What impact did Chichen Itza have on the history of culture of Mexico?

Taylor Morgan

World Geography Pre-Ap

Class Period

September 25 , 2006

Chichen Itza : A Formative Stage in the History of Culture of Mexico

The history of culture of Mexico makes an amazing page in the book of the history of mankind . On the territory on modern Mexico there were civilizations being the most developed on Western Hemisphere . Among them mysterious Mayan culture is recognized in the world as one contributed significantly to progress of humanity . Mayans invented hieroglyphic writing and imagery , achieved substantial advances in construction developed applied mathematics and

astronomy (Henderson 262 . Mayan cities strike imagination even in our days . Of all their cities , the most imposing is Chichen Itza located in the upper part of Mexico 's Yucatan Peninsula (Silverberg 122 . Robert Sharer reflecting opinions of other scholars has called it "the dominant political , economic , and religious center of central Yucatan (qtd . in Jones 9

The purpose of this is to explore what influence Chichen Itza exerted upon the history of culture of Mexico . Toward this end we will scrutinize the history of Chichen Itza prosperity and decline , analyze the factors and forces forming its development and influence on other cities , define the place of this city in the history of culture of Mexico , and make the conclusion . Undoubtedly the pre-Columbian past needs to be appreciated when attempting to explain both colonial and contemporary culture of Mexico . We need to examine the way a distinct Mexican civilization has expressed itself through time

Before conquering by the Spanish the city of Chichen Itza was one of the most important cultural centres of the Mayan state . Its majestic temples built in the form of truncated pyramids strike people with their splendid architecture until now . Its restored observatory is functioning to present day along with the state-of-the-art astronomic installations One of a few books escaped destruction during inquisition - so-called `Dresden Codex ' - contains numerous data on planets of solar system and distant stars (Silverberg 138 . The Mayas also knew exact time of Venus revolution around the Sun , duration of Mars year they had some knowledge of Jupiter , Saturn and the North Star . They were so good in mathematics to understand the concept of zero as a number , and they could perform vast complicated computations with large numbers (Henderson 261

The Mayan city Chichen Itza was founded in the fifth-sixth centuries , as scholars suppose (Jones 10 . By the end of the tenth century life here almost ceased until the Toltecs occupied the city and recovered it mighty . Having established a foothold in Chichen Itza the Toltecs and their allied tribes soon extend their influence on the most part of Yucatan peninsula . It is important to point out that other big centers of this zone - Uxmal and Mayapan - also bear the stamp of domination of Toltec and mixed Maya-Toltec traits in religion , architecture and sculpture . The conquerors brought with them new customs and rites , new features in arts as well (Prem 24 . Consulting a map of the Yucatan peninsula , one can see why...