Chichen Itza

 Chichen Itza, a marvel of the Maya civilization in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Chichen Itza was a sophisticated Mayan city with features like a large, significant trading hub and the Temple of Kukulcán. The Maya were astronomers, with a 365-day calendar, the number 0, and their structures aligned with planets' patterns. revealing the rich history of the Maya.

Chichen Itza's trading center was a lively marketplace where merchants exchanged goods like cacao, textiles, pottery, crops, precious stones, and jewelry like the ones made out of jade. It attracted traders from various regions and nearby Mayan cities, which helped contribute to the city's prosperity and richness.

When the Spanish arrived in the Maya region, they wanted to convert the Mayan people to Christianity. In their attempt to eradicate the Maya's traditional beliefs, the Spanish burned many of their books and documents, which were written on bark paper. Because of this, historians no longer have access to the majority of the vast amount of Maya knowledge, history, and culture. Despite this, some Maya papers were recovered or were hidden away by the Maya themselves. For example, inside the temple, hieroglyphics tell the emperors' lives. Surprisingly, a 16-year-old was able to decipher what the symbols meant because his dad was working at the temple, and he took it upon himself to try and crack the Mayan alphabet.

The Maya calendar system was incredibly advanced for its time, featuring cycles like the 260-day "Tzolk'in" and the 365-day "Haab" with 7 different seasons that together formed a 52-year cycle. This is strongly correlated to their astrology and math, as they used this calendar to mark and predict celestial events. these events also made up most of their calender. for example the watch tower at Chichen Itza, known as El Caracol (The Snail), is an ancient Mayan observatory that alignes with the movment of jupiter.