Moderator:
Describe to me where you lived? What are some challenges from living in the area?
The Mayan environment is vastly different in certain location, the Yucatán peninsula is what we would considered a fertile rainforest but could not hold water. The northern area had bad soil but was perfect for holding water
Did you see or hear of any consequences, good and/or bad, from physically changing your environment?
The Mayan’s were known to use burn and slash techniques for farming and dig massive wells for water resources. Not to mention the big elaborate cities. As these are a few examples of physically changing the environment; some scholar argued this could have led to deforestation and erosions problems.
In time droughts, what challenges did you face if you decided, or not, to relocate?
The Mayan’s had face many droughts in the past but there was one particularly bad. In the past, they had abundance of inhabitants land and they would just relocate. However, this was done enough times, and there was not enough useful land.
In times of drought, what resulted from waging war with neighbors?
Hostility among the Maya were common in certain time. Especially in drought, where lack of food and land was scares. Not to mention a sort of “no man land” was formed between neighboring kingdom and that one couldn’t be used.
Do you fault yourselves or the ruling class for the failing of your society? Why?
Competition among kings and nobles that led to a chronic emphasis on war and erecting monuments rather than on solving underlying problems. The common people (70%) saw them as gods/deities that have some say of the weather and other things.
Character 1:
Character description: I am a peasant farmer who lives in Bonampak. Bonampak is a more mountainous region with some flat valley areas to the west. We are currently warring with our neighboring cities. Our food and water resources have become scarcer because of the war and droughts. To better support the community, my family and I have shifted to a terracing agricultural style like that of other families.
Brief essay: Here on my farm, my family and I grow corn and raise stingless bees. We use an agricultural method called terracing. Because the mountainous hillside isn’t suited to retain water, we have had to adjust the land to support our corn crops. Terracing our hill slopes helps retain soil and moisture. Generations ago, we focused on swidden agriculture and turning the more fertile, flatter regions of the mountainous area into usable fields. However, when our community’s Nobles began warring with our neighbors, we were ordered to expand our fields in the growing season and help fight in their battles during off seasons. My family and I had to expand our fields to the nearby mountainous, hill slopes. When we removed the trees from the area, the acidic hillside soil began to erode into the valley where our original fields were and damaged the topsoil there. By terracing the hillside and constructing canals to irrigate crops, we have reduced the erosion and turned the land into usable farmland.
Our community has expanded rapidly since I was young. We can barely feed everyone in our community and water is scarce. The old, constructed reservoirs now run dry often and droughts have destroyed most of our crops for several of the past growing seasons. The water table has always been low in our region. However, the droughts have made the water table nearly inaccessible even to our reservoirs and irrigation canals. The community Nobles have ordered the construction of many stone monuments hoping the rain would return, but the rain has remained unpredictable. Our recent war with our neighbors has also left our resources diminished. We have had to clear most of the surrounding forest to support our community and the war. The cleared hillsides have begun eroding because of this. Despite this, I have faith in our Nobles. We were almost conquered by our neighbors to the north once during my father’s time, but we rerose our army and maintained our city. The depiction of these events is marked in large murals the Noble, Chan Muán, ordered the construction of. Our food and water resources might be scarcer now, but we must have faith in our leaders.
Character 2:
Character Description: I’m a peasant living in the Mayan city of Copán, and I rent land and farm. We grow corn, the staple food of our society, and we can only produce twice as much as our family Nevertheless, as the population grows, food competition has become intensified. Because of this, my family’s life has become increasingly unstable.
Brief Essay: I’ve grown corn in Copán all my life. There were often cases where farming failed due to unpredictable rainfall, and there were many difficult days because it was difficult to store corn grown in the previous year for the year due to humid weather. I was able to endure it thanks to my warm and friendly neighbor who distributed food to my family. So when other neighbors were in trouble, my family also helped them little by little.
I had originally lived near the valley, but from one day on, people who had difficulty continuing their lives due to deforestation began to move near the valley. The lives of those who lost their homes due to deforestation on the hills have also become difficult, but the lives of our families living in the valley have also begun to become difficult. First of all, deforestation caused an artificial drought in the valley area, making corn farming difficult. Secondly, I have more people to feed on our agriculture. This is because people who came down from the hill lost their agriculture and had difficulty getting their food. Because of the drought, we began to have difficulty growing food for our families and landowners, and there was a significant shortage of food to help others or distribute to them. Eventually, as the population grew larger and larger in limited agricultural lands, the neighbors who were close to each other began to turn hostile. So now, not only my family, but also the people of our city are in a hostile situation, and they are in a hurry to protect their families. I never imagined living in Copán would be so difficult. I miss my previous life in Copán.
Character 3:
Character description: I am a Mayan soldier from Joya de Ceren. I fight for my king when needed and aid my family in farming when I am not in battle, though that is rare. My people are surrounded by many neighboring threats and even another maya society that has become increasingly aggressive. When I am farming with my family, we focus on terrace farming because of all the floods we get down here in the south. It can be nice to have hills though because we have figured out how to make the hills so that they will hold rainwater for the drought season.
Brief essay: I have just returned from battle with Maya Poqomam of all people! We were on our way home from a successful raid on Lenca territory, when the Poqomam flanked us. I thank the gods for accepting our sacrifice for our victory and safe return. But why would the Poqomam attack us when they know we are at war with the Lenca? Could they have the nerve to go after our food? My family is doing okay compared to others because I have many children to work my fields but I still have my worries about our stocks because they aren’t as productive as previous years. I can only imagine how my neighbors are doing, especially when some of them don’t have the luxury of being able to do terrace farming and still water their plots the old school way with buckets. The town has been talking about the recent tremors, which have grown in abundance. I hear the king has disregarded all our neighbors concerns though. There is nothing we can do though, his will is that of the gods.
It has been a week and the king finally declared that we are now at war with BOTH the Lenca and the Maya Poqomam. I am proud to fight for my king but I fear for my family and their crop efforts now that my eldest are becoming of age to join me in battle. We have a very big field that many are envious of. With my eldest sons and I gone, some may try to stake claim and intimidate my wife and daughters. Though If I know my daughters they have the heart of their father and would rather die than be dishonored. Local disputes are the last thing we need given we just declared our second war front. My daughters are very smart and disciplined girls so I am sure we will grow all the corn, beans, etc. we need for the winter (drought). I ought to —-GRAB THE KIDS WOMAN, WE NEED TO RUN!!
Character 4:
Character Description: My character is a male Mayan peasant, specifically a farmer in Copan. He has a wife and children who he has to provide for.
Brief Essay: On a regular day I tend to my crops which consist of corn and sometimes beans. I raise my crops on a hillside near my home however as each year goes by I receive less and less yield. Last year the rain did not come and my crops failed leaving my family hungry. The corn from the years past did not last due to the humidity. The high priest promised rain but this was not the case last year making me doubt his credibility. Maybe the gods are angry with him. On the tops of the hills trees are being cut down to make plaster for the high priests temple. He keeps demanding more as our enemies become more prevalent. My family grows hungrier each year and my wife has had many miscarriages and the children she does bear are small and sickly. I think the gods are punishing our king for his inadequacy. I need to gain more land for my crops or else my family will starve however as the king wages more wars there is less land for me to farm
Character 5:
Character Description: What was your character’s role in this society? Describe your character and their place within the society.
I am a bean farmer. I’m also known as “crazy old man” in my village. I’m a whopping 46.5 years old and I’ve been working in the fields my entire life. I live in the south and used swidden agriculture and terracing to farm my beans with my 6 grandsons.
Brief Essay: Assess which of Diamond’s five factors your character might have observed and write about them in the first person from their perspective. What would they say to someone who asked them what their life was like?
My life out in the fields had nothin but droughts, hardship, and fighting. These soliders are always fighting in our city and we have to keep making beans and corn for all of our soldiers. There are too many people fighting. Now more than ever we don’t have enough beans to feed my 6 grandsons and I say it’s because our king is in kahoots with Cizin, God of Death. He claims he can protect us and promises bountiful harvests but there are too many people in our village and not enough food. We worship him because he can speak to the Gods but all that is brought is death of our crops and no water. This drought is killing people and it’s all the king’s fault!
My crops haven’t been growing. In my 46.5 years of living in the fields I have seen droughts, but now, it is getting more extreme, and for my neighbors as well. I tried telling people that we are in trouble, and that the king is going to kill us all but they just call me “crazy old man” and continue worshipping him, even when it gets worse and feeding mouths they can’t afford to feed. I have tried many times to do something about it but there’s only so much my grandsons and I can do. I’ve tried getting brand new land, terracing it all for brand new soil but no matter how much land I use, it only gets worse. Things only get drier and doesn’t work and we still have no water. I even use those fancy irrigation systems but even then the water has run dry. I think it is about time to move North.
Character 6:
Character Description: I am a Mayan soldier from Copán. When I am called upon by the king, I go off to fight other kingdoms and neighbors, as we have remained politically divided and are quite hostile to each other. On the other hand, I too, with the farmers, help with the food supply by harvesting corn. I am always in a constant struggle with other soldiers to help unite us all into an empire, but our limited food supply and transportation make our warfare unresolvable.
Brief essay: On a humid day, I was working on the harvesting of corn when I got the news of a revolt against the Mexican overloads. The king had gathered our small army, but we never lost hope of uniting us all. We did not have any animal-powered transport or plows, so we had to call upon a human porter that carried loads. On our military campaign to fight against the Mexican overloads, the atmosphere felt different. I felt that we could finally declare victory. Both sides fought hard, we went back and forth, and we were on the verge of victory. But victory never came, as we had to go back to harvest corn. Our low productivity in agriculture and transportation limited our warfare duration and distance. Our source of food was corn, but we were always left with a fraction to eat. This was because our porter also needed to be fed, but it was not his fault because he also needed food. Our limitations led to unsuccessful military campaigns, and we were unable to unite us all into an empire. While I would work with the farmers, they would ask to hear stories about warfare, but I never felt good sharing them. I never got to witness any friendly neighbors or kingdoms. There were wars between kingdoms, cities revolting against the capital, and civil wars from would-be kings attempting to seize the throne. I also had to break up fights between commoners as they would fight over land due to the scarcity of land. We also would get captives during our military campaign, and all the soldiers knew that the captives would get tortured. But we would turn a blind eye as our job was to please the king as he had the power to bring rain and prosperity.
As I mentioned, I also would work on the harvest of corn. After I came back from my military campaign, the farmers told me that we were undergoing a drought. I went to the fields to harvest corn as we were running out of corn supply. I touched the soil, only for it to feel dry. I knew something was going on with the soil. Since this soil was bad, we were looking for new places. We found a place, but it had trees. We took all the trees down. We were happy to see healthy soil. A few days later, the soil became dry due to no rain. We have had droughts before, and each time we find a new place. But our land space was getting limited. It was getting harder to find usable land to harvest corn due to soil erosion and deforestation. Our environmental struggles were never seen by the king. As a soldier, I was always engulfed in wars as the king was constantly competing with others. I could feel that we were going to collapse as the drought was destroying the land, and the king was constantly making us go on military campaigns. Surely, there would be a day where we are one as an empire, where food supply is abundant, and instead of going on campaigns, I can protect the empire. It is the only thing keeping me going during the ongoing military campaigns.
*Collapse Factors: Environmental damage due to deforestation and soil erosion, climate change due to droughts, hostile neighbors causing ongoing wars and political divide, and cultural response of recognizing the problem but unable to help due to the king
Character 7:
Character Description: My name is Hagen which means “highest son.” My father named me this as I was the first born male in our family. I am a corn farmer living in the Mayan society. Although I am a peasant, I produce the majority of the food for our community.
Brief Essay: If someone were to ask how life is, I would describe it as very backbreaking and grueling. My family has to manually have to clear a large portion of land for planting the corn crops and this often causes damage to the earth. This is a lot of work but my son and I must do it for our family to survive. Farming is tough where we live as the seasons are extreme. From May to October is the tropical season where there is a lot of rain but from January to April there is a dry season with a lot of droughts with scarce water for crops and people. During the tropical months I use floodwater farming as a way to grow the crops and during the dry months I have to rely on water stored in larger containers from the tropical months to water the crops. This drastic change in seasons makes it very hard to grow corn. My family has gone to sleep hungry many nights.
Oftentimes there are no crops to pick and barter for basic things needed to survive. Bartering with neighbors is very important because my family needs milk to drink, beds to sleep in, honey for cooking, and clothes to wear. Ontop of all these hardships, surrounding Mayain societies are constantly at war. Because of food insecurity, we are all politically divided and have a hard time uniting. I hope in the future we can come together to have peace.
Character 8:
Character Description: I am farmer from the area of Copán in the valley-bottom fields where I grow corn because this is our main source of food in Maya society. I use a swidden agriculture system mixed with mulching and tilling soil to try and increase food production, but I am struggling to produce enough corn because the droughts are getting worse and there are too many mouths to feed. The little corn we do have I am not able to store beyond a year because the humid climate.
Brief Essay: Life has not been easy here. Our king has made implicit promises to us, so we continue to provide him and his court a lavish lifestyle and build his palaces. We honor our King with monuments and statues. Here in Copán, it consists of 5 pockets of flat land with fertile soil and the land around Copán consists of steep hills where more people have begun to inhabit. The soil in the hills is less fertile, more acidic, and poorer in phosphate. That is why my farm is in the valley. The people of the hills began migrating to the valley floor where I am because the erosion in the hills has made it impossible to farm. The forests that covered the hillsides became barren, most of the trees were burned for fuel and the rest we used for construction of buildings or plaster. With this large migration from the hillsides to the valley floor, I now have to feed the extra people who once relied on the hills. But since the deterioration of the hillside, the valley floor has been impacted, too. The acidic infertile hills soil carried into the valley where we now have a harder time growing food on top of even more mouths to feed. Our King promised rain and prosperity but failed us all. Our population is decreasing rapidly due to starvation and thirst, and we are fighting amongst each other for any land at all to try to grow food. I do not know how we will survive this.