Mayas

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Maya \Ma"ya\ (m[aum]"y[.a]), prop. n.; pl. {Maya} or {Mayas}.
     1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas,
        Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of
        Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Maya peoples are
        dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the
        discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any


        other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops,
        were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton
        fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were
        workers of gold, silver, and copper. Their architecture
        comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they
        possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of
        hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to
        about 700 a. d.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
  
     2. the language of the Mayas.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]