User:Marskell/History Maya

The history of the Maya civilization stretches across more than three millenia from the early second millenium BCE through the Spanish conquest of the Maya territory in the early sixteenth century. After significant advances in the pre-classical era, the Maya reached their apex in the 2nd century through 9th century classical period with great achievement in architecture, art, mathematics, and astronomy. The territory of the Maya included much of the Yucatan peninsula of southern Mexico as well as contemporary Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras.

The Maya flourishing is one part of the larger rise of Mesoamerican civilization, often considered the most profound indigenious development of what is now called the Americas; the Maya received important early influence from the Olmec culture and would later be eclipsed (but not conquered) by the rise of the Toltec and their descendants the Aztec in the valley of Mexico.

As dramatic as the Mayan flourishing was its abrupt collapse in the ninth century, a product of numerous interstecting problems such as habitat destruction and warfare. Later understanding of the Mayan civilization has focused on cities that survived the collapse with their culture intact and archeological centers of the classical period that remain in the jungles of Mesoamerica. Certain aspects of the Maya civilization have made reconstructing their history easier. The classical Maya documented themselves, through advanced calendrical systems and a fully developed writing system. Decyphering this ancient writing has been a decisive advance of contemporary archeology.

Preclassical
What would become the Maya region had been inhabited since at least the 10th millennium BC. Settled villages along the Pacific coast appear from 1800 BC, which is taken as the beginning of the Maya Early Preclassical era.

Archaeological evidence shows the Maya had started to build ceremonial architecture by approximately 1000 BC and by the period known as the mid-Preclassic (or mid-Formative), around 600 BC, some of the earliest Maya complexes had been constructed. The earliest monuments consist of simple burial mounds, the precursors to pyramids erected in later times. There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and their neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe-Zoque– and Zapotec–speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one other. Eventually, the Olmec influence faded after spreading into the Yucatan peninsula, present-day Guatemala, and other regions.

Classical
The later Classic period (c. 250 - 900) witnessed the peak of widespread urban center construction and the recording of monumental inscriptions, particularly in the southern lowland regions. They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous independent city-states. This includes the famed cities of Tikal, Palenque, Copán and Kalakmul, as well as Dos Pilas, Uaxactun, Altun Ha, Bonampak and many other sites in the region (see list of sites, below).

The most notable monuments are the pyramids they built in their religious centers and the accompanying palaces of their rulers. Other important archaeological remains include the carved stone slabs usually called stelae (the Maya called them Tetun, or "Tree-stones"), which depict rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their genealogy, war victories, and other accomplishments.

The Maya participated in long distance trade in Mesoamerica and possibly further lands. Important trade goods included cacao, salt, and obsidian; see also: Obsidian use in Mesoamerica.

Collapse and Postclassical
For reasons which are still much debated, in the 8th and 9th centuries AD (the "Terminal Classic" period) Maya culture went into decline, with most of the cities of the central lowlands abandoned. Detailed monumental inscriptions all but disappeared. Warfare, ecological depletion of croplands, and drought or some combination of those factors are usually suggested as reasons for the decline.

There is archaeological evidence of warfare, famine, and revolt against the elite at various central lowlands sites. There is also conclusive geological evidence, found in shells recovered from Lake Chichancanab (in modern Quintana Roo state in Mexico) by a team from the University of Florida, showing that the area suffered the worst drought in 7,000 years in the 9th century; this meteorological event is apparently connected to that of northern Europe having suffered extremely low temperatures around the same time (the same connection between drought in the Maya areas and extreme cold in northern Europe was found again at the beginning of the 20th century). This evidence seems to support Dick Gill's theory that an unusually severe drought leading to a catastrophic decimation of the population was the driving force behind the collapse of Maya civilization. However, there is no single cause universally accepted for their decline.

During the succeeding Post-Classic period (to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterised by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatan continued to flourish for centuries more; some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatan until a revolt in 1450; the area then devolved to city states until the area was conquered by the Spanish.

The Itza Maya, Kowoj and Yalain groups of Central Peten survived the "Classic Period Collapse" in small numbers and by 1250 CE reconstituted themselves to form competing polities. The Itza kingdom had its capital at Noj Peten, an archaeological site thought to underlay modern day Flores, Guatemala. It ruled over a polity extending across the Peten Lakes region, encompassing the community of Eckixil on Lake Quexil. These sites and this region were inhabited continuously by independent Maya until after the final Spanish Conquest of 1697 AD.

Post-Classic Maya states also continued to thrive in the southern highlands. One of the Maya kingdoms in this area, the Quiché, is responsible for the best-known Maya work of historiography and mythology, the Popol Vuh.

However by the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519 it is generally accepted that most of these centers had substantively declined from their Classical peak.

Spanish conquest of the Mayas
The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán began in 1511 and took some 170 years to complete. The Maya had no single leader (like the Inca of Peru), but instead lived in numerous independent states, some of which fiercely resisted foreign domination. Also, the land had no gold or silver except for small amounts acquired by trade, so many early Spanish conquistadors were attracted instead to central Mexico or Peru, which seemed to offer quicker and easier riches. The last Maya state, the Itza kingdom, was not subdued by Spanish authorities until 1697.