155 The Decline of the Maya
Learning Objective
- Explain what happened to the structure of the Maya Empire in the Postclassic period
Key Points
- The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish.
- The center of power shifted to the northern peninsula.
- The Postclassic period was a time of technological advancement in areas of architecture, engineering, and weaponry.
- The Spanish conquest of the Maya began in the 16th century, but lasted close to 150 years.
- Mayan languages, agricultural practices, and familial cultures still exist in parts of Chiapas and Guatemala.
Terms
Yucatán
A geographic area in the south of modern day Mexico near Belize.
Codex
A book containing religious and cultural information written in the Mayan script. Only three of these books remain in the world.
Mayapan
The cultural capital of the Maya culture during the Postclassic period. It was at its height between 1220 and 1440 CE.
The period after the second collapse of the Maya Empire (900 CE–1600 CE) is called the Postclassic period. The center of power shifted from the central lowlands to the northern peninsula as populations most likely searched for reliable water resources, along with greater social stability.
The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish; some of the important sites in this era were Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. A typical Classic Maya polity was a small hierarchical state (called an ajawil, ajawlel, or ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler known as an ajaw (later k’uhul ajaw). However, the Postclassic period generally saw the widespread abandonment of once-thriving sites as populations gathered closer to water sources. Warfare most likely caused populations in long-inhabited religious cities, like Kuminaljuyu, to be abandoned in favor of smaller, hilltop settlements that had a better advantage against warring factions.
Postclassic Cities
Maya cities during this era were dispersed settlements, often centered around the temples or palaces of a ruling dynasty or elite in that particular area. Cities remained the locales of administrative duties and royal religious practices, and the sites where luxury items were created and consumed. City centers also provided the sacred space for privileged nobles to approach the holy ruler and the places where aesthetic values of the high culture were formulated and disseminated and where aesthetic items were consumed. These more established cities were the self-proclaimed centers of social, moral, and cosmic order.
If a royal court fell out of favor with the people, as in the well-documented cases of Piedras Negras or Copan, this fall from power would cause the inevitable “death” and abandonment of the associated settlement. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, Mayapan became the most important cultural site until about 1450 CE. This city’s name may be the source of the word “Maya,” which had a more geographically restricted m