Why Did The Mayan Collapse Case Study

Maya Collapses”
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Questions........................................................................................
a. Why is the Maya collapse so well documented, fairly more straightforward to decipher, and especially interesting to study? According to Diamond, the Mayan was culturally amongst the most advanced societies in the pre-Columbian New World. Meaning before America, the Mayans were exceptionally skilled in their preserved writings, architecture, and art had reached its prosperity and also its decline.

b. Describe how precipitation and water availability varies in the Mayan homeland and how this was problematic. How did the Mayans deal with this?

It was presumed that the Mayans lived in a “tropical rainforest” setting but

The Mayan population had increasingly grew when they began to farm in the pocket lands of the Copan Valley. With the cities being overpopulated it became increasingly difficult to provide food and water for those who inhabited the area. Because the Mayans depended on water that was being collected and held in manmade basins or small rivers and lakes this would not be enough to support a population of millions. The hillsides had not been populated because of the settling of sediments which caused erosion and the leaching of nutrients. The infertile hill soil would make its way down to the valley pockets where most of the inhabitants were, destroying the soils there which would reduce the growth of crops. Farmers would then began to feud over land which would decrease areas to grow crops. The drought at the time of the collapse had been classified as the most severe because there had still been uninhabited land prior, people could move to other parts of the land that had not been affected.

d.What does Diamond mean when he refers to the Mayan collapse as “Malthusian”?

When Diamond refer to the Mayan collapse as “Malthusian” he is saying population growth is increasingly higher than agriculture growth. Stating “Too many farmer grew too many crops on too much of the landscape.” This means the depletion of trees and hillside erosion causing more environmental problems for the Mayan people. Decreasing useable farmland creating a manmade drought through deforestation and soil problems.

e.What are some of the parallels between the Mayans and modern societies? Provide