MAYANS
2000 BC-1524 AD
The Mayans were found to be a very highly developed civilization. They lived in the jungle of Mexico and Central-America. The Mayan culture was the most developed culture in the whole of ancient America. This culture ruled Peten's and Jukatani's peninsula for thousands of years. 40-50 years ago everyone thought Mayans were a peace-loving community who studied the movements of planets and lived their own world. But recent readings of hieroglyphics and fortresses found in excavations show that Mayans were very violent, in fact perhaps one of the most war-prone people in the ancient world. The Mayans were very intelligent as evidenced by their books, calendars, study of astronomy, and number system. It's amazing that Mayans lived in Central-America's tropical rain forest because that was a very difficult place to build mighty cities and at the same time invent some of the best inventions in the world. Many anthropologists have decided that the Mayan-culture developed some place other than the rain forest, as the rain forest was too hostile an environment to build mighty cities.