How did the Maya transport their trade goods?

The Mayans had no beasts of burden or wheels to carry their heavy loads. Instead, trade goods were transported on the backs of slaves who traveled along well established routes. However, most merchants found it much easier to use a canoe.

What type of economic system did the Maya have?

While subsistence agriculture played a central role in daily life, the Maya had a mechanism for economic exchange between settlements, which was capable of supporting specialists and a system of merchants through trade routes.

What did Mayan merchants trade?

Merchants traded cacao beans throughout Mesoamerica not only in the Maya lands but also to the Olmec, Zapotec, Aztecs and elsewhere. Merchants also traded in raw materials including jade, copper, gold, granite, marble, limestone and wood.

How did the Mayan economy work?

Mayan farmers grew a wide variety of crops, primarily relying on corn, beans, and squash. They raised and tended domestic dogs, turkeys, and stingless bees. Significant water control systems included dams, aqueducts, and holding facilities.

What is the Mayan trade network?

In the Mayan Trade Network, the complex trade routes and the amount of goods that were traded is what made the Trade Network significant. By trading with other civilizations, growth in the Mayan society took place.

Why did Maya cities trade with each other?

Maya cities trade with each other is because they could exchange goods for products that were not available locally and got supplies for construction.

Did the Mayans trade or use money?

The ancient Maya never used coins as money. Instead, like many early civilizations, they were thought to mostly barter, trading items such as tobacco, maize, and clothing.

What is remarkable about the Mayan trade network?

What were Mayan merchants called?

Among the Yucatec Maya, who traded along the coast with large canoes with other Maya groups as well as with Caribbean communities, these merchants were called Ppolom. The Ppolom were long-distance traders who usually came from noble families and leaded trading expeditions to acquire valuable raw materials.

What farming method did the Mayans use?

The Maya created arable land by using a “slash-and-burn” technique to clear the forests. They planted maize and secondary crops such as beans, squash, and tobacco. In the highlands to the west, they terraced the slopes on mountainsides; in the lowlands, they cleared the jungle for planting.

How did the Mayans store their food?

It is known, however, that many Maya private homes would have cultivated food in small gardens, especially vegetables and fruit. Once harvested, foodstuffs were stored in wooden cradles above ground and in subterranean sites.

How did the Maya source their food?

The Maya fertilized the fields with sediment and aquatic plants collected from the canals. This created a self-sustaining ecosystem. Maya farmers cleared the jungles using a slash and burn method and grew their major crops during the rainy season from May to October.