The Mayan Civilization

Jade Lawton
Mrs Judy Liebenberg
The coming of the Spanish to the Americas was catastrophic for the indigenous Mayan civilisation.

The coming of the European to the Americas was catastrophic for the indigenous American civilisations because the Mayan was conquered by the Spanish in a brutal and harsh way. The Mayan built an ancient civilization that stretched throughout much of Central America. The Maya civilization was never unified but rather made up of numerous small provinces, ruled by kings, each a centred on a city. Sometimes, a stronger Maya province would dominate a weaker province and be able to exact tribute and labour from it. The Mayan civilisation was known as the land of riches, that was one of the many reasons why the Spanish

When the Spanish vessel under the commando Valdivia sank, all 18 were captured and 4 of them were sacrificed. The Spanish arrived in 1515 and 1516,they brought with them diseases that caused the Mayan population to decline. In 1546 the city of Merida was founded and served as a capital for Spanish incursions to the South. In 1618 Spanish churches were constructed to try convert the Mayan into believing in Christ. In 1695 and 1696 the Spanish decided to subjugate the Petén Itza by force.. The Spanish would hurl native Americans into pits with sharpened stakes if the dared to resist them. The Native Americans dug pits for the Spanish to ride into but the Spanish used the pits against them and threw the Native American They revolted against the Spanish. The Spanish engaged in a strategy of concentrating native populations in newly founded colonial towns and as a result of them trying to create native populations many of the settlements fled to inaccessible regions or to join other Mayan groups not yet involved in the conflict. Maya prepared for battle but the Spanish beat them. The Spanish massacred the Mayan but the Mayan launched a coordinated attack in response but, the rebels retreated after a savage counter attack. When the Spaniards enslaved the Mayans, if a Mayan revolted they were burnt alive and hung because the Spanish believed that if they did not keep the Mayan at a constant state of fear the Mayan would rise up against them. The Spanish would hurl native Americans into pits with sharpened stakes if the dared to resist them. The