Mayan History
The first society to settle the Riviera Maya were the Maya, an Indian people who developed one of the most advanced civilization in Mesoamerica, the region of southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, Belize, and northern El Salvador.  Researchers believe their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait at least 25,000 years ago when glacial ice enabled passage from Siberia to Alaska.  Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., the Maya rose to prominence around 250 A.D. and flourished for a millennium, to be eventually conquered by the Spanish in the 16^th century. 

The early Maya are recognized for their religious beliefs and practices, the foundation for their way of life.  As notable are their intellectual achievements that were manifested in great construction feats as well as tremendous advancements in mathematics, astronomy and writing system.  The Maya developed one of the most sophisticated cultures in the ancient world.

To most of us, the Maya are known for their elaborate architecture in which they created temples, palaces and brilliant pyramids.  Researchers are baffled as to how the Maya were able to accomplish such engineering marvels without cutting instruments or use of wheeled transport.  Without the wheel, draft animals or metal cutting tools, Mayans built magnificent cities, and cleared routes through jungles to create extensive trade networks with distant peoples.  Interesting, apparently they had toys with wheels, yet for an unknown reason, the wheel was never developed for commercial use.  Did something else perform a similar function, or did the concept elude them?  

Through knowledge acquired from contact with earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed a well-formed, highly communicative writing system that was the most advanced in the Americas.  As opposed to alphabetic letters, it consisted of symbols to represent sounds and ideas, which were written phonetically and followed principles of grammar.  Writers of the elite intelligentsia wrote manuscripts on bark paper painted with quill feathers, and then folded and wrapped it in jaguar skin.  Although hundreds of manuscripts were produced, catholic missionaries considered them sacrilegious and therefore burned all they found.  Currently, only four manuscripts, known as codices, have been recovered: The Madrid, The Paris, The Dresden, and The Golier Codex.

Two other remarkable ancient books have been discovered that reveal important information about Mayan religion, spirituality and practices.  The Popol Vuh is considered the bible of the Maya.  A Mayan Quiché native in Guatemala transcribed it in 1558.  After being lost for almost two centuries, the manuscript was discovered by Father Francisco Ximenez, a priest who found it in his church in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and translated it into Spanish.  The Popol Vuh elaborately describes the creation of the universe, according to Mayan beliefs and legends.  Another key book, found in the Yucatán, is the Chilam Balam.  Written in Mayan language using Latin script, it reveals Mayan astrology, history, medicinal practices and prophecies. 

Among the Mayas most remarkable achievements were important advancements made in mathematics and astronomy.  The Maya are credited as the first people to use the number zero in mathematics, regarded as a significant intellectual achievement.  A dot represented the number one, a bar five, and a special symbol represented zero.  Their math system was developed based on the number 20 and enabled the development of a calendar system, as well as accurate astronomical observations and predictions.

Through the observation of the sun, moon and stars, priests developed tables that accurately forecast eclipses and the orbit of the planet Venus.  They also developed a calendar of 365 days, based on the orbit of the earth around the sun that was more accurate than the one used in Europe at the time.  The days were divided into 18 months of 20 days, plus 5 days at the end of the year, a period considered very unlucky.  During these five days, the Maya fasted and avoided unnecessary activity, other than religious sacrifices.  

The Maya worshipped time and identified five great cycles of time that measured the evolution of human life on earth.  Jaguars represented the first world cycle that destructed the earth, the second cycle caused by air, the third by fire, and the fourth by a great flood.  The fifth cycle, in which we are currently living in, is destined to end man’s reign in the world by a catastrophic earthquake.  The Maya believed this present cycle began August 13, 3114 B.C. and would end December 22, 2012.  This would complete the end of another solar cycle of almost 5,200 years which, together with the other four great cycles, total 26,000 years, a duration that approximates the known 25,920-year cycle of the precession of the equinoxes.

“There was nothing standing;

Only the calm water, the placid seas,

alone and tranquil.

Nothing existed.

Then they planned the creation,

And the growth of trees and thickets

and the birth of life.

Thus let it be done!

Let the emptiness be filled!

Let the water recede and make a void.

Let the earth appear and become solid;

Let it be done, thus they spoke.

Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and

on the earth!”

Popol Vuh

Religion played a prominent role in the daily life of the Maya as each day had special religious importance.  Mayan manuscripts indicate that more than 160 gods and goddesses associated with nature were worshipped; for instance, Chac the rain god and Kinich Ahau the sun god.  The Maya considered their gods to be helpful or harmful.  To seek their assistance or avoid their wrath, elaborate religious ceremonies were held throughout the year.  The Maya also needed to fast, pray and offer animal (deer, turkeys and dogs) – and human sacrifices – to feed the gods. 

Human sacrifice was a common religious practice.  It was thought to ensure fertility, demonstrate devoutness, and appease the gods.  Without such sacrifices, it was believed that bad luck, chaos, or cosmic disorder would occur.  When important leaders or rulers died, servants were killed at funerals and buried with their master to accompany them in the next world.  Players of a type of ball game literally played their “hearts-out” as loosing players were typically sacrificed by being rolled down the stairway of temples. 

Bloodletting was also a common ritual that was thought to nourish and sustain the gods.  Undertaken by the ruling family, typically the king and queen, every important societal event – from planting crops to the start or end of war – required the drawing of blood which was usually drawn from the tongue or earlobes. 

Bloodletting also served to witness the form of god or an ancestor.  At the height of an elaborate ceremonial dance performed before thousands in a large plaza, the king would pierce his penis using the spine of a sting-ray, as blood from genitals was considered especially powerful.   The queen at this time would splice her tongue.  String would be drawn through their wounds to further increase the blood flow.  Blood caught on strips of paper would be burned in a ceremonial fire and produce columns of smoke in which a shape of a god would be observed by a hallucinating king (due to the affects of blood loss, drugs and fasting).      

Mayans lived in close-knit extended families and everyone played a role to accomplish chores and tasks.  Farming was the main economic activity for the working class.  The work of men and older boys, it involved mainly clearing fields and planting crops of corn, beans and squash.  Males also did most of the hunting and fishing.  Women and older daughters looked after the children, made clothing, gathered firewood and water, and prepared the food. 

Corn was the Maya’s principal food.  It was prepared a variety of ways including corn cakes, what is now known as tortillas.  They also used corn to make an alcoholic drink called balche that was sweetened with honey and spiced with bark.  The Maya did not have schools; children learned and developed skills by working alongside their parents.  Religious festivals were favorite events for social and recreational activities.  People would enjoy a great feast, music and dance. 

The Maya also enjoyed watching a violent ball game where defeat meant death.  It involved hitting a rubber ball through a stone ring.  Teams had one to four players and only men were allowed to participate.  Players wore protective clothing and were required to hit the ball without use of the hands or feet.  The ball, which could not touch the ground, was controlled with the upper arms, hips, thighs and torso.  The game served as a gladiator contest as a captured royal or government official of another city “played” to avoid being sacrificed.  Players who lost were pushed into a ball shape and rolled down the steep stairway of a temple to their death. 

Classic Period 250 - 900 A.D.

Mayan civilization was most prominent from 250 - 900 A.D.  During this era, the Maya made their most significant scientific and artistic achievements, and established their first great cities.  At the peak of Mayan civilization, there were more than 40 cities with populations from 5,000 to 50,000.  The northern Yucatan including Cancun was sparsely populated for most of the Classic

The Classic period saw the Maya develop into a hierarchical society based on classes and professions: farmers/laborers represented today’s blue collar worker, craftsmen and merchants were the so-called middle class, and the elite were the scribes and priests.  At the extreme ends of the social-economic hierarchy were slaves and royalty.  A king was the head of government; he represented a community within a clearly defined territory. 

After 900 A.D., Mayan civilization of the central lowlands declined significantly.  The great cities emptied and eventually became overgrown by jungle.  Although it is unclear why societies quickly deteriorated, given the rapidness of the population decline, researchers believe the cause was likely famine due to drought and/or trade disruption because of war.  The Maya were constantly at war with their neighbors for land as well as people who were used for slavery and human sacrifice. 

Post Classic Period 900 - 1500 A.D.

As the cities in the South declined, urban centers sprung up in the Yucatan Peninsula.  During the Post Classic period, three new power centers emerged: Chichen Itza (near Valladolid), Uxmal (near Merida) and Mayapan (west of Chichen Itza).  Although scientific accomplishments are not considered as notable as during the Classic Period, artwork and architecture is impressive.  Most of the ruins in the Riviera Maya are from this time period and are certainly worth a visit, particularly Tulum.

Between 1000 and 1250 A.D., Chichen Itza was the dominant Mayan city and controlled the northern Yucatan due to the influence of the Toltec, a group from central Mexico that had conquered the city.  However, in the 13^th century, when the Toltec capital of Tula north of Mexico City was destroyed, Chichen Itza also fell from power.  It was replaced by Mayapan which ruled for about 200 years.  In 1441, the Maya who had previously ruled Uxmal destroyed the city of Mayapan and founded a new city at Mani.  Wars were fought between rival Mayan groups over territory until the Spanish eventually conquered the region.  

The Spanish Conquest

The colonization of the islands of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) and Cuba provided the Spanish with a good base to explore the Caribbean.  In 1517, Hernandez de Cordoba as head of an expedition to find slaves, gold and new territory, discovered Isla Mujeres, an island northeast of Cancun.  His voyage south down the Yucatan coast was costly however as heavy casualties were suffered at battles with the Maya.  Two years later, Hernan Cortez ventured west across the Gulf of Mexico to Veracruz where he confronted the Aztec, the most powerful group in the Americas.  The Spanish conquered the Aztec empire in little over a year, but it took another twenty years to conquer the Yucatan.

Following Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, the Yucatan Maya lost what few safeguards against economic and social exploitation Spanish rule had provided.  The country’s new Creole leaders and Yucatan ruling classes ignored Mayan ancestral land claims which saw huge tracts of land developed for commercial cultivation of tobacco, sugarcane, and henequen, a cactus used to make rope that would bring significant wealth to landowners into the first half of the 20^th century.  Not only had the Maya lost much of the land, they became debt-enslaved to work in these plantations.  

To escape their plight, the Yucatan Maya rebelled against their masters in a major uprising that started in July 1847 called the Caste War.  The Maya attacked Spanish villages armed with guns acquired from English settlers from Belize as well as from Yucatan landowners who had earlier trained the Maya to defend Yucatan's secession in 1846. 

After just over one year, the Maya controlled the peninsula except for Campeche, a walled city and Merida, the capital that was on the verge of capture.  At this time, however, the winged ant appeared.  They turned their back on certain victory to return to their villages to plant corn for the season.  The Maya believed that at the first appearance of the winged ant, corn had to be sowed without delay, otherwise Chac, the rain god would be offended and cause drought.  The Maya’s withdrawal from the occupied territory enabled the Mexican government to send reinforcements to the Yucatan and drive the Maya to Chan Santa Cruz.  The Maya resisted for several years, but disease and weapons shortages forced them to surrender in 1901.

The Mayan People Today

Land reform in the 1930s assisted to socially and economically liberalize the Maya and the poor of the Yucatan peninsula.  President Lazaro Cardenas (1934 – 1940) distributed 25% of land controlled by landowners as parcels to small farmers.  By 1936, farming villages in Quintana Roo had received land and occupied territory that amounted to approximately half of the state. 

Although greater than half the Maya in the Yucatan today reside in traditional agricultural-based villages and towns, many have migrated to urban centers to take advantage of jobs opportunities, particularly in the high-growth tourism industry, thanks to the government’s successful development of Cancun in the 1970s.  Many of the Yucatan Maya whose ancestors once built great pyramids and cities, are now building hotels and working in resorts and tourist businesses. 

The population of the Maya in the peninsula is almost half a million.  They speak their native Yukatek, one of about thirty principal Mayan languages, as well as Spanish learned at school or at work.  Although greater than five million Maya reside in other areas of Central America, particularly the state of Chiapas and the highlands of Guatemala, the Yucatan has the highest percentage of native people in Mexico.  

While much of Mayan culture has been lost, many traditions are still practiced based on ancient beliefs of the natural world.  Plants, herbs and trees are still used for medical purposes and traditional shaman healing rituals are followed.  Villages also participate in cha-chak ceremonies to ensure sufficient rain for crops.  The Maya are today benefiting from a new interest and appreciation of indigenous people that is revitalizing their culture.  It appears the Maya will again have their place in the sun.

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