Mayan Civilization: A History From Beginning to End

by Henry Freeman

They had the misfortune of meeting Christopher Columbus when he traveled to Honduras. Unintentionally, he became the gateway for introducing Europe to chocolate, despite how differently the Maya and Aztecs had prepared it themselves for their own ritualist and medicinal uses.

So chocolate came to Europe thanks to Mayan civilization

The Popol Vuh, a nearly 500-year-old Mayan text written in Quiche, still remains an excellent source of knowledge about the ancient Maya,

Popol Vuh

Based on the discovery of hieroglyphics that preserved a different picture of the lives of the Maya people, experts have determined that the Maya city-states were regularly in a state of clashes with one another.

The reason for the decline of Mayan Civilization

At the time, the most advanced of the emerging societies was the Olmec civilization. We will discuss the Olmecs briefly in the next chapter since it appears that they had an influence on the Maya people in terms of art, iconography and writing during the Late Preclassic and Classic periods. While the debate still lingers, many consider the Olmec influence so widespread that Olmec is considered the mother culture of the Americas. For instance, while the Maya are credited for the widely used concept of zero, the Olmecs are credited for having conceptualized it originally.

Discovery of zero

As a civilization, the Maya contributed to our understanding of astronomy, architecture and city planning, math, calendrics, ecology, medicine, writing, technology, politics, anthropology, sociology, commerce, and the arts. They are credited for making the first pressurized hydraulic system. They help us understand their traditional and evolving thinking and ways of life.

Mayan contributions, apart from Zero