why did the mayans leave???

reply to post by Hanslune

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So it's very similar to what Muslims are doing today?
They've almost conquered Europe.

reply to post by Alxandro

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The early Arabs yes, mainly now it's been in the opposite direction. Militarily they were pushed out of Spain and Sicily then the Turks and Mongols put them in a submissive state. The Turks fell about and the the West moved in - then left as soon as they could. Western culture is slowly overwhelming the older Islamic ones -part of the reason for the reaction.

Conquered Europe? Hardly

Well, actually the French got along pretty well with the locals...you know, in a relationship like that, anyway. And you can pretty well thank the Church. For better or worse, it cared more about saving the souls of the 'savages' than it did about extinguishing them. All the parties took sides as they were divvying up the continent.

As far as Mexico goes, it's pretty well been shown that these large complex societies had little respect for the average Joe, so you can bet that they melted back into the jungle the first opportunity. They got tired of being 'stinkards'.

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

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The French were more "gentle" at least in North America. That was due to their very low numbers and a trading cultures versus a farming based system. Oddly most of the French didn't actually speak French, but Occitan and Breton.

The French colonies in the Caribbean were a different matter, as soon as all the natives had been killed off they imported hundreds of thousands of African slaves. The situtation was so bad in Haiti that the slaves were able to revolt successfully.

In general the French had a lighter hand than the Brits and certainly the Spanish. They retained more of their old empire than the British, Portuguese or Spanish.

No culture Disappears. No civilization Dies Out just out of a sudden.
They are assimilated into the Civilization/Culutre more predominant at that time.

Mayan Civilization did just that.

After the decline of Mayan Civilization, Most of it was assimilated into the Toltec culutre.

But still mayans do Exist. No the Ancient "mayans". But of Mayan descent. They still live in some isolated and indegenous communities places in gautemala and like.

Check out this link Mayan Civilization - Decline & Causes

Leave???? The population vs FOOD was the problem.. The population was too large to sustain they must have run out of food....I dare anyone to come up with a better explanation... If all of them could eat, why would they leave?

These large centres were pretty well meant as ceremonial sites, and largely occupied by a priest/ruling class...supported by regular folks. As such, society was highly stratified and those on the bottom laboured to support those on the top. Many parallels can be drawn using the historical remains of the Mississippian culture in the southern US.

Bottom line is that people get tired of being abused and once the upper class are shown to be mortal by being pulped by conquistadores, the smart ones are going to head for the hills and jungles where there is plenty of food.

...and there are plenty of Mayans out there today...just look for that singular facial profile, and there they are!

reply to post by JohnnyCanuck

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The last Mayan independent city fell to the Spanish in 1697. The collaspe of the classic civilization of separate city states seems to have been around 900 AD, drought and war seem to have been the problem. However the people continued to live there but many of the ceremonial centers were abandoned or put to other uses.

Lots of Maya still around about 6 million or so still retain an association or speak one of the dialects, millions more have taken on Spanish especially the Mestizos.

I use to work with the Maya - they are certainly still there.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

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i find your views almost compelling. i have this almost, addiction to the mayan culture. i am curious to learn more about this. almost curious enough to risk a trip to the amazon.

This reminds me of what happened to the Pagans, they would not embrace the "new religion, Christianity" , from 20 AD to around 500 AD 99.9% of all Pagan text was destroyed, thousands Pagans were starved or murdered in that period. I have followed John Lash's work on the Gnostic's for years, he has done meticulous research in Belgium for over 20 years at a library near there that has facsimiles of what is left of the Pagan writings. The Pagan's were Cosmologist and Astronomers who discovered we lived in a Galaxy, it wasn't until the thirties and Hubel that we kniew that.
www.metahistory.org

The mayans were not nearly as centrally organized as many would like to think. The other sedentary groups in pre-columbian latin america, such as the incas and aztecs, were far more socially and "economically" centralized than the Mayas. By the time of the 3rd and 4th conquests, done by Montejo's son, there was not much Mayan civilization left undisturbed, especially in the Yucatan. Due to drought, illness, war (both against the spaniards and amongst themselves), and other effects of Spanish conquest, the population of native Mayans declined sharply, and the few that were left were converted or assimilated into the new colonial era. It's very similar to what happened with the native americans up here in North America. Contrary to popular ATS belief, they did not just up and "disappear", well, no more so than many other native cultures demolished by or enveloped into modern living.

reply to post by VirginiaGreen

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You may wish to review the summary about the Caste War of Yucatan

en.wikipedia.org...

The Maya fought on until the late 19th century

reply to post by Hanslune

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Very interesting read my friend, much appreciated. All the same, it offers the same answer to the question of where did the Mayan people go? They did no disappear as many would speculate.

They appear to have just abandonen their cities. As famine and drought brought down the organized cities the farmers somehow survived - or others from farther afield took over the lands. Some cities lasted longer some collapsed immediately some lasted a few centuries.

When I worked around Merida and points to the SE the various Maya (the 'western' educated ones) had a deep interest in their past.

So, they are still there-as are the cities.

There are still Mayans today. They didn't dissipate, they left.

It's like coming to Pennsylvania and saying all the indians disappeared. They didn't, they just went somewhere else because the whites pushed them westward (or killed them, in which case then yes I guess some did disappear.)