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About Where Is Chichen
Product Description Discover more about the amazing Maya by "visiting" the city of Chichen Itza. Although it's known more as an important tourist attraction today, the city of Chichen Itza was a powerful religious, political, scientific, and artistic center of the Maya people. Readers will learn about how Chichen Itza began and what happened to cause the downfall of a great society. The book also provides details about the culture of the Maya of Chichen Itza and the stunning architecture they built like the El Castillo pyramid, the Temple of the Warriors, and the massive ball court that was used for games and rituals. About the Author Paula K. Manzanero is Editorial Director of Nonfiction at Penguin Workshop and a children's book author. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Where Is Chichen Itza? In 1839, two men—-Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens—-were on their way to Central America. The US president was sending them there to seal a trade agreement. But the men were also adventurers. Between them, they had already explored Egypt, Greece, and the ancient site of Petra in Jordan. They decided that once their work for the US government was finished, they would look for “ruined cities, places, scenes, and monuments.” Leaving from New York, they sailed to the Gulf of Honduras. From there, they traveled up the Rio Dulce (Sweet River) to Guatemala City. Then, from the heart of Guatemala, Catherwood and Stephens began to explore the jungles of Central America. For more than a year, the two men traveled with mules and teams of local guides. They went south to Honduras and then back up through El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. They found ancient ruins, mysterious temples, and stone carvings. In 1841, they made another trip to explore the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. This is the land that separates the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This time, they traveled with their guides by horseback. They battled mosquitoes and the malaria the insects carried with them. They moved tangled jungle vines to reveal temples and palaces that had not been seen in hundreds of years. From the Mexican town of Merida they traveled to Mayapan and found small—-but impressive—-ancient sites all along the way. They had been exploring Central America for a total of about three years when they came upon a most amazing sight—-a huge stepped pyramid and massive ball court. They had seen fine examples of the architecture of the Maya—-the native people of parts of Mexico and Central America—-all along their journey. But here they saw an astonishing arrangement of columns, a tower with a spiral staircase, and hundreds of carved inscriptions. They were thrilled to find the remains of a city—-Chichen Itza. In time, it became clear that Chichen Itza had been one of the most important and powerful cities of the ancient Maya civilization. Stephens and Catherwood’s discovery proved that the Americas had not been populated by primitive cultures. The ancient Maya people had developed mathematical systems, writing, amazing architecture, beautiful artwork, and the ability to chart the stars and planets in the sky. The two explorers not only discovered the ruins of the Maya, they made a record of them (in Frederick Catherwood’s detailed drawings and John Stephens’s journals). They opened a world for people who knew next to nothing of the history of Native Americans, the culture of the Maya, and their truly magnificent accomplishments. Chapter 1: World of the Maya By around the year 500, the Maya civilization in Mesoamerica was reaching its peak. The most important royal families had established powerful cities throughout Central America from present--day Honduras in the south to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula in the north. For over seven hundred years—from around AD 250 to 900—-there was intense building, and constant battling between Maya power centers. During that time, th
