The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples. Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the Classic period, A.D. 200-900. Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centres. It started to decline around A.D. 900 when - for reasons which are still largely a mystery - the southern Maya abandoned their cities. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some peripheral centres continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.
Maya history can be characterized as cycles of rise and fall: city-states rose in prominence and fell into decline, only to be replaced by others. It could also be described as one of continuity and change, guided by a religion that remains the foundation of their culture. For those who follow the ancient Maya traditions, the belief in the influence of the cosmos on human lives and the necessity of paying homage to the gods through rituals continues to find expression in a modern hybrid Christian-Maya faith.
Predicted and scheduled events in year 2012
January
- January 23 - Chinese New Year and scheduled new moon. This time of year is associated with the Water-Dragon in Chinese astrology.
- January 31 - 433 Eros, the second largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13×13x33 km) is expected to pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (1 AU – about 93 million miles – is the average distance from Earth to the sun). NASA studied Eros in the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched February 2000.
February
- February 5 - Super Bowl XLVI will be played.
- February 6 - If she is still on the throne, Elizabeth II will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. A series of festivities across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations will likely run throughout the year.
March
- March 01 - Greek Drachma bank notes are exchangable for Euro until this time.
- March 19 - Buddha Claimant: Ram Bahadur Bomjon who disappeared in 2006 is believed to return on this date (six years from his departure)
April
- April 1 - The United States Census of 1940 is released to the public.
- April 15 - It will be the RMS Titanic`s 100 anniversary since the sinking in 1912.
May
- May 20 - Annular solar eclipse, a Sunday.
- May 20 - French Presidential election.
June
- June 6 - Second and last solar transit of the planet Venus of this century; the next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125 (see Transit of Venus, 2012).
- 2012 European Football Championship will be played in either Italy, Hungary/Croatia or Poland/Ukraine
July
- July 1 - The first possible government in Hong Kong elected by Universal suffrage take office.
- July 1 - Presidential Elections in Mexico
- July 27 - Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 7:30 pm GMT/8:30pm BST. Source:London 2012 Website Countdown
August
- August 12 - Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, a Sunday.
- August 29 - Start of the 2012 Summer Paralympics
September
- September 9 - Finish of the 2012 Summer Paralympics
October
- October 18 - at 20:36 (Eastern Daylight Time), the Earth will be home to 7 billion, according to the US Census Bureau.
November
- November 6 - United States presidential election, 2012
- November 6 - United States Senate elections, 2012
- November 6 - United States House of Representatives election, 2012
- November 13 - Total solar eclipse (visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific).
December
- December 3 - Jupiter oppositions
- December 21 - The Long Count calendar used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica completes its thirteenth b’ak’tunb’ak’tun date of this starting point (13.0.0.0.0.0) is repeated, for the first time in a span of approximately 5,125 solar years. The significance of this period-ending to the pre-Columbian Maya themselves is unclear, and there is an incomplete inscription (Tortuguero Stela 6) which records this date. It is also to be found carved on the walls of the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque, where it functions as a base date from which other dates are computed. However, it is conjectured that this may represent in the Maya belief system a transition from the current Creation world into the next. The December solstice for 2012 also occurs on this day. cycle since the calendar’s mythical starting point (equivalent to 3114 BCE August 11 in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, according to the “GMT-correlation” JDN= 584283). The Long Count
- December 23 - The alternative date for the completion of the thirteenth b’ak’tun cycle in the Maya calendar, using a version of the GMT-correlation based on a JDN of 584285 (a.k.a. the “Lounsbury correlation”), which is supported by a smaller number of Mayanist researchers.
- December 31 - Expiration of the Kyoto Protocol