Chichen Itza is a word that means at the mouth of the well of Itza. Chichen Itza was a large city built by the Mayans in the pre-columbian times. Chichen Itza is in the present state of mexico called Yucatan. Chichen Itza was a major part of the Mayan lowlands from the years six hundred to nine hundred AD. Chichen Itza was one of the largest Mayan cities and was regarded as a very spiritual and mythical place.
Chichen Itza was full of different architectural styles and buildings. It also had a population that was quite diverse for the Mayan times. A lot of the architectural styles seen here are a lot like some of the styles that are seen in central Mexico. All of the rivers around Chichen Itza run underground; however, they do have two large sink holes that manage to provide water to the area all year. Years ago it was well known for the Mayan to sacrifice things to the sink holes as a form of worship and thankfulness to their God of rain and water.
Back in the times of the Mayan, Chichen Itza was a major economic power in the area. It participated in a very popular trade route through the north coast. The access to this trade way gave Chichen Itza the power to be economically fortunate. Eventually Chichen Itza even made its own trading port called Isla Cerritos. Although Chichen Itza was very powerful economically, all great things have to come to an end sometime which is exactly what happened when Hunac Ceel conquered the territory in the 13th century.
Hunac Ceel, ruler of Mayapan, was said to kind of make his own name of power. Although he conquered the territory and took it over, it did not take long for more people to inhabit it. Soon after the takeover, the Spanish arrived and noticed that the population was doing quite well. Because of this, one of the conquistadors of the Spanish decided to make it one of their capitals. After that the place of Chichen Itza started to thrive again.
Chichen Itza is mostly known for some of its famous architectural structures. Some of this consist of: El Castillo, the Great Ball Court, the Mexican Plateau, and Tenochtitlan. Buildings like the El Castillo featured the most unique technique of the Chichen’s, which was the serpent structure. The Great Ball Court is one of the most well-known structures due to its significance of it being one of the very first actual basketball courts. Although a lot of how we play basketball today is different, the Great Ball Court is really where the original idea came from.
Sources:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/chichen-itza/
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