Earthquakes
Climatic Changes
Epidemics
Foreign Conquest
Civil War
Intellectual and Esthetic Exhaustion
Social Decay
Economic Collapse
 
 
  Foreign Conquest 

 
 
 
 

When first starting research on this theory on why the Maya civilization collapsed, I thought that solely the Spanish engaged the conquest of the Maya Indians and that they were the cause of their disappearance.  After looking more closely at the history of the conquest, I believe that the conquest of the Mayas actually began 500 years before the Spanish appeared with the intrusion of the Mexicans.  As will be shown, the Mexicans altered the Maya civilization greatly and they only set the stage for the downfall when the Spanish arrived. 
 
 

 
 
 The Mexican invasion of the Mayas in the Yucatan occurred in the century that followed the end of the Classic Period for the Mayas.  There is 800 miles that separates the groups and this meant long and difficult travel for the Mexican Toltecs.  Toltec art and architecture is seen first in the late 900s at Chichen Itza, a Mayan city that had flourished during the Classic Period.  According to Maya records, the Toltec rule of Chichen Itza lasted for two centuries and as a result, the Maya way of life was altered considerably. 

The Toltecs brought with them many new religious cults and beliefs such as the worship of Quetzalcoatl-Kukulcan, the feather-serpent god.  This is important because after the Mexicans gained control of the Mayas at Chichen Itza, this god became a part of the new architecture that accompanied the arrival of the Toltecs and it proves that the Toltecs did in fact change the Mayan way of life.  The invaders also brought very militaristic attitudes with them and this was also reflected in the new Maya art as warriors began to be depicted more frequently. 

Although the Itza’s controlled virtually every aspect of the new Mayan society, after 200 years of their rule, a famous character in Mayan history wiped out the Itza’s almost single handedly.  Hunac Ceel, also called Cauich, became the ruler after a ceremony in which sacrifices were made to the rain gods. Ceel became the ruler of the area and in no time drove the ruler of Chichen Itza and his followers from the city.  This new leadership that was started by Ceel controlled the Yucatan and surrounding areas for two and a half centuries and there were numerous changes that resulted. 

The Mayas changed from a peaceful theocracy to a warlike autocracy.  The Mexican Chichen Itza represented the falling off of the artistic attainments of the Classic Period, and the hieroglyphic texts also ceased to exist anymore, which subsequently implies an intellectual regression.  The gaudy architecture of the Mexicans during their rule also showed that there was a deterioration of values due to the militaristic values of the new culture.  Religion also lost its place in this new Maya culture.   With the distortion of values, there were mass slaughters of slaves to honor the gods and this was now considered more important than producing objects of beauty for enjoyment in the after-life. 

This new leadership at Mayapan lasted until 1450, and when this government ended it marked the end of centralized government.  The cultural decline that was so evident in the aftermath of the Mexican continued at a greater pace.  Religious influence was now at a new low, no more pyramids were built, and poorly built thatched huts now become prevalent. As seen, the Mexican Toltecs played a prodigious role in changing the Mayan way of life, and it is obvious that they helped begin the regression of the Mayas.  This regression of the Maya civilization was quite apparent and it set the stage for the Spanish invasion and eventual conquest of the Mayas. 

The Spanish conquest of the Mayan lands began with the invasion of Utatlan in 1524 and ended with the surrender of the Itza in 1697.  The Spanish brought incredibly powerful weapons with them that the Indians could not defend against.  There was also no unity left in Middle America due to the decline of values in the tribes and this resulted in inter-tribal battles and in some tribes aiding the Spanish in their conquest. 

After the open hostilities ceased, the Spanish established ecomiendas, which granted both large tracks of land and the services of the Indians on the land to the conquistadors.  Soon after that, the Spanish instituted the policies of reduccion and agrupacion to bring dispersed rural Maya populations into manageable groups.  This was done to cease the attacks by the Indians living in rural areas and to facilitate the conversion of the Maya Indians to Christianity.  The Spanish converted ceremonial areas in cabeceras and these became the central control points for Spanish political leadership, which finally destroyed the Mayas. 

As one can see, the history of the conquest of the Maya is a lengthy one.  People may say that the real demise of the Mayas came with the invasion of the Spanish because that is when they were killed in mass numbers and were enslaved by the Spanish.  But many believe that the Mayas could have defended themselves much better and survived much longer if it had not been for the deterioration of their civilization.  If their culture had continued to flourish as it did in the Classic Period, who knows how much they could have accomplished. 

Although the Spanish certainly finished the job in destroying one of the longest lasting Indian groups in history, nobody can refute the fact that the Maya civilization was already on a downward spiral, and that is probably the one aspect that hurt them more than anything. 
 
 

 By Ryan Shuman 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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