The Mayans, Their Ruins, and My Ignorance

Guatemala's population is comprised of 60% Mayans - an indigenous native American race that survived the onslaught of the Spanish and the continuing prejudice against them from those damn white people.


The Maya are spread all over Guatemala, the southern states of Mexico and parts of Belize. They were once an advanced civilisation, between approximately 700BC and 900AD. They developed their own languages and technologies, and are one of the only 5 civilisations in the world to develop their own writing and number systems (answers on a postcard for the other 4 please).



But somehow, for some reason, the ancient cities in which the Mayan civilizations were based were abandoned more than 1000 years ago and had been completely forgotten about until the last few hundred years as western explorers started to get around a bit. The main theory I think on the collapse of the ancient civilizations has been attributed to over population and lack of sustainable resources - mmm, that sounds familiar.



Anyway, somehow the ancient cities collapsed, but obviously some of the Mayans survived, setting up communities elsewhere, retaining some of their customs and culture, but forgetting all about the great cities they had built.



Today in Guatemala the Mayans in general are at the poorest end of society, depending mainly on agriculture for a near subsistence living. I'm guessing many are illiterate, and anyway, are discluded from a lot of opportunities in Guatemala for not speaking (or reading) Spanish. They have also been discriminated against and persecuted in recent years - any quick glimpse at Guatemala's history in the past 50 years will show you this.



But there's always more than meets the eye; especially that which meets the eye of a western tourist quickly passing through, just happy to be there, enjoying the pretty clothes the Mayans wear and smiling at the incredibly cheap prices of everything. There was an interesting article in the magazine supplement of the national newspaper, interviewing an anthropologist, Robert Carmack, who spent several years living in a Mayan community, learning their language, studying their customs and their history. It became very apparent from reading this article that the Mayans are far more today than just the uneducated oppressed rural people that I perceived them to be.



They live within their own societies which have their own unique structure of governance, and have retained some parts of their own religions, and take an active interest in studying and protecting their history.