Mesoamerican Ball Game

A detailed Summary of Mesoamerican Ball Game

The mesoamerican ballgame, known as ullamaliztli or ollamalizitli in the native language Nahuatl, was played for many different reasons and by many different people. The game was played all over what is now Mexico. It was played by two different groups, the Aztecs and Mayans. There is a very extensive history of the ballgame. Ranging from how it was discovered to whom discovered it to different personal accounts.

The people who played the game were Mayan and Aztec. Some of the courts they found were in ceremonial centers. They know the game was very important because they were placed in the ceremonial centers. They also found other smaller courts. Since the game was played at different levels of skill, intensity, and religion, there had to be a wide variety of people playing. The ballgame was played by members of elite classes of society. They are the ones to whom the game was very important. It was also played on the informal earthen courts. They also played for fun. The game was played by nearly all the males in the community. They started playing at adolescence and stopped when they got too old.

The mesoamerican ballgame was played all across what is now Mexico. Archeological evidence suggests that it may ha

There were really only two ways that we know how the ballgame was played. One is from Cortes and the first-hand account of others like him. The second is from the Mayan and Aztec pottery. Some vases that the Mayans and Aztecs made depict people playing the ballgame. They also had writing on them telling about how the ballgame was played.

The reason for the decline of the ball courts in the northernmost areas is because of Cortes and his missionaries. When Cortes came to Mexico in 1519-1520 he was the first European to see the game played. Cortes loved this game so much, that when he returned to Spain he brought a Tlaxcalen ball team with him to perform in front of the royal court. When Cortes came back to Mexico he brought Spanish missionaries with him. The missionaries soon ordered the ball courts in the Nahuatl-speaking areas to be destroyed. They didn't like the ritual and religious significance of the game to the natives. They figured that if the natives had strong religious beliefs, it would be harder to convert them to Christianity.

There were several different styles of ball courts. The most common were shaped like a capital "I" while others had open ends. Some of the courts had rings on either side and some didn't. There were really only four different variations on the courts (1) open-ended courts (2) courts with only one end zone or with badly defined end zones. These courts were used for intermediates (3) enclosed courts shaped like a capital "I" with clearl

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Approximate Word count = 1013
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History