The Mayas

Historical Development

Preclassic (about 1800 BC to 250 AD)

During this period the features which give Mayan culture its distinctive character are structured, with various influences from other Mesoamerican groups, such as the Olmecs from the Mexican Gulf Coast. The emergence of agriculture allows the development of the first villages. Specific constructions for religious worship are built, society becomes hierarcherized and occupations diversify.

Classic (about 250 AD to 900 AD)

Through the increase in population, the settlements become urban centers having a well organized religious and civil power structure, which is governed by a ruling class invested with sacred powers. In this flourishing period scientific knowledge and the arts are developed. Towards the IX century, a historical process is unleashed, evident in the gradual abandonment of many of the great cities of the central area.

Postclassic (about 900 AD to 1800 AD)

A great cultural change occurs in the north of the Yucatán peninsula, brought about by the arrival of outside groups. During this period many activities are secularized, due to the predominance of militarism; contacts with various populations increase and commerce acquires great importance. New gods and cults are introduced, the study of science decreases and new artistic styles arise.

The Mayan Culture

Mayan navigation routes

The Mayans settle in an extensive territory that embraces the present-day Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo and parts of Tabasco and Chiapas, as well as Guatemala, Belize and the western regions of Honduras and El Salvador. The pre-hispanic Mayan historical development covers almost 3400 years, from the establishment of the first villages, around 1800 BC, to the gradual subjection to the Spanish Crown from the 16th century onwards.

Everyday life

Maise is the cultural and economic heart of the Mayan culture. Through the domestication and cultivation of maize man can lay the foundations for a sedentary society, develop his spiritual activities and foster the arts. Because maize is the main source of food for the Mayan people, in the prehispanic period it is thought of as being a sacred substance from which man is made and through which man is conscious of himself and of the gods, whom he has to worship.

The animal world also represents an important source of food: hunting, fishing and beekeeping coexist with agriculture. While men devote themselves to these activities and to the sowing of maize and other products, such as beans, squash and chili, women, apart from bringing up and educating the children, look after the domestic animals, such as turkeys and dogs, they cultivate the kitchen gardens and they weave the clothes.

Commerce

During the post-classic period, with the immigration of the Putunes or Chrontal Mayans from the Gulf Coast, trade takes on a central role in Mayan life. It reaches its peak with the establishment of exchange centers and the consolidation of maritime routes around the Yucatán peninsula. It is based more on luxury articles rather than on maize and other agricultural products, amongst which jade, shells, feathers and gold abound, as well as cotton, wax, honey and salt.

The Mayans, skillful navigators, transport most of the goods by sea using long canoes measuring more than two meters in width. For internal transport the merchants use the navigable rivers and the sacbé or white paths, causeways which join together the main towns, and they use maps made on cotton cloths to guide them. The cacao seed is used as money, although stone and copper axes, red shells, feathers and stone beads are also used. During this period, Bakhalal, apart from standing out as a trade center, supplies the region's inhabitants with canoes.

On the Eve of the 16th Century

Chieftancies

At the end of the 9th century AD various groups from Gulf coast and influenced by ideologies from the center of Mexico, reach the north of the Yucatán peninsula and settle in Uxmal, Mayapán and Chichén Itzá, in time the latter will become the most important city in the region.

Around 1200 AD Mayapán surpasses Chichén Itzá's power, establishing itself as the nerve center of a confederation made up of the great cities of the north, imposing its hegemony over all the groups in the peninsula. In the mid-15th century a broad rebel movement splits the confederation by which any kind of centralized power disappears, creating the political fragmentation of the peninsula and a perpetual warlike conflict between the different groups.

When the Spanish arrived these constant wars had led to a political and cultural decadence. The Yucatán peninsula is divided into 16 political chieftaincies, of which Tazés, Ecab, Cochuah, Chactemal and Uaymil occupy the eastern part that corresponds to the present-day state of Quintana Roo. During this period Bakhalal, which belongs to the Uaymil chieftaincy, stands out as a trading center.