< [up a level]

It is not known when the first Mayan speaking people came to Central America, however the high point in their civilization was between 300-900 AD. During this time, a Mayan city could have as many as 40,000 people. The Mayan civilization covered a broad area including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and parts of Mexico. In the center of each city, the Mayans built temples that were used for religious ceremonies and human sacrifices. The Mayans are well known for their very accurate calendar and their study of astronomy. The Mayan writing system was so complicated that only a few upper class priests fully knew all the symbols. Archaeologists would have known even more about Mayan life if Diego de Landa, a Franciscan friar, had not burned many of their books and documents. He burned their books because he was frustrated that he was unable to convert them to Christianity. Many people say that Hernando Cortes destroyed the Mayan civilization, but most of the cities were already deserted by the time he arrived in Central America.