Concept in Definition ABC

A pre-Columbian ethnic group that occupied the territory of Mesoamerica (current Mexico and Central American countries such as Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala) and which was one of the most significant groups with regard to legacycultural of all pre-Columbian America. The Mayans, or the civilization Maya, are remembered along with the Aztecs and the Incas (located in North and South America respectively) as one of the most powerful civilizations of the world. continent.

Although the Mayan civilization is usually confused or assimilated to the Aztec civilization (perhaps because both are located in regions nearby), we can point to the former as a civilization that developed cultural issues such as the art, the architecture, language and writing, religion, astronomy and science. It is all these elements that make the Mayan civilization one of the most important today in terms of the legacy that many of the current populations of America possess.

The Mayans were a group of native people from the current Mesoamerican area who founded and inhabited numerous cities such as Mayapán, Toniná, Copán, Uxmal, Cobá, Tulum, Tikal, Piedras Negras, Pomoná and the famous Chichén Itzá where the incredible stepped pyramids are located, one of the most significant and recognizable features of all civilizations pre-Columbian. We consider that the Mayans managed to form a civilization due to the cultural imprint that this ethnic group left not only in their own villages if not in many others that were subsequently conquered by Aztecs and then by Spanish people.

We can say that the Mayans were not characterized by developing a very powerful state as the Aztecs and Incas did with their empires. The politics Maya was clearly hierarchical but as this was not a particularly conquering and warrior people, these elements never stood out as much as they did did their impressive cultural achievements that would later be absorbed and assimilated by the different civilizations that conquered their territories.