All about the ancient tribes
The degradation of the agricultural environment as a result of human activities is one of the long-term economic factors that are contributing to the decrease. Peasant uprisings, internal fighting, foreign invasions, and interruptions of trade networks may have led to the downfall of the Mayan Civilization during the Post-Classic era.
There were several factors that contributed to the demise of the Classic Maya civilisation. Disease, a social revolution, drought, starvation, foreign invasions and conflicts, overpopulation, overexploitation of natural resources, interruption in trade routes, and earthquakes are all things that have been suggested as potential explanations for the fall of Maya towns.
According to academics, there was no one event that caused these polities to fail; rather, a number of Maya cities emerged and fell at different times. Some of these towns rose and collapsed between the years 800 and 1000, while others did so after that.
The northern peninsula became the new epicenter of political and military power. During the Postclassic period, technological advancements were made in a variety of fields, including engineering, architecture, and armament. The conquest of the Maya by the Spanish started in the 16th century and continued for nearly to 150 years after that.
According to Justine Shaw, an anthropology professor at the College of the Redwoods in California, ″the problems that the Maya suffered from droughts caused people to lose trust in their rulers, which is more than just losing trust in the government when your rulers are closely tied to deities.″ The Maya rulers were closely tied to a pantheon of gods.
The deforestation and dryness that plagued the central Yucatan lowland led to the abandonment of the majority of the large Mayan towns that were located there. Image courtesy Barbara Trapido-Lurie/Arizona State University
According to the drought theory, the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization was brought on by a fast climatic shift that manifested itself as a catastrophic drought (a megadrought). Paleoclimatologists have unearthed a wealth of evidence suggesting that the Yucatán Peninsula and the Petén Basin regions experienced extended droughts during the Terminal Classic.
Maya civilization underwent significant change throughout the Classic Period, which began about 250 CE and lasted until roughly 900. The Mayan civilisation reached its zenith when it comprised more than 40 towns, each of which had a population of between 5,000 and 50,000 people.
Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but they remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martn de Urza y Arizmendi finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom. Martn de Urza y Arizmendi was the leader of the Spanish assault.
A Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán named Diego de Landa was responsible for the destruction of the majority of the Mayan codices. 1524-1579.
What factors contributed to the development, peak, and eventual demise of the Mayan civilization? The Mayas had achieved a great deal of success, much like the Chinampas. Because of this, they were able to flourish and ultimately even acquire tributaries. Sadly, they were unable to overcome obstacles like as drought and internal unrest, which resulted in their downfall.
Due to the fact that the Mayan society developed, disintegrated, and then reconstructed over the course of many hundreds of years, academics split the years into three major historical periods: Pre-Classic (2000 B.C. to A.D. 250), Classic (A.D. 250 to 900), and Post-Classic (900 to 1519).
An enormous Maya ceremonial edifice that dates back 3,000 years was found hidden in plain sight. An picture in three dimensions of the imposing platform at Aguada Fénix (in dark brown). An aerial laser device known as LiDAR was able to identify the building, which was constructed around 3,000 years ago.
Although the Mayan people never went extinct entirely, their descendants can still be found living all over Central America, the Mayan core urban areas in the lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula, such as Tikal, went from thriving cities to deserted ruins over the course of approximately one hundred years. Tikal was one of these cities.
The culture of the Indus valley. It vanished some 3,000 years ago, and the causes for its disappearance remain unknown. It is possible that climate change, which led to drought and starvation, was the cause of its demise. This is one of the hypotheses.
The Maya are currently estimated to have a population of around six million people, making them the biggest single group of indigenous peoples found north of Peru. Mexico is home to many of the most populous Maya communities, the most notable of which being the Yucatecs (with an estimated population of 300,000), the Tzotzil (120,000), and the Tzeltal (80,000).