INTRODUCTION

The Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, Which covers a region that spreads from northen Mexico southwards  into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradels of civilization worldwide. The Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural develpments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing and calendrical systems. thet set of traits shared by Mesoamerican cultures also included astronomical knowledge, blood and human sacriface, and a cosmovision that viewed  the world as divided into four division aligned whit the cardinal direction, each with different attributes, and a three-way division of the world into the celestial realm, the earth, and the underworld.

What were the characteristics of the Mayan civilization?

Astronomy was very much a part of their life as was the calendar, and mathematics.. Social class was determined by economics, religious beliefs and politics. Talented potters, sculptors and artists with abilities in carving jade and other semi precious stones. The Mayans were intelligent farmers and architects as well.

What were the main of the Mayan periods?

The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic periods. These were preceded by the Archaic Period, during which the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture emerged. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of Maya chronology, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decline Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author

Maya chronology
Period	Division		Dates
Archaic			8000–2000 BC
Preclassic	Early Preclassic		2000–1000 BC
	Middle Preclassic	Early Middle Preclassic	1000–600 BC
		Late Middle Preclassic	600–350 BC
	Late Preclassic	Early Late Preclassic	350–1 BC
		Late Late Preclassic	1 BC – AD 159
		Terminal Preclassic	AD 159–250
Classic	Early Classic		AD 250–550
	Late Classic		AD 550–830
	Terminal Classic		AD 830–950
Postclassic	Early Postclassic		AD 950–1200
	Late Postclassic		AD 1200–1539
Contact period			AD 1511–1697

Postclassic period (c. 950–1539 AD)

Zaculeu was capital of the Postclassic Mam kingdom in theGuatemalan Highlands.

Although much reduced, a significant Maya presence remained into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources. Unlike during previous cycles of contraction in the Maya region, abandoned lands were not quickly resettled in the Postclassic. Activity shifted to the northern lowlands and the Maya Highlands; this may have involved migration from the southern lowlands, because many Postclassic Maya groups had migration myths. Chichen Itza and its Puuc neighbours declined dramatically in the 11th century, and this may represent the final episode of Classic Period collapse. After the decline of Chichen Itza, the Maya region lacked a dominant power until the rise of the city of Mayapan in the 12th century. New cities arose near the Caribbean and Gulf coasts, and new trade networks were formed.

The Postclassic Period was marked by changes from the preceding Classic Period. The once-great city of Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was abandoned after continuous occupation of almost 2,000 years. Across the highlands and neighbouring Pacific coast, long-occupied cities in exposed locations were relocated, apparently due to a proliferation of warfare. Cities came to occupy more-easily defended hilltop locations surrounded by deep ravines, with ditch-and-wall defences sometimes supplementing the protection provided by the natural terrain. One of the most important cities in the Guatemalan Highlands at this time was Q'umarkaj, the capital of the aggressive K'iche' kingdom. The government of Maya states, from the Yucatán to the Guatemalan highlands, was often organised as joint rule by a council. However, in practice one member of the council could act as a supreme ruler, while the other members served him as advisors.

Mayapan was an important Postclassic city in the northern Yucatán Peninsula.

Mayapan was abandoned around 1448, after a period of political, social and environmental turbulence that in many ways echoed the Classic period collapse in the southern Maya region. The abandonment of the city was followed by a period of prolonged warfare, disease and natural disasters in the Yucatán Peninsula, which ended only shortly before Spanish contact in 1511. Even without a dominant regional capital, the early Spanish explorers reported wealthy coastal cities and thriving marketplaces. During the Late Postclassic, the Yucatán Peninsula was divided into a number of independent provinces that shared a common culture but varied in internal sociopolitical organisation. On the eve of the Spanish conquest, the highlands of Guatemala were dominated by several powerful Maya states. The K'iche' had carved out a small empire covering a large part of the western Guatemalan Highlands and the neighbouring Pacific coastal plain. However, in the decades before the Spanish invasion the Kaqchikel kingdom had been steadily eroding the kingdom of the K'iche'.

Contact period and Spanish conquest (1511–1697 AD)

Main articles: Spanish conquest of the Maya, Chiapas, Guatemala, Petén and Yucatán

See also: Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and Spanish colonization of the Americas

In 1511, a Spanish caravel was wrecked in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors made landfall on the coast of Yucatán. They were seized by a Maya lord, and most were sacrificed, although two managed to escape. From 1517 to 1519, three separate Spanish expeditions explored the Yucatán coast, and engaged in a number of battles with the Maya inhabitants. After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish in 1521, Hernán Cortés despatched Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, 4 cannons, and thousands of allied warriors from central Mexico; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523. The K'iche' capital, Q'umarkaj, fell to Alvarado in 1524. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish were invited as allies into Iximche, the capital city of the Kaqchikel Maya. Good relations did not last, due to excessive Spanish demands for gold as tribute, and the city was abandoned a few months later. This was followed by the fall of Zaculeu, the Mam Maya capital, in 1525. Francisco de Montejo and his son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger, launched a long series of campaigns against the polities of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1527, and finally completed the conquest of the northern portion of the peninsula in 1546. This left only the Maya kingdoms of the Petén Basin independent. In 1697, Martín de Ursúa launched an assault on the Itza capital Nojpetén and the last independent Maya city fell to the Spanish. 

Classic period (c. 250–900 AD)

Stela D from Quiriguá, representing king K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat

The Classic period is largely defined as the period during which the lowland Maya raised dated monuments using the Long Count calendar. This period marked the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and demonstrated significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. The Classic period Maya political landscape has been likened to that of Renaissance Italy or Classical Greece, with multiple city-states engaged in a complex network of alliances and enmities. The largest cities had populations numbering 50,000 to 120,000 and were linked to networks of subsidiary sites.

During the Early Classic, cities throughout the Maya region were influenced by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distantValley of Mexico. In AD 378, Teotihuacan decisively intervened at Tikal and other nearby cities, deposed their rulers, and installed a new Teotihuacan-backed dynasty. This intervention was led by Siyaj K'ak' ("Born of Fire"), who arrived at Tikal in early 378. The king of Tikal, Chak Tok Ich'aak I, died on the same day, suggesting a violent takeover. A year later, Siyaj K'ak' oversaw the installation of a new king, Yax Nuun Ahiin I. The installation of the new dynasty led to a period of political dominance when Tikal became the most powerful city in the central lowlands.

Tikal's great rival was Calakmul, another powerful city in the Petén Basin. Tikal and Calakmul both developed extensive systems of allies and vassals; lesser cities that entered one of these networks gained prestige from their association with the top-tier city, and maintained peaceful relations with other members of the same network. Tikal and Calakmul engaged in the manoeuvering of their alliance networks against each other. At various points during the Classic period, one or other of these powers would gain a strategic victory over its great rival, resulting in respective periods of florescence and decline.

Calakmul was one of the most important Classic period cities.

In 629, B'alaj Chan K'awiil, a son of the Tikal king K'inich Muwaan Jol II, was sent to found a new city at Dos Pilas, in thePetexbatún region, apparently as an outpost to extend Tikal's power beyond the reach of Calakmul. For the next two decades he fought loyally for his brother and overlord at Tikal. In 648, king Yuknoom Ch'een II of Calakmul captured Balaj Chan K’awiil. Yuknoom Ch'een II then reinstated Balaj Chan K'awiil upon the throne of Dos Pilas as his vassal. He thereafter served as a loyal ally of Calakmul.

In the southeast, Copán was the most important city. Its Classic-period dynasty was founded in 426 by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'. The new king had strong ties with central Petén and Teotihuacan. Copán reached the height of its cultural and artistic development during the rule of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, who ruled from 695 to 738. His reign ended catastrophically when he was captured by his vassal, king K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá. The captured lord of Copán was taken back to Quiriguá and was decapitated in a public ritual. It is likely that this coup was backed by Calakmul, in order to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal. Palenque and Yaxchilan were the most powerful cities in theUsumacinta region. In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was already a sprawling city by 300. In the north of the Maya area, Coba was the most important capital. 

Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC – 250 AD)

Kaminaljuyu in the highlands, and El Mirador, in the lowlands, were both important cities in the Late Preclassic.

The Maya developed their first civilization in the Preclassic period. Scholars continue to discuss when this era of Maya civilization began. Maya occupation at Cuello (modern-day Belize) has been carbon dated to around 2600 BC. Settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of the Pacific coast, and the Maya were already cultivating the staple crops of maize, beans, squash, and chili pepper. This period was characterised by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.

During the Middle Preclassic Period, small villages began to grow to form cities. Nakbe in the Petén department of Guatemala is the earliest well-documented city in the Maya lowlands, where large structures have been dated to around 750 BC. The northern lowlands of Yucatán were widely settled by the Middle Preclassic. By approximately 400 BC, early Maya rulers were raising stelae. A developed script was already being used in Petén by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic Period, the enormous city of El Mirador grew to cover approximately 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi). Although not as large, Tikal was already a significant city by around 350 BC.

In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged as a principal centre in the Late Preclassic. Takalik Abaj and Chocolá were two of the most important cities on the Pacific coastal plain, and Komchen grew to become an important site in northern Yucatán. The Late Preclassic cultural florescence collapsed in the 1st century AD and many of the great Maya cities of the epoch were abandoned; the cause of this collapse is unknown. 

What where the Mayas Territories?

The Maya civilization occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America. This area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula and all of the territory now incorporated into the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline

The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain; a chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén.To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands. Dense forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche, and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Farther north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub.

The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre.The Maya highlands extend eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes. The major pre-Columbian population centres of the highlands were located in the largest highland valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley in the southern highlands, a belt of volcanic cones running parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend northwards into Verapaz, and gradually descend to the east.