Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

Maya Warfare

by Orion Binder

Thesis

Due to the lack of unity between the Maya city states, rudimentary large-scale war tactics, and an abundance of disease and famine, the Spanish conquistadors were able to conquer the Yucatan Peninsula and permanently establish a colony in the Maya civilization.

Maya Strategy

  • city states quarelled with one another
  • typically after harvest season
  • long seiges difficult due to resources
  • need for slaves and sacrifices
  • guerilla warfare & frontal attacks

Images

Images

Maya Weaponry

Defenses:

  • shields (leather & cotton)
  • wooden armor
  • city walls and moats

Maya Weaponry

Short-Range:

  • swords
  • spears
  • clubs/maces
  • hatchets
  • macuahuitl

Long-Range:

  • stones
  • slings
  • throwing spears
  • bow and arrow

Images

Images

Spanish Strategy

  • driven by:

-wealth, power, religion and trade

  • enslavement and torture
  • "reducción" (reduction & relocation)
  • utilizing existing feuds between Maya city states
  • war of attrition and total war
  • capable of long sieges

Images

Images

Spanish Weaponry

Defense:

  • steel & leather shields
  • steel armor

Spanish Weaponry

Short-Range:

  • steel swords
  • steel tipped spears

Long-Range:

  • calvary and horses
  • crossbow
  • harquebus

Biological Weapon:

  • disease and famine

Images

Images

References

Aoyama, Kazuo. "CLASSIC MAYA WARFARE AND WEAPONS: Spear, Dart, and Arrow Points of Aguateca and Copan | Ancient Mesoamerica." Cambridge Core. Cambridge University Press, 28 Mar. 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

Edzná. Digital image. Campeche | MÉXICO (Edzná). N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Gheyn II, Jacob De. Ruiter Die Een Schot Lost Met Een Harquebus De Ruiterschool (serietitel). Digital image. Artstor. Rijksmuseum, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Landa, Diego De, and William Gates. Yucatan before and after the Conquest: The Maya. Place of Publication Not Identified: Forgotten, 2008. Print.

Macuahuitl. Digital image. Mayan Obsidian Weapons. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Maya Guerilla Warfare. Digital image. Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

"Maya Military." Maya Military. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.

Minster, Christopher. "How the Spanish Conquered America." ThoughtCo. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Obsidian Knife. Digital image. Wikia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Obsidian Macuahuitl. Digital image. Historium. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Planet, Lonely. "Yucatán Peninsula." Lonely Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Rascon, Fructuoso Irigoyen. Tarahumara Medicine: Ethnobotany and Healing among the Raramuri of Mexico. Norman: Univ Of Oklahoma, 2016. Print.

Serafin, Stanley, Carlos Peraza Lope, and Eunice Uc González. "Bioarchaeological Investigation of Ancient Maya Violence and Warfare in Inland Northwest Yucatan, Mexico." American Journal of Physical Anthropology. N.p., 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2017.

"Spanish Conquest of Yucatán." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Apr. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Tuerenhout, Dirk Van. "Maya Warfare: Sources and Interpretations." Civilisations 50 (2002): 129-52. JSTOR. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Webster, David. "The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War." Journal of World Prehistory 14.1 (2000): 65-119. JSTOR. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi