Geography of Mayan Civilization By Sam Schoenfeld, Justin Lee, Noah Woods-Bannan, and Stephanie Miscoll

Mayan’s Terrain The Mayan land is located in Southern Mexico and it extends through Northern Central America. The Mayan’s land is separated into 3 different zones. One zone is the Southern Highlands which includes high areas in Guatemala and the Chiapas highlands. The next zone is the Central Mayan lowlands. The Central Maya area contained a rain forest, and had the sites of Tikal and Palenque. The last zone is the Northern Maya lowlands. By Sam Schoenfeld

Climate of The Mayan region The Mayans generally lived in the Central American region. This includes countries such as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Yucatán Peninsula and El Salvador. Usually in this region, there are no winters. During winters, the coldest temperature is around 18 degrees Celsius, which is about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. In the regions were the Mayans lived, the temperature was fairly high, and it was also very humid as well. Additionally, since the Mayans were living in Central America, they did experience quite a lot of rainfall. All in all, the climate in the Central American region, where the mayans lived, was very hot and very sunny. By Justin Lee

Where the Mayans traveled The Mayans mainly traveled through the rain forests of Guatemala. They also went through Palenque and Tikal. When they did this they traveled with their groups.The Mayans lasted this from 300 to 900 A.D. By Noah Woods - Bannan

Features that impacted the Mayan life Some features that impacted the Mayan life are the weather. The weather impacted the Mayans life because the weather is warm and wet, which makes crops grow easily. Some other things are the lowlands and the highlands. Lowlands mostly produced crops were used for personal needs (the Mayans ate all the crops in the lowlands). Some of the things that they grew in the lowlands are squash, beans, and chilli peppers. Rain was very common in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico the average amount was 160 inches per year, it rains mostly in October. The highlands are a wide area of mountains and valleys near the Pacific Ocean. Since the highlands are so close to the Ocean tsunamis are not uncommon, there are also volcanoes. The volcanic highlands, produce precious goods such as jade and obsidian they used those materials to trade. There were many dangerous animals such as jaguar and caiman (fierce crocodile), bull sharks, and poisonous snakes. By Stephanie Miscoll

Fun Facts There are still Mayans living in their original home regions. Also, some still speak the Mayan language. You can still visit the areas where the Mayans used to live many, many years ago. A lot of the fascinating ruins are underground in places such as Guatemala. Mayans enjoyed the heat, so the Central American climate was perfect for them. The land of Maya is a chain of volcanoes that runs through Guatemala and are still active today. Some Mayan pyramids are built to reflect space events, such as the equinox. The last Mayan state existed until 1697.

Works Cited "Geography." Geography. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. "Mayan Geography | Maya Maps." Mayan Geography | Maya Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014. By Sam Schoenfeld