The Maya civilization existed thousands of years ago and was still intact until a few hundred years ago. They were organized people that depended heavily on their traditions, culture, and religion. We all know them by their prophecies or the famous Mayan calendar that got a lot of airtime in 2012. The Mayans believed that the world would end in 2012. Without wasting any time Hollywood made a movie about it. The world didn’t end but the movie was a hit.
Historians date the Maya civilization as old as 8000 BC but they lived on until 1500 AD. This makes the Mayans one of the few civilizations to survive this long. They were already in disintegration but that process sped up with the incursions of the Spanish Conquistadors, Christopher Columbus, and other explorers.
Some say the Mayans were killed in an earthquake or a volcano explosion or by some other freak incident but historians and archeologists believe that their downfall was gradual rather than sudden and the Mayan civilization died down due to several other reasons.
It is argued that the end of Mayan civilization started in the 8th and 9th centuries. This period is also known as the Classic Maya collapse and it happened when many Mayan cities in the south were abandoned. It is still a mystery why the Mayans deserted developed cities but climate change, deforestation, and floods could have been the main reasons. To top that off, several diseases overtook the Mayans, their trade routes were disrupted, and foreign invaders entered the scene.
The Mayan civilization as it once was could have fought off the invasions but they were too weak and the empire succumbed to the pressure. The language and part of the culture still exist in parts of Central America so they didn’t get completely wiped off.
The Maya civilization existed thousands of years ago and was still intact until a few hundred years ago. They were organized people that depended heavily on their traditions, culture, and religion. We all know them by their prophecies or the famous Mayan calendar that got a lot of airtime in 2012. The Mayans believed that the world would end in 2012. Without wasting any time Hollywood made a movie about it. The world didn’t end but the movie was a hit.
Historians date the Maya civilization as old as 8000 BC but they lived on until 1500 AD. This makes the Mayans one of the few civilizations to survive this long. They were already in disintegration but that process sped up with the incursions of the Spanish Conquistadors, Christopher Columbus, and other explorers.
Some say the Mayans were killed in an earthquake or a volcano explosion or by some other freak incident but historians and archeologists believe that their downfall was gradual rather than sudden and the Mayan civilization died down due to several other reasons.
It is argued that the end of Mayan civilization started in the 8th and 9th centuries. This period is also known as the Classic Maya collapse and it happened when many Mayan cities in the south were abandoned. It is still a mystery why the Mayans deserted developed cities but climate change, deforestation, and floods could have been the main reasons. To top that off, several diseases overtook the Mayans, their trade routes were disrupted, and foreign invaders entered the scene.
The Mayan civilization as it once was could have fought off the invasions but they were too weak and the empire succumbed to the pressure. The language and part of the culture still exist in parts of Central America so they didn’t get completely wiped off.