The Mayan civilization were one of the most important Meso american cultures. They were a innovative civilization that controlled most of the land that stretched from southern Mexico to northern Central American. The Mayan civilization started in 250 A.D and disappeared during the 1500's most likely because of Spanish invasion. “Mayan civilization not only dominated the region in pre-Colombian times, but also it has captivated world attention more than a thousand years after it has collapsed (Foster)". According to Foster, the Mayan civilization has made a lasting impression on the world. Their lingering effect on the world is due to the fact the Mayans made many achievements in the areas of architecture, trade, religion, math, and astronomy.

The Mayans were skilled in the field of architecture.Their architecture would include awe-inspiring observatories, palaces, ball courts, and stelaes which were intricate and detailed statues dedicated to a specific god. Mayan pyramids were based on Mesoamerican design and similar in style to the ziggurats of the ancient Mesopotamians and pyramids of the Inca. All three buildings would have a long staircase, leading up to a temple dedicated to a certain god. Although the Mayans focused on man made features for their architecture, they would also integrate natural resources. ”Mayan architecture tends to integrate a great degree of natural features...depending upon the location and availability of natural resources such as fresh-water wells, or cenotes, the city grew by connecting great plazas with the numerous platforms that created the sub-structure for nearly all Maya buildings(Miller 65-66)” According to Miller, the location and access of a natural resource, for example, fresh water or mountainous terrain would help them to consider the place of the buildings(Miller 66). The most available natural resource that was used in Mayan construction was limestone. Not only was limestone used in palaces, temples and platforms as foundation, but would also be used to make mortar, a cement-like mixture. They would crush, burn or melt down the limestone with other materials such as wood to create mortar. Mortar would be used to strengthen Mayan platforms and decorate temples. Architecture was just one of the many accomplishments that the Mayans achieved. The Mayans excellent traders. Trade was one of most important things that kept Mayan cities going. The economy was simply supply and demand. Their trade would consist of food, raw materials, manufactured goods, luxuries and services.The most important goods were salt, obsidian, cacao, jade and quetzal feathers. All were considered luxury items except for salt. Salt was a necessary part of their diet but was also needed to preserve their food.The Mayans would also barter for any other basic needs to support their economy. They had special craft men to create luxury items since there was a large demand for them from people high up in Mayan social class such as kings, nobles and priests. They did not have an official currency, but mainly used cacao beans because they were luxury items that were used to make chocolate which was considered to be given to the Mayans by the gods. The Mayans traded with cultures closer to their homeland, including the Zapotecs, the Toltecs and other groups. ”...[and]participated in long-distance trade with many of the Mesoamerican cultures, including Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, and other groups in central and gulf-coast México, the Caribbean islands and down up to Colombia”. The Mayans had trading ports mostly on the far northwestern coast of Central America,near the gulf of Honduras where they mainly traded necessities like salt and cotton. The rest of their trading ports were towards southern Mexico were they mostly traded luxury items like jade, cacao and obsidian. Since all of their trading ports were located near the coast, their sea trade routes went through all of the ports mostly, just for transportation to either the north or south to be able to trade easily. Trade was just one accomplishment among the many achievements the Mayans had attained

The Mayans were very strong in their religious beliefs. They believed that each day, month and year was a burden on the back of specific god. This is what made each day fortunate or unfortunate for them .When the day, month or year was over a different god would carry the burden (Rogers 265-267). The holy calender kept track of all of this and would tell which god was in charge of each day. A religious tradition the Mayans eagerly participated in were animal and human sacrifices everyday in order to receive good fertility,of the earth to grow good crops. They also did this as a celebration of victory after a battle. Similarly to the Aztecs, the Mayans were very bloody when it came to sacrifices.”...self-sacrifice, in the form of ritual bloodletting, was a way to make contact with the gods or their ancestor... including drawing blood from the tongue, and the earlobes,....neglecting to perform such sacrifices, they believed, could result in chaos and cosmic disorder (Neffa).” According to Neffa, the Mayan performed such bloody rituals to make contact with their gods and ancestors. Even though the Mayans were violent with their rituals, they still preferred order and control.The Mayan mainly worshiped gods of nature. For instance, Chac was the Mayan god of rain. He controlled fertility and agriculture, which is why the Mayans worshipped him so often. Yumil Kaxob was the Mayan god of maize. His fortunes and misfortunes controlled the rain and drought which controlled the crops. The Mayan inscribed hieroglyphic texts describing cermonies and rituals in cermaics, books and the walls of architecture. The Mayan believed that when someone died, their soul was transported to the afterlife or Xibalba, the Place of Fright. Symbolized by the jaguar, Xibalba had nine realms controlled by sinister gods. The Mayans believe that access to heaven was only for those who had been sacrificed or died in childbirth(Neffa). Everyone else was condemned to Xibalba. Access to Xibalba from the living world was only accessible through caves. Even though the Mayan were violent with some of their traditions they still had made a lasting impression on the world with their religion.
The Mayans were extraordinary mathematicians. Their architecture, religion and trade all had some mathematical influence. They would use math in their design for buildings and use numbers to figure out currency when trading. The Mayans believe that numbers, such as 13 and 20, had patron gods and certain combination of numbers had sacred meanings. The Mayans had a positional based system similar to our modern-day system, but instead of a decimal system which is based on the number 10, they used a vigesimal based system which was based on 20. The Mayans were very skilled with their math system, unlike the ancient Romans who struggled with their difficult math system. Mayan math was also used to create both of their calendars. “...developed cyclical tables on the movements of planets and stars, and with their mathematics they could predict celestial events far into the future as well as describe mythic events thousands of years into the past.(Foster)”. Using their mathematical system, the Mayans kept track of their observations of the stars and created their calender. Although the Mayans made many achievements, their mathematical system was one of their greatest.

Of all the Mayan achievements, their astronomy was perhaps their greatest accomplishment. Mesoamerican astronomy was considered to be the same concept as astrology to the Mayan. Using only the naked eye, the Mayans would manipulated astronomy as much as they could. “...they predicted equinoxes and solstices, the rise and set of Pleiades, and much more...without telescopes, but with carefully positioned window slats and specially aligned buildings, the Mayan exploited naked-eye astronomy to its limits.(Foster)”. The Mayans managed to make one of the most accurate calendars in history with the use of a telescope. The Mayans actually had two calendars; a holy calendar and a solar calendar. The Tzolkin, their holy calendar, was composed of 260 days a year, 13 months, and 20 named days (Beck). The holy calendar purpose was to inform people of religious dates and harvest times.”...the days of various seasonal festivities for propitiating the gods of rain, hunting, fishing,corn growing, cacao culture, medicine and so on.(Makemson 17)”The holy calendar had authority of the lives of everyone from rulers to farmers. It declared to the people what god to worship that day, all so determined which god was in charge of which day. The Haab, their solar calendar was composed of 365 days a year, 18 months, 20 days and 5 days left over at the of the year. The Haab was the least significant of the two calendars, but still an important part of Mayan life. It’s purpose was only to inform the people of the seasons and when it was best to grow crops. The Mayans incorporated astronomy into several aspects of their life such as agriculture, religion, mathematics, etc. Mayan astronomy was the greatest of the Mayan achievements.

Overall, the Mayans made several accomplishments and achievements in the fields of architecture, trade, religion, mathematics and astronomy. Architecture, trade, religion, mathematics were very important but the most important was religion. If the Mayans had not developed their astronomy as much as they did, they wouldn’t have been as far advanced in those 4 aspects. Palaces, temples, and pyramids were all types of architecture that were affected by astronomy. In the temples , priests would worship a different god everyday according to the Mayan holy calendar. The calendar was used to help people know which god carried the burden each day and which god to worship each day. Math was used to create the Mayan calendar and numbers were considered to be patron gods. Because of all of their many accomplishments, the Mayan legacy is still remembered today