What is the difference between Mayans and Aztecs?

Other than the geographic location, an intriguing difference between the Mayans and Aztecs is their cultural beliefs, and scientific advances. The Aztecs were very heavy on human sacrifice, they did all to please their gods through these rituals. The Maya, not very heavy on this event, made sacrifices of blood, and only a human sacrifice of a captain of a losing ball team. The Mayas are also a very scientific group, they studied the stars,and have an advanced calendar than our own today. The Mayas were obsessed with time, and studied it through astronomy and their current events. The Aztecs though, were very warlike, they were expansionists, they conquered neighboring tribes and forced them to pay tribute. The Aztecs also placed much attention to the prestige of their warrior males, rather than the Maya, where the city ruler had glory. Another difference is that the Maya was mainly city-states where city rulers had their own sovereignty, while the Aztecs were ruled by one sovereign leader.

Aztec Vs Mayan

Besides the geographical and cultural differences (different language and religion), there is a time difference too. Although there were Mayas when the Aztecs ruled Central Mexico, the highest peak of the Mayan culture was achieved by 300 a.d., almost 1000 years before the Aztecs even arrived to central Mexico. Scholars explain that there were two different moments of splendor in Maya culture: the "old empire" (it was not an actual empire, but many city-states) that developed mainly in Chiapas, Guatemala and Honduras (Palenque, Tikal and Yaxchilan are examples) and the "new empire" (again, not an empire) with cities such as Chichen Itza.

The two were similar, but different in the following ways,

1) the Aztecs (or mexica as they called themselves) were the dominant culture in Mexico when Cortes arrived in the 1500's; The Maya had long since declined into a decadent culture of tribes living on the rubble of greater earlier peoples

2) The Maya had developed into a great civilization as a contemporary of the Mexico City culture of Teotihuacan and had active trade and interaction with these people for hundreds of years! The Maya, however, were located in the jungles of the Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize. The Aztecs and Teotihuacan were located in and around present day Mexico City.

3) Maya art is considered more humanistic and less stylized

4) Ditto for Maya pottery

5) Both cultures built large centers marked by truncated (stepped) pyramids and large structures arranged on a central platform

6) The Spanish actually observed the Aztec culture unspoiled for about 3 days before actively murdering its people and destroying its records, but with the Maya, the records that were kept at library's in the Yucatan were destroyed as works of the devil without ever observing the culture, making the Maya forever 'mysterious'

7) The gods were slightly different and less bloodthirsty in the Maya culture

8) The Maya were great astronomers and invented the calender used by the Aztecs and the same one that is more accurate than our own. They also made astronomical predictions based on the calender about the future

9) The remnants of the Maya still live in the Yucatan in similar fashion to the postclassic Maya, The remnants of the Aztecs were torn apart by the Spanish and now are scattered as the people that you typically think of as Mexican.

10) Good luck on you assignment!

Mayans hail from the southern jungles of Mexico; Aztecs from the valleys of Central Mexico.

Geographically, they are entirely different peoples. With Mayan culture stretching all the way to Central America.

Culturally, they're also two very different peoples adoring different deities, beliefs and social organisation. (Think of Greeks and Romans, if that gives you a clearer picture).

To give you an example, Aztecs had their seat of power in Tenochtitlán (today's Mexico City), while Mayan ceremonial centers are in the South, in places like today's Cancún and Guatemala. Thousands of kilometers separated both Mayans and Aztecs.

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What is the difference between Mayans and Aztecs?

I don't know the difference. Someone help me!!!

They were two separate tribes ruling two separate areas. although they had some similar beliefs. Aztecs had central America and Mayans had south America. The Mayans had elaborate temples built for their religious ceremonies as Aztecs had more elaborate artwork and pottery (as far as we can tell because they are mostly in ruins because of the Europeans invading)

Mexico City (Ciudad de México) may be the capital of Mexico and an unbelievable city surrounded by great hill ranges. To see this city you can select the best selection hotelbye . The city's site is definitely breathtaking. Two superb snow-covered volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, tower over it using their more of 5,000 meters. Mexico City also preserves countless reminders of its previous and these are items that attract the tourists. The beating center of Mexico City is Zócalo - the Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Square) - where in fact the country's first structure was proclaimed in 1813 and now is one of the most visited place of Mexico City since it's among the world's biggest squares. In Mexico City you can even visit: the National Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Templo Mayor.

The Aztec empire was centered near modern day Mexico

City....

They were different tribes/empires. The aztecs ruled central america and the mayas empire was in western south america.