MAYA ECONOMY: AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE AND TRANSPORTATION - HISTORY - 2024

The economy of the Mayans was very similar to that of many other civilizations with a level of development contemporary to this one. They did not have a common type of currency or system of monetary exchange, but their activities were based mainly on the exchange of objects of interest between groups.

Studies of the Mayan economy go beyond simple perishable goods, such as food or agricultural products. The Mayans also used jewelry and valuable clothing in their commercial activities. As the Mayan cities acted as city-states (similar to the Greek polis), the exchange systems were quite complex.

farming

The Mayan Empire had large agricultural systems, which were fully organized and capable of producing the necessary amount of food to feed the entire empire. The organization and scale of their cultivation was similar to that used by the ancient Egyptians in their daily life.

Usually, the Mayans cultivated corn together with grains, as the plants generated nutritional supplements that helped to grow other foods. The cultivation of cassava, pumpkins, potatoes, tobacco, cotton, vanilla and cocoa was also very common in this civilization.

However, the presence of forests and swamps presented a major drawback that stood in the way of agriculture. To solve the problem generated by these biomes, the Mayans developed a series of cultivation techniques.

Cutting and burning technique

The Mayans used a method of harvesting called "cut and burned." This method consisted of cutting the vegetation of a specific area, burning it and using the ashes as fertilizer for other seeds to grow.

When the land began to lose fertility, the Mayans turned this area into a garden and waited for it to become a forest again to repeat the process; meanwhile, they relocated their crops to another area.

Terraced fields

Another popular method among Mayan farmers was the creation of terraced fields in areas with land elevations. The use of terraces helped the soil not to erode; In addition, it made the plants collect more rainwater when there was rainfall.

The terrace systems used by the Maya were by no means simple; in fact there were several types of terraces used by farmers.

Raised fields

The Mayan Empire was the first Mesoamerican civilization to use raised fields for its crops. These were common in areas where the soil was naturally hydrated, which meant that only strips needed to be excavated across the growing area for water to flow through.

These channels had a problem: they required a lot of maintenance. The flow of water caused the soil to create obstructions in each strip, which did not allow the water to reach all the crops.

Tools

The Mayans did not use metal tools to cultivate, but it is known that one of the main instruments they used was the planter. Their planters were quite simple: they consisted of a wooden pole with a sharp point. They were used to create holes in the earth, and in these the seeds were planted to later be harvested.

Commerce

The Mayan civilization did not use money to trade, unlike the European civilizations of the time. However, there were many objects that they considered valuable and used to reach commercial exchange agreements for other products.

Among these were the seeds of various plants, obsidian, gold, and salt. The value of each of these products varied according to each city. One of the factors that affected the value of each product was the distance of the “buyer” from the origin of each one: the further the merchant traveled, the more substantial the exchange had to be.

The exchange of goods could be of various types, but normally food was used. Food was traded for clothing, material goods such as gold or even other types of food that were not available in a particular region.

Style

The type of commerce that was practiced in this civilization was the free market. Everyone was free to give a value to their products, and whoever was interested in obtaining them decided or not if the value was in line with what they were willing to pay.

Each person grew their own food on their land, but ordinary people usually only grew crops to feed their family and not to trade. In addition, in the larger cities the government of each one had economic and exchange controls, which limited the value of each object in the market.

Economy

Although the Mayans did not have a coin itself, each object had a value depending on how common it was. This applied mainly to food: the more difficult to obtain a type of consumer product, the more items could be received in exchange for it.

During the origins of civilization metallurgy was not used. This means that no exchange of metallic products was used until 600 BC. C.

Transport

The Mayan populations were connected to each other by means of stone paths. These created complex routes that spread throughout Mesoamerica. Roads usually did not exceed 100 kilometers in length, but exchanges of goods occurred at greater distances.

The Mayans even created export systems to cities located in the southern regions of Central America, where Guatemala and El Salvador are now located. The most common method of transportation was the use of slaves.

The populations that inhabited islands used canoes to trade goods with those who lived on the mainland. The products they brought from the sea were usually high in price, and fish preserved with salt was one of the most precious goods.

References

1. Mayan Farming and Maya Agricultural Methods, History on the Net, (nd). Taken from historyonthenet.com
2. Ancient Yucatán Soils Point to Maya Market, and Market Economy, John Noble for The New York Times, January 8, 2008.
3. Trade in Maya Civilization, Wikipedia in English, January 27, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
4. Economy of the Mayan Civilization, Wikipedia in English, April 22, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
5. Mayan Agriculture and Diet, Crystal Links, (nd). Taken from crystalinks.com
6. Mayan System of Transportation, Maya Inca Aztec Website, (nd). Taken from mayaincaaztec.com
7. Mayan Agriculture, Maya Inca Aztec Website, (nd). Taken from mayaincaaztec.com