Release Date: December 8, 2006
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Mel Gibson
Screenwriter: Mel Gibson, Farhad Safinia
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: R
****

ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS:
1. PRODUCTION INFORMATION
2. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
3. CASTING MAYA IN THE MODERN WORLD
4. LEARNING TO SPEAK YUCATEC MAYA
5. THE PRODUCTION OF APOCALYPTO
6. WHO WERE THE MAYA?
7. WHO WERE THE MAYA AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM?
8. TIMELINE OF THE MAYA
9. GLOSSARY OF MAYAN PHRASES

3100 B.C. According to the Mayan calendar, the creation of the world takes place. 2600 B.C. The Mayan culture begins to form in the highlands and lowlands of Central America. Village farming techniques are established.

1500 B.C. The Pre-Classic period of the Maya begins as the culture begins to flourish.

700 B.C. The first writing appears in Mesoamerica.

400 B.C. Stone Mayan solar calendars, the earliest known, first appear.

300 B.C. Major Mayan cities start to dot the landscape including Tikal, Uaxactun and El Mirador. The royal system of rule by kings and nobles is established.

200 A.D. As the Olmec civilization declines, the Maya become the dominant power in the region. The Classic period, a peak of knowledge and of cultural expression, begins.

600 A.D. The city of Tikal reaches a population of 500,000, becoming the largest and most powerful city-state in Mesoamerica, while an unknown event destroys the once powerful city of Teotihuacan.

750 A.D. A period of war and tumult ensues as Mayan trade declines and conflict between Mayan states increases.

800 A.D. Many major Mayan cities are abandoned, as power shifts eastward to cities such as Coba in Mexico.

899 A.D. Tikal is abandoned.

900 A.D. With the collapse of the great cities, the Post Classic period begins. Although many Mayan townships continue their traditional ways, within a few hundred years the Maya culture will have become mixed with the Toltec culture.

1517 A.D. The Spanish arrive in the Yucatan, bringing diseases that will kill 90% of the remaining Mayan population. Though most of the Maya are conquered, many continue to revolt against Spanish rule in skirmishes that continue for a century.

1695 A.D. The ruins of Tikal are discovered by a Spanish priest.

1697 A.D. The last functioning Maya City, Tayasal, falls.

2012 A.D. On December 22, the Mayan calendar ends. According to the Mayan prophecy, the world will be forever altered by a series of powerful earthquakes.

1. PRODUCTION INFORMATION
2. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
3. CASTING MAYA IN THE MODERN WORLD
4. LEARNING TO SPEAK YUCATEC MAYA
5. THE PRODUCTION OF APOCALYPTO
6. WHO WERE THE MAYA?
7. WHO WERE THE MAYA AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM?
8. TIMELINE OF THE MAYA
9. GLOSSARY OF MAYAN PHRASES