Mr. Wilson AP World History

 Never form a unified political system  Do create a unified culture  Larger city-states dominated smaller city- states  Large city-states built elaborate commercial and religious centers  Chichen-Itza

 Cultivated maize, cotton, and cacao  Increased agricultural production by draining swamps, terraced fields, and irrigation ditches  Led to environmental degradation  Hereditary nobility controlled most of the land  Maya merchants came from ruling class  Traded primarily in luxury products

 Elite women participated in bloodletting rituals and other ceremonies  Women rarely held any political power  Common women played a role in agriculture and textile production  Coercive labor used to build large palaces and temples King Nobles: Priests & Warriors Merchants Peasants Slaves

 Polytheistic  Cosmos consisted of three layers: the heavens, the human world, and the underworld  Priests could communicate with residents of both supernatural worlds  Mayan developments: calendar, writing system, and mathematics  Used to determine religious holidays

 Had to please the gods via sacrifice  Piercing of bodies with needle  Human Sacrifice  Sacrificed prisoners of war, slaves, and children

 Understood movement of heavenly bodies  Invented the concept of zero  Calculated the length of a solar year  Off by 17 seconds  Created an elaborate calendar  Two calendars: solar and ritual  Glyphic writing system

 Maya city-states were abandoned or destroyed between CE  Causes for decline include:  The disruption of trade after the decline of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico  Environmental degradation caused by overpopulation  Epidemic disease