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]