How many Maya people are there today and what do they speak?
About six million, in Guatemala above all, speaking some thirty Maya languages; K'iche' is the largest in Guatemala. The great southern cities were left empty around the year 900, nobody knows exactly why, but the cities are one thing and the people another: los mayas no desaparecieron.
The ancient cities and the living people
| The cities | The Maya today | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and southern Mexico; Tikal, in the Guatemalan jungle, had some hundred thousand inhabitants in the year 700 | About six million people, in Guatemala above all |
| Language | Writing of more than eight hundred signs, on stone and in bark-paper books; only four books survive, because the Spaniards burned the rest | About thirty Maya languages; K'iche' is the largest in Guatemala, spoken at home and switched for Spanish with customers |
| Knowledge | Zero before Europe; a very accurate 365-day calendar and a sacred one of 260 days; the sun, moon and Venus observed from the temples | In Chichicastenango the eighteen church steps are said to be the months of the Maya calendar, and copal is burned on them before mass |
| What happened | Around the year 900 the great cities of the south were left empty, nobody knows exactly why: droughts, wars or famine. In Yucatán, cities like Chichén Itzá continued for centuries | "Los mayas no desaparecieron": Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize 1992, is a K'iche' Maya |
- The Maya lived in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and southern Mexico; Tikal had about a hundred thousand inhabitants around the year 700.
- The Maya had a writing system of more than eight hundred signs, used zero before Europe, and kept a 365-day calendar alongside a sacred one of 260 days; only four of their books survive.
- Around the year 900 the great southern cities were left empty; the cause is unknown, perhaps droughts, wars or famine. Cities in Yucatán such as Chichén Itzá continued for centuries.
- The Maya did not disappear: today they number about six million people and speak about thirty Maya languages, in Guatemala above all.
Los mayas tenían escritura: más de ochocientos signos.The Maya had writing: more than eight hundred signs.
Los mayas usaban el cero antes que Europa.The Maya used zero before Europe did.
Los mayas no desaparecieron: hoy son unos seis millones de personas.The Maya did not disappear: today they number about six million people.
Hablan unas treinta lenguas mayas, en Guatemala sobre todo.They speak about thirty Mayan languages, in Guatemala above all.
More about The Maya, then and now
- Who discovered that the Maya built the ruins?
- What Spanish words do you need to talk about the Maya?
- The Maya, then and now