesoamerican diet of maize and beans continued, although agricultural output was improved by the introduction of steel tools. Traditional crafts such as weaving and ceramics continued to be practiced. Community markets and trade in local products continued long after the conquest.

          At times, the colonial administration encouraged the traditional economy in order to extract tribute in the form of ceramics or cotton textiles, which were popular among the Spanish.

          Besides that, the Maya language and beliefs proved resistant to change.

 

            The Maya city states were continuously at war with each other. By around AD 1240, most of the Maya territories disintegrated into small communities, battling against each other. All their wealth was destroyed by these frequent wars. This made their conquest by the Spanish easy.

            In 1511, a Spanish ship sunk in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors entered the coast of Yucatan peninsula, in south-eastern Mexico. They were seized by a Maya lord, and most were sacrificed, although two managed to escape.

           From 1517 to 1519, three separate Spanish expeditions explored the Yucatan coast, and engaged in a number of battles with the Maya inhabitants.

   

 

            In 1523, Pedro de Alvarado came with a huge army. Earlier, they formed a good alliance with the Maya but it did not last long because Spanish demanded the gold as tribute.

            Francisco de Montejo and his son, launched a long series of campaigns against the kingdoms of the Yucatan Peninsula in 1527, and finally completed the conquest of the northern portion of the peninsula in 1546. This left only the Maya kingdoms of the Peten Basin independent. In 1697, Martin de Ursua launched an assault on the Itza capital Nojpeten, and the last independent Maya city fell to the Spanish.

 

 

          The Maya made magnificent sculptures and paintings. Though the Maya art is unique, it has the influence of Olmec culture.

          The Maya are most famous for their great sculptures, made out of stone. They built tall pyramids and big palaces.

          The Maya were highly skilled in making excellent steles. A stele is an upright stone slab bearing a commemorative inscription. Huge steles weighing around 50 tonnes were excavated from Maya sites. Besides stones, the sculptors used wood and jade. They created excellent wood carvings. Maya ornaments made of jade were exported to other cultures too.

          The Maya also excelled in mural paintings. They painted murals on the walls of temples, palaces and houses. They produced fine pottery. They decorated their pottery with paintings and carvings. The Maya had a variety of dance and music.

           Historians believe that the Maya city of Palenque was the centre of their art and craft. 

          As we know, trade is vital for the success of any civilization. Trade was a key component of Maya society too, and also in the development of the Maya Civilization. They had an advanced trading system consisting of short, medium, and long trade routes.

          Trade routes went as far south as Guatemala and Belize, and also extended to the Caribbean Islands. Trade routes not only supplied physical goods, but they facilitated the movement of people and ideas throughout Mesoamerica. Shifts in trade routes occurred with the rise and fall of important cities in the Maya region.

          Even though, the Maya city states were continuously at war with each other, they traded with one another. Wars were fought for the control of trade too.

          The commodities were generally classified into two categories- luxury and utilitarian goods. Luxury items included things like gold, copper, highly decorated pottery while the utilitarian items were clothing, tools, salts etc. Long distance trades of both items were controlled directly by the rulers.

          The Maya Civilization of Central America was without doubt, one of the most dominant ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. The Maya civilization was the longest lived, and the most widely spread of all the great cultures of Ancient America.

          The Maya lived in Mexico before 2000 BC. But, they became powerful from AD 200 to 900. They remained powerful until they were conquered by the Spanish in around AD 1500. The Maya created wonderful cities. Some Maya cities were huge, holding up to 50,000 people. The houses were built by mud bricks. The great Maya cities were Palenque, Tikal, Copan, and Chichen Itza. At the centre of each city there was a pyramid shaped temple.

           The great Maya civilization survived for hundreds of years. The Maya invented their own system of writing. They were good in mathematics and astronomy. Their solar calendar, with 365 days in a year is a wonder to the modern world. 

               The Olmecs were good traders too. They had set up trade routes with other Mesoamerican cultures. From around 1200 BC, the Olmec city of San Lorenzo arose as a major trading centre. The city developed long distance trade networks with other regions.

               The Olmecs mainly traded pottery, ornaments, statues and figurines for basalt, serpentine, salt, feathers and seashells. By 900 BC, the city of La Venta replaced San Lorenzo, as the biggest trading centre.

               A major trading partner of the Olmec was their neighbour the Mokaya. The Tlatilcos of central Mexico was another culture that had trade relations with the Olmecs. There was a great expansion in the inter regional trade routes in the Olmec period. Exotic green stones and seashells were traded between distant places.

               The archeologists believe that La Venta exported more goods than it imported, since it was a centre of skilled craftsmen.

          Artistically, the Olmecs were far ahead of their contemporary civilizations.

          The most identified symbol of the Olmec Civilization is the colossal head. Archeologists have found huge stone heads at almost all Olmec sites. Most of them were carved in basalt. The heads could be nearly three metres high, and five tonnes in weight. They were probably portrais of Olmec rulers. There were twenty heads found from the southern Mexican cities, each showing unique facial expressions.

          Monumental stone art and cave paintings make up a significant portion of Olmec artistic tradition. They were also gifted woodworkers, though only a few survived.

          Jade and ceramic were the popular materials for sculpture. One of the gods most commonly rendered in small sculpture was the Rain Baby, who is a toothless baby with an open-mouth.

          As Olmec artists were so advanced, their works had a profound impact on later Mexican cultures. 

          Religion played a major role in the Olmec Civilization.

          Several supernatural beings appear in their art that survive today and this has led the archaeologists to identify a handful of their gods. Nothing much is known about their names though. The Olmecs found divinity in natural phenomena such as rain. 

          They also worshipped animals and birds around them, especially the fearsome ones like jaguars, eagles and snakes. They identified these creatures with divine powers. The jaguar seems to have been the most popular deity.

          They also believed that all human beings had animal spirits within them. Like the Ancient Egyptians, gods that were half human and half animal were also worshipped by the Olmecs.

          The Olmecs also had priests. They believed that the priest acted as a bridge between people and their gods and spirits. 

          The great Olmec Civilization existed in the Gulf of Mexico. They had four main urban zones at San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna de los Cerros.

          Royal residences were at the centre of each zone. The religious centre of Olmec culture was La Venta, which was one of its prominent cities. Olmec cities reached their peak of prosperity between 1200 and 900 BC.

          The Olmecs developed the famous Mesoamerican ball game. The game was both a sport and a religious right. In this game, the players try to knock a rubber ball through a stone ring. There were several playing courts in their cities for this game.

          The Olmec people were known for their architectural skills, too. They constructed the earliest pyramid in the city of La Venta. Like all the Mesoamerican civilizations the Olmecs were good agriculturalists. They cleared forests and cultivated maize, beans, tomatoes, and squash.