Diversity of People and Culture in Belize essays

Diversity of People and Culture in Belize essays The diversity found in the people of Belize today act as a link to the countrys history. During the last three thousand years Belize has endured many face lifts that makes Belize what it is today. Rich in several different cultures, languages, and history, Belize is truly a melting pot of culture on the Caribbean. The Mayans was an ancient Native American civilization in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. During the peak of their civilization between 250 B.C. and 900 A.D., the Maya built massive stone pyramids, temples, and sculptures, as well as achievements in mathematics, astronomy, and a complex system of symbols similar to that of Egyptian hieroglyphs. They developed a calendar system similar, but yet more precise than the one we use today. Its actually based on two calendars going simultaneously. One was the astronomical calendar that was comprised of eight-teen months in a year with each month having twenty days, all adding up to 360 days and an additional five days that were thought of being bad luck. The other was a sacred calendar based on twenty named days whose year was only 260 days. Every fifty-two years the two calendars meet at the same exact time, and this would be a very significant holiday for the M aya (Walker, 2004). At around 900 A.D., the Maya civilization suddenly and mysteriously started to decline, leaving only the remnants of the powerhouse they once were. They later reappeared in the north on the Yucatan Peninsula and continued to dominate the area until the Spanish conquest. A number of factors could contribute for the fall of the Maya, among some factors that have been suggested are natural disasters, disease, soil exhaustion due to slash and burn farming, or other agricultural problems. Social factors such as peasant revolts, internal warfare, and foreign invasions have been just a few that have been discussed ...