Ball Game Of The Mayans

One of the ways that the Mayan peoples competed against each other was by playing  the  Ball Game. They used a rubber ball, 20 inches in diameter, to play the Game, Which was played on a stone court.The court had walls with a hanging high on the walls were stone rings.

The game was invented during (2500-100 BCE), by the Olmec, and became a common Mesoamerican-wide urban landscape by the Period of (300-900 CE)

Religious leaders attended, as did most chieftains and other government leaders.

The ball game was played  all over Mesoamerica

The Mayan Ball Game was a solemn experience,  with ritual importance such as human sacrifice.

The goal of the game was to pass the ball around, without touching it by  hands, and then get the ball to pass through one of the rings. Since the rings were so high and players were not allowed to use their hands, it was very difficult to get the ball through a ring. The game ends when a player shoots the ball in to the ring.

The penalty for losing a game was sometimes death. The leader of the team who lost the game was sometimes killed. This fit in the Mayan belief that human sacrifice was necessary for the continued success of the peoples agriculture,trade , and health.

Mongol Empire

Geography

Mongolia stretches about 2,400 km from west to east and about 1,260 km from north to south. The total length of the country’s borders is 8,158 km. Mongolia has four different areas: mountain-forest steppe, mountain steppe, semi-desert and desert. The Mongols of the Asian steppe lived their lives on the move. They prided themselves on their skill on horseback, their courage and discipline in battle.Nomadic people were pastoralists that is they herded domesticated animals. They were constantly on the move, searching for good pasture to feed their herds. Mongolia is a vast belt of dry grassland, called the steppe it stretches across the landmass of Eurasia. Chinggis Khan was convinced that no one could survive in the daunting landscape of Mongolia without maintaining good relations and seeking help on occasion from one’s allies. By 1225 Central Asia was under Mongol control.

Leadership

Genghis khan united the mongols around 1200. He attempted immediately to break down the tribal groups that joined him and wanted to eliminate any feeling of tribal identity and convert it into a Mongol identity. He organized his people into units of ten, a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand, and the head of unit of ten thousand would have a strong personal relationship with Chinggis himself. One of the particularly effective tactic Chinggis liked to use in battles was the feigned withdrawal: Deep in throes of a battle his troops would withdraw pretending to have been defeated. As the enemy forces pursued the troops, they would quickly realize that they’d fallen into a trap, as a whole detachments of men in armor or cavalries would suddenly appear and overwhelm them. Over the next 21 years, he lead MOngols in conquering much of Asia. His first goal was china. After invading the northern Jin Empire in 1211, but his attention turned to the Islamic region west of Mongolia. Genghis launched a campaign of terror across Central Asia, The Mongols destroyed one city after another; Utrar, Samarkand, Bukhara. By 1225 Central Asia was under Mongol Control.

Technology

The Mongols developed a bow made out of sinew and a horn and were skilled at shooting it while riding. With a range of more than 350 yards, the bow was superior to the contemporaneous English longbow, that only has a range of 250 yards. A wood and leather saddle, which was rubbed with sheep’s fat to prevent cracking and shrinkage, allowed the horses to bear the weight of their riders for long periods and also permitted the riders to retain a firm seat. Their saddle bags contained cooking pots, dried meat, yogurt, water bottles and other essentials for lengthy expeditions. Finally a sturdy stirrup enabled horsemen to be more steady and accurate in shooting while riding the horse.