Crops such as sugar and tobacco were New World discoveries for the European colonizers. What was the main reason they were value
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The Mayans were a very powerful region, and made important discoveries that influenced us now. However, they had some struggles against the natural environment, and their background history has failures and successes. The Maya was not a unified civilization, and it was made up of city-states ruled by an independent leader, the king. There were many kings in the Mayan time, but each king preferably ruled a different city-state. All the city-states followed the same culture, systems, etc., but they did not get along. Many city-states went to war with others, and destroyed each other. However, there was peace between all city-states at sometime, and the leaders often met each other to discuss important discussions.
Each city-state was advanced and well educated. The king was highly respected, and thought to be actually half god, half human, or, it was thought that the king was working for the gods. The people also had a strong belief that the king was chosen by the gods to rule, and was given permission. Not just the king ruled, also high officials were chosen among the nobles, (Lords, military leaders, priests, etc.) and also helped the king rule. Religion was very, very important in Mayan life, so priests were powerful figures in the government too, sometimes as powerful as the king. (The king was sometimes thought of as a priest.) Kings of Maya often came to priests for advice for what to do in a conflict, or for predictions of the future. Priests had a lot of influence on how the king ruled, and what the king did.
Mayan life was very strict and hard to follow. Many religious rituals were hosted everyday by the king, and it could last for more than 6 hours. Mayan laws were very strict, and had harsh punishments if the people committed crimes. Murder, arson, acts against the gods, (Acting against the gods had a very severe punishment, often death.) The punishment was reduced if the crime was found to be an accident, but still there was a punishment. If someone broke a law, they appeared in court and local leaders or nobles accompanied the judge in deciding the punishment. Sometimes, but rarely, the king was the judge. Usually, the king just sat and announced the person guilty or not. At the trial, the judge would get the evidence together, and also, witnesses would be there, and the judge would listen and talk to them. If the person was found guilty, then the punishment was announced and given right away.
There was no prisons in the Mayan times, so mostly the punishments were, death sentences, becoming a slave, and fines. Sometimes they would shave the person’s head when the crime was very small and was an accident, the shaved head represented the sign of shame. If the victim wanted to apologize and beg forgiveness, the punishment was reduced. The Mayan government was guessed to be an oligarchy, but it is not absolutely sure. There were 52 Mayan kings, and every single one of them has been powerful and treated like a god.
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