what lands did the mayas ocupy?

Question

super important essay

Answer 1

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org
/maya/maya-map.gif

Answer 2

Southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras

Uxmal, Mexico. Reputed to be one of the most beautiful Mayan cities, it holds the only known pyramid with an oval base. The Magician's Pyramid sits on one side of a square noted for its excellent acoustics. Grand terraces offer remarkable views.


Chichen Itza, Mexico. The most famous Mayan city, this was the capital of the second empire, which lasted from about 1000 to 1450. Its enormous pyramids, including the giant Castillo pyramid that houses a jaguar throne, hold remarkable carvings and murals. A nearby cenote, or natural well, was used for human sacrifices to the rain god.


Tulum, Mexico. Between 1200 and 1450, this seacoast city became a major Mayan port and the center of a vast trading network.


Tikal, Guatemala. The largest known Mayan city, Tikal is believed to have been home to more than 55,000 people in the year 700. The 60-square-mile site holds numerous pyramids, shrines, and ball courts, where Mayans played a sometimes dangerous version of soccer, reportedly using as balls human skulls, which could do serious damage if kicked into an opponent.


Copan, Honduras. A southern outpost of the first Mayan empire, which lasted from 300 to about 900, Copan boasts some of the best preserved ball courts ever found, along with the longest known Mayan stone inscription. The document has helped archaeologists decode some of the culture's mysterious hieroglyphs.

Answer 3

Lots of geographic errors above me!

Mollyflan is mostly correct, but needs to credit her source: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/spirits/html/body_maya.html

Preppy gave a good map link and, if you look at it closely, you'll see that the Mayan lands included the southern portion of Mexico (the states of Chiapas, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo), Guatemala, Belize, and portions of El Salvador and Honduras. These areas are located within North America (Mexico) and Central America (Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras). South America was NOT part of Mayan territory.

You'll find some more information on the site below.

Answer 4

Mexico and Central America... I just recently came back from a cruise where I toured a set of ruins in Mexico near Costa Maya... and another set of ruins in Belize, which is a small country bordering Nicaragua. It was a really amazing site.
I am not quite sure how far south into central america they went but the empire was quite large.

Answer 5

I have found two maps showing where the Mayans lived. One shows that at one point the Mayans lived in the southern part of Mexico, mostly the Yucatan Peninsula, but extended south, covering present-day Belize, Guatamala, El Salvador, and part of Honduras.

However, the other says that their realm only streched to about half of Guatamala. I think these two maps show different time periods.

Answer 6

south mexico north south america.
Much of Maya culture, particularly the religious reckoning of time, is still a vital aspect of Native American life in Guatemala and HondurasClassic Maya culture developed in three regions in Mesoamerica. By far the most important and most complete urban developments occurred in the lowlands in the "central region" of southern Guatemala. This region is a drainage basin about sixty miles long and twenty miles wide and is covered by tropical rain forest; the Mayas, in fact, are only one of two peoples to develop an urban culture in a tropical rainforest. The principal city in this region was Tikal, but the spread of urbanization extended south to Honduras; the southernmost Mayan city was Copan in northern Honduras. In the Guatemalan highlands to the north, Mayan culture developed less fully. The highlands are more temperate and seem to have been the main suppliers of raw materials to the central urban centers. The largest and most complete urban center was Palenque. The other major region of Mayan development was the Yucatan peninsula making up the southern and eastern portions of modern-day Mexico

Answer 7

The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central and South America. Their civilization extended to parts of what is now Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, and most of Guatemala and Belize. Copan was once a thriving center of Maya civilization. From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphic writing, and a complex social and political order. Looking at the impressive remains of ancient Maya civilization, it's hard to imagine how such a society could collapse.

Answer 8

The Mayan Empire occupied modern Mexico, Honduras, and Belize.

Answer 9

What is now Southern Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and parts of Costa Rica.

Answer 10

I live in Southern Illinois and a collector friend of mine has a large piece of Jade(a nearly life sized head) and ceremonial knives that must be Mayan,that he found in this county. So,they traded this far North,if that counts.

Answer 11

Mexico & Cental America until the Spaniards arrived.