What to do? He decided that a magnificent gift—a lavish map of the world—might maneuver him into the new king’s good graces. D’Annebault hired Pierre Desceliers, one of the best ...

Legend has it that a headless sculpture of the god Yaxachtun at the site formerly terrified the local Lacandon people, who feared that the world would end when the head was replaced. With its ...

Flat, two-dimensional maps can look different because the world is actually curved. This means map-makers need to make compromises when drawing maps. These different map representations are called ...

mathematics, art and architecture, and a glyph system of writing on stone, ceramics, and paper. Using the labels on or below the map below, visit 15 of the better-known Maya sites.

Alberto Cantino, an Italian spy, acquired a Portuguese map showing stunning finds in the New World. This story appears in the March/April 2017 issue of National Geographic History magazine.