Mayas.

Formerly powerful people, the Mayas preserve many mysteries. The origin of their civilization known as preclassical Era seems to go up in the neighbourhoods of 2500 front J-C. One knows some already a little more over the period known as Classical Era which extends from 250 to 900 ap J-C. One then attends the emergence of 2 large rival metropolises Tikal and Calakmul. The latter ends up carrying it towards the Life century and dark Maya civilization for a short period in a relative somnolence until the last start which will see the emergence of many States cities and the apogee of the Maya culture.

Geographically, this civilization covered the current territories with Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán in Mexico, of Guatemala, finally some portions of Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.

The postclassic Era sees the collapse of this civilization for reasons still badly explained: Indeed, without apparent reason, the Maya leave their cities and turn over to the jungle.
Obviously, the arrival of Spanish will not arrange the things, but with or without them, it would seem that the fate of the Maya was already sealed.

Maya architecture.
The Maya cities were built according to the very hierarchical system : In the center the official buildings (royal acropolis, temples...) surrounded of the residences of noble and middle-class, beyond in what we would name the suburbs today was installed the common.
The pyramids with degrees are the most representative element of this architecture. These structures have a double function: Temple and royal necropolis .

The Maya religion.
A cosmic vision of the universe (separation between the underground world, the ground and the sky field of the gods) and an alternation of cycles of creation and destruction are used as a basis for the Maya religion.
It should be noted that the Maya calendar envisaged the end of the world at the moment the Spaniards arrived. So the Maya accepted this invasion with fatalism, persuaded which they were of their impotence vis-a-vis to the will of the gods.

Mayas and sciences.
The Maya possèdaient an alphabet made up of 800 glyphes, the scribe holder of the knowledge of writing was in the Maya system a highly respected person.
The mathematical system is in base 20 with a use of the zero which differs from ours (your accounts with Maya numeration, do not try to use it, you will lose the reason there).
But it is in astronomy that the Maya were shown most astonishing while measuring with a surprising exactitude the duration of the year, i.e. the terrestrial revolution.