MOMENTS IN HISTORY

1. 2000 BC–AD 100: Early Cultures

The Maya emerged in the Yucatán perhaps as early as 2000 BC. But it is not until 300 BC–AD 100 that the distinctive characteristics of their culture appeared – such as a writing system, calendar, and city states. For these attributes, the Maya owe much to the first great culture of ancient Mexico, the Olmecs, who thrived between 1500 and 300 BC.

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Mayan codices, Museo Maya, Cancún

2. 250–800: Classic Era Mayan Civilization

For over 500 years in the Classic era, Mayan civilization flourished throughout the Yucatán, Chiapas, northern Guatemala, and Belize. And, from about 650, the culture expanded vigorously in the northern Yucatán, reaching its peak at Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.

3. 800–950: Collapse of Mayan Civilization

In the relatively short span of about 150 years, Mayan civilization almost disappeared, most likely due to a series of catastrophes – over-population, over-use of exhausted land, intensification of inter-Mayan wars, and drought. The southern city states were left deserted, and the Mayan writing system virtually disappeared. In the north, the decline occurred later, and the cities were never entirely abandoned.

4. 1150–1520: Post-classic Revival of Mayan Culture

After a 200-year gap, Mayan culture was revived on a modest scale in the northern Yucatán, with the city of Mayapán. Smaller cities, such as Cozumel, El Rey (Cancún), and Tulum developed near the Yucatán coast and became important links in a trade route between the Aztecs of Central Mexico and South America.

5. 1517: Spaniards Arrive

An expedition led by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba sailed from Cuba and made the first Spanish landfall in Mexico, on Isla Mujeres. It continued to Campeche and Champotón, but it was then attacked by the Maya and forced to turn back.

6. 1526–42: Spanish Conquest of the Yucatán

The Yucatán was conquered on the third attempt by conquistadores led by three members of the Montejo family. Having been besieged for months in the ruins of ancient Ti’ho, they made it the site of their new city of Mérida.

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Painting depicting the conquistadors

7. 1821: Independence

As Spain’s American Empire collapsed, the Yucatán, which had had its own administration under Spanish rule, grudgingly agreed to become part of an independent Mexico, but declared independence a few years later. In 1842 a Mexican attempt to reincorporate the Yucatán by force was beaten back.

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Yucatán Independence ceremony

8. 1847: Caste War Begins

Mayans across the Yucatán rose against their white and mestizo (mixed-race) rulers in the best-organized Native American revolt anywhere in the Americas since the Conquest – and almost succeeded. The main Caste War was over by 1850, but rebels continued to defy Mexico until 1902 – some until 1930.

9. 1860–1910: Henequén Boom

Global demand soared for sisal rope, made from the henequén agave, transforming the Yucatán’s economy. This “green gold” was the world’s best rope until the synthetics of the 1950s. New wealth was reflected in Mérida’s extravagant mansions, theaters, and other attractions for henequén magnates. The boom even partly survived the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910.

10. 1971: Tourism Arrives

Cancún’s first hotel opened and another economic transformation began with the dawn of tourism.

TOP 10 GODS AND SPIRITS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA

1. Itzamná

Paramount god in the Post-classic Yucatán, he is the god of medicine and the inventor of writing.

2. Ixchel

The goddess of fertility, childbirth, and weaving.

3. Maize God

One of the foremost gods, created by the First Mother and First Father (maize was essential in ancient America).

4. Hero Twins

In Mayan myths, the twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué have many adventures and defy the forces of death.

5. Earth Lord

The Maya viewed the earth as a living being, which could be either kindly or monstrous. Monstermouth temples are often representations of the Earth Lord.

6. Tlaloc

A Central Mexican god of rain and war, with strange “goggles” on his eyes.

7. Kukulcán

A powerful bird-serpent, the Central Mexican god Quetzalcoatl was known in the Yucatán as Kukulcán.

8. Vision Serpents

Conduits between men and the gods, they were summoned up by Mayan lords and shamans during rituals.

9. Cosmic Turtle

Another symbol of water and the earth. In the Mayan creation myth, the Maize God emerges through a crack in the shell of the cosmic turtle.

10. Chac

The Mayan god of rain and lightning, he is identifiable in carvings by his long, curling snout.

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Chac, the god of lightning and rain

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