Question

11. Describe the factors that may have led to the decline of the Maya. (4 points)

Answer 1

No-one really knows and scholar experts of Pre-Columbian civilizations have debated this issue since the 19th century and the debate still rages on. Some kind of consensus seems to be forming around a series of factors of which the main three are:

Environmental unviability due to overpopulation and land overuse: The population was too large to be sustained by their agricultural systems which led all urban centers to collapse.

Political divisions: The Mayan Civilization was divided into sovereign city-states that were constantly waging war to each other. This led to civil strife and prolonged institutional stability that ultimately caused the system to collapse.

Environmental Catastrophe; a catastrophic drought that lasted for decades possibly depleted their water and food reserves to the breaking point.

Answer 2

Drought, wars and demographic problems, among others, caused the fall of that civilization.:

1. The population increase exacerbated the effects of a "cyclical" drought that caused a decrease in agricultural production and had a greater impact than a similar weather situation caused 700 years earlier.
2. An increase in wars between the state cities that made up the Mayan civilization, which gradually became more "frequent and intense".
3. The Maya may have found endemic infections related to Chagas-Mazza disease, Ascaris or some enteropathogens that cause acute diarrheal diseases. On the other hand, some experts believe that, as a consequence of the development of their civilization (ie, the development of agriculture and settlements), the Maya may have created a "disturbed environment" in which parasitic and pathogenic insects often thrive .
4. According to the archaeological evidence, the construction and expansion works of the Maya were at their peak from 730 to 790 AD. C., with constant extensions and construction works without any type of machines or tools to help them in these works. During this same period appeared signs that foreshadowed the collapse of the Mayan civilization. Most of the workload weighed on peasant workers in cities such as Tikal and Copán, where seemingly endless construction projects were carried out, building large buildings and ball fields. A theory supported by J. Eric S. Thompson attributes the Maya collapse to a revolution on the part of the lower social classes of the Mayan society.