History of the Ancient Maya

The Maya had many kings and gods, some that stand out in Maya history and some not. The most famous god in Maya history was Quetzalcotal who was believed to have come from the Toltecs and later adopted by the Aztecs. He was called Kukulcan by the Mayas.

There are many important periods during Maya history. Here are some of the important dates in their history.

Here is a link to another timeline of Maya history.

20OOO BC The ancestors of the ancient Mayans came from Asia when there was a land bridge between the continents.

17OOO BC the place where Tikal was later built was used by early farmers.

600 AD Cities such as Tikal became very important.

700 AD Maya sculpture and pottery became popular and was considered important.

800 AD The city of Tikal started to collapse and Mayans were becoming more and more warlike because of the Toltec influence.

1200 AD Chickén Itzá begins to decline.

1490 AD Stories of a plague which infected the Mayas.

1500 ADThe Spanish start their conquest of Mesoamerica. Most of their books, which were thought to be the work of the devil. were burned.

Today many of the Mayans still live in Guatamala, the Yucatan and Honduras. However, many of them died and much of the ancient civilization declined even before the Spanish conquest.