The Mayans

The vast empire of the ancient Mayans covered what is now Buatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. Spanning the centuries until the 1500s, the Mayan's imperial rule of the region can still be felt and seen today, for they left some of the richest archaeological history and cultural legacies ever known to humankind. There were cities that developed much like today's exurban and suburban growth: sprawling, vast and interconnected. They left temple after temple, most of which we haven't even yet uncovered. When the Mayan Empire was at its zenith, there may have been a million inhabitants in Belize alone, which is four times the population of today.

The Mayans developed astronomy, hieroglyphic writing and calendrical systems, and were famous as well for their elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, which can be appreciated through their pyramids which served as palaces, temples and observatories, built without any type of metal tools. Mayans were skilled weavers, potters and farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and opening routes through jungles to trade with distant peoples, and building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.