At the beginning of the present era the Mayan tribes had a highly developed civilisation , a conglomeration of city states , on the Yucatán Peninsula and the surrounding territory . Each Mayan state consisted of a city and outlying region . The ruler of the state was endowed with supreme legislative , executive , juridical and religious power . The priests and warrior chieftains were his closest aides . Slavery was widespread . Warfare , the slave trade and debtors ‘ slavery were the chief sources for acquiring new slaves . The enslavement of various ” criminals ” , a practice common in ancient China , was to be found here as well . Merchants made up a significant part of Mayan society . There were no metal ores in the Yucatán but there was a lively exchange among the Mayas and the neighbouring tribes , with cocoa beans serving as the unit of exchange . Slash and burn agriculture was the basis of the Mayan economy . The Mayas were excellent tillers . They grew fruit , beans , cotton and cocoa and produced many strains of maize . Mayan craftsmen were magnificent weavers , ewellers , weapon – makers , masons , carvers in bone , wood and stone , and masters at creating feather head – dresses , etc. As there was a great scarcity of metal , they made various utensils , arti facts and weapons from obsidian ( natural glass ) , known for its amazing durability . The religious ceremonies of the Mayas were both complex and colourful . The many fierce gods that demanded ever new human sacrifices were needed to suppress and frighten the masses and slaves , to keep them in blind submission . However , there is evidence that within the Mayan city states a class struggle was taking place . The storing of knowledge combined with the practical needs of an agricultural civilisation produced the rudiments of mathematics , astronomy and history . The Mayas invented an accounting system based on units of twenty : they also invented a symbol for zero . The Mayan calendar charted the year to within a minute , which means it was more accurate than our own modern calendar . The Mayas invented a widely used hieroglyphic system of their own . Every twenty years a ing twenty – year period were recorded on it . The Mayas had books made of long strips of a special type of paper that were folded like a fan . A thousand such manuscript books were burned at the instigation of the Spanish Catholic clergy . The Mayas created magnificent architectural and sculptural monuments and amazing frescos .
The dissociation of the Mayan people and the constant enmity between the various states made it possible for the Spanish colonialists to conquer the Yucatán and the out lying regions and to destroy the highly developed , unique culture of the Mayas .