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1,200 Years Ago in Central America

Arawak people occupy most of the Caribbean islands, probably starting from Venezuela and moving all the way to Florida. The Arawak were accomplished sailors, making dug-out canoes that could hold 70-80 people. They also used poles to fasten two canoes together, like a catamaran without the sail, for travelling far out onto the open sea and ocean.

Toltec people emigrate to central Mexico from the northwest around 800 AD and establish a state with their capital at Tollan (now called Tula). Teotihuacan had already fallen into ruin a hundred years before, but the cultural influences are still evident, especially in religion with the worship of Quetzalcoatl. This is the Aztec name of the deity usually shown in the form of a feathered serpent. Carvings of the feathered serpent god are found on temples in Teotihuacan.

Perhaps due to a combination of land overuse and/or foreign invasion (the Toltecs), the Mayan cities of the classical period fall into ruin. The careful dating of buildings characteristic of the Mayas stops. Some of the last dates are 830 AD in Copan, 835 in Palenque, 889 in Tikal and 909 in Uxmal. However, from 1000 AD, a new Mayan empire arose in the Yucatan based on Chichen Itza and Mayapan.

The Mayan year was made up of 18 months of 20 days each, for 360 days called the tun, plus five extra days called the haab. The Mayas used both the solar year of 365 days, but also measured time based on the movements of the planet Venus. This so-called Venusian year, the time it takes Venus to make one circuit around the sun, was 584 earth days. How accurate were Mayan observations? Modern calculations show the Venusian year to be 583.92 earth days!

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