What Actually Happened to the Mayan Civilization

The Mayan civilization has deep roots in Mexico, but how did a once great civilization completely disappear? In today's episode, we embark on a thrilling journey through time to uncover the mysterious rise and fall of the mighty Mayan empire.

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[乂]

It's fascinating how the Mayans were so advanced yet fell so mysteriously. Makes you wonder what we can learn from their story.

[tropicalbreadsticksghost]

I went caving in Belize, it was an ancient Mayan cave and the guides said that it was still going on until the 1900s when they were told to stop sacrificing people, now a lot of the things that used to be in the cave are covered by mud and silt from over the years but there were visible skeletons and skulls, pots and broken ceramics. It was pretty scary because the two most visible skeletons were young adults and not from the Mayan culture but people they had kidnapped from other countries. They also said most of the people sacrificed in the cave were young children.

[hqoujen]

I did my Ph.D. In Mesoamerican linguistics. I want to congratulate you on this video. You accurately covered pretty much what we understand to this point. Especially with regard to the calendar. The counting stopped on December 26, 2012 but that signaled a new era rather than the end of the world. I think they might have called that one.

[joshuahoover]

Just think, that jungle has swallowed and hidden more than we can even imagine. Places like Mexico, Central America, Thailand, Vietnam have so much history we have no clue about.

[Mr_Oggie]

I heard they put all their money and effort going in to the calendar business... but then it turned out people didn't want a desktop long count calendar made of stone

[CelticVampireQueen]

Fun fact: The Maya still exist and still speak their own language but they're in the Yucatan.

[freak]

I live in Guatemala, so I know about all the rich history of our culture and beyond, is surprising how horrible it has been to my country but more for the people of the cities outside the capital.

[deercreeksociety]

Y’all have the coolest explanation videos.

[SeahawkGaming-xpbl]

Mayan civilization was NOT an empire, it was a confederation of allied city-states of the same culture and language with no central authority.

[Charlesnature]

I am a Mayan and we still like our old house roof made out of palm trees and walls made out of mud and some eat corn tortilla with pepper that’s just for breakfast lunch dinner and I am from Belize
Just some facts for people

[portfolio]

I heard that the people sacrificed were the Winners of the game, not the losers.

[FFA]

Now do aztec and inca versions of this video

[HI-ejrl]

The infographic Show always makes interesting videos!

[ahmadplayz]

Its 4 am and instead of sleeping I'm watching this

[BrendonKennedy-yloz]

its very sad to think about everything that was lost to an enormous game of telephone

[jocelyn]

“American college students disappointing their parents” 😭😭

[PointmanOps]

The Calendar of the Sun is actually Aztec ( based on the Olmec/Maya Calendars). The Maya Calendar is not only the most accurate and beautiful in the world, it's also a Zodiac calendar.
What's fascinating about the Maya and Mesoamerica in general are their many advances in different fields of study and their accomplishments. Very similar to the Sumarian civilization in accomplishments.
The Maya used the vigesimal system (base- 20 not 10).The Maya invented the "Zero" (0) as it is used today. They only used 3 signs in their mathematics, a dot (1), a bar (5) and a snail or cacao bean (0) and with that they could perform all mathematic calculations. Maya and Mesoamerican gifts to the world are many, but some that stand out because they influenced the entire world: Corn (which they created in the form we know corn today), Chilis (can you imagine a world without chilis?!), Tomatoes (no they didn't originate in Italy) and so much more in the cuisine section alone. There's a fascinating audiobook called, From Maya to Aztec. It really goes deep into the details of the Maya (and all Mesoamerican history). It's a must read if you are curious about everything Maya.
Nice video 👍

[lam]

Guatemala City has almost 2 million inhabitants and almost 4 in the metropolitan area.

[afriedrich]

"in the Mayan world, there was a kind of heaven with 13 different layers and an underworld known as Xibalba, with nine different layers, each ruled by a Death Lord, that the souls of the dead had to pass through before ascending to heaven." They got that right!

[shupichii]

The reason seems pretty logical to me. The same thing kept happening.
Drought->Not Enough Food->Discontent->Leadership Leaves->City Disapears.
Each one was a domino after the first few. Each took in more refugees than their supplies could handle and thus the collapses kept continuing.