With towering pyramids, highly accurate astronomical calendars, and a remarkably complex society. But then, like a tragic myth, this mighty empire suddenly collapsed, leaving behind abandoned cities in the jungle. Why? What happened to such an advanced civilization?

The Maya Civilization

Before delving into the reasons for the collapse, we need to understand why the Maya civilization is called powerful. It is a story set in the jungles of Central America in the seventh century. Here, tall stone pyramids intricately carved rise amidst the green forest. Vast plazas filled with people ranging from noblemen in vibrant feathered garments to farmers bringing corn and cacao to the market. This is known as the classic period of the Maya, corresponding from the mid-third century to the tenth century. It was the time when this civilization reached its peak.

The Maya were not only skilled builders; they had a complex hieroglyphic writing system carved on stone, wood, and even paper made from bark. This was one of the first writing systems in the Americas, allowing them to record history, rituals, and even astronomical calculations. Speaking of astronomy, the Maya calculated the cycle of Venus, predicted solar eclipses accurately to the day, and created a calendar system more complex than the one we use today. They also developed mathematics, using zero before Europe and built structures that stood for thousands of years without cement.

City-states like Tikal, Palenque, Copan, or Kalamun were not only political centers but also ancient supercities. Estimates in some cities range from 50,000 to 100,000 people, a very large number for that time. They had an advanced agricultural system with cornfields irrigated by canals from reservoirs. Trade was thriving with trade routes stretching hundreds of kilometers exchanging jade, feathers, and a type of volcanic stone sharp as a knife. Yet by the eighth and ninth centuries, these magnificent cities gradually became abandoned. Leading them to disappear, temples swallowed by the jungle, and the Maya civilization in the southern lowlands. Today, that area is Guatemala, Honduras, and southern Mexico has collapsed. But do not misunderstand, not all Maya disappeared. In the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, centers continued to develop for several centuries before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

What caused the powerful city-states in the lowlands to suddenly collapse?

The first reason is the sky. You are a Maya farmer. Day and night praying for the rain god's blessing, but year after year, it does not rain. The cornfields wither, the water dries up, and your family begins to starve. This is not imagination, and these are not baseless stories. It is the reality that the Maya faced at the end of the eighth century. Scientists have studied and shown that from about 800 to 1000, the area where the Maya lived experienced prolonged droughts with at least four phases of severe drought. The two largest phases around 800 to 850 and around 900 to 950 are called mega-droughts with rainfall reduced to half of normal. This was the driest period in the last 7,000 years in this area.

Why did the drought occur? Partly due to natural climate change. Scientists found that the Earth's orbit changed slightly, shifting the tropical rain zone, making Central America drier. The phenomenon of El Niño, which we often talk about today, also contributed to disrupting weather patterns causing prolonged droughts that the Maya depended entirely on rain for irrigation and water storage. When the rain did not come, their agricultural system collapsed like a chain of dominoes. Without corn, the people starved, trade stagnated, and the city-states fell into chaos.

But drought is not the whole story. If it were just drought, why couldn't the Maya, with their intelligence and technology, overcome it? The answer lies in how they treated the environment. You need land to grow corn to support a city, you need wood to build houses, you need what to complete the pyramids, what do you need? You need wood, and you have to cut down the forest. The Maya did exactly that, but the scale of their actions was astonishing. During the classic period, the Maya cleared millions of hectares of tropical forest to expand agriculture and build urban areas. It sounds reasonable, but deforestation had catastrophic consequences.

First, losing forests caused soil erosion. The soil in the lowlands was thin and easily lost nutrients. When heavy rains came, fertile soil was washed away, leading to crop failures. The forest also acted as a natural air conditioner, helping to retain moisture and regulate rainfall. Deforestation reduced rainfall, making droughts even more severe, and empty land became prone to flooding when there were unusual heavy rains, destroying crops and villages. The Maya transformed the landscape to the point of no return. Their complex irrigation systems, though advanced, were not enough to cope with the prolonged decrease in water.

In other words, it was the strong development of the Maya. They were overpopulated. They urbanized too quickly, and it shot themselves in the foot. They overexploited the environment when drought struck. They no longer had a natural shield to protect them. The next cause leading to the collapse of the Maya was war. If you were a Maya king in Tikal, the water was running out, crops were failing, the people were starving, and they began to doubt your power. Meanwhile, neighboring city-states were eyeing your resources. What would you do? Perhaps you would build walls, strengthen the army, and prepare for war. That is exactly what the Maya did.

Archaeologists have found evidence of increasingly fierce warfare at the end of the classic period. Stone stelae record battles between city-states. They fought not only for land but also for water, for corn, and for prisoners to sacrifice to the gods, an important ritual to pray for rain. War made everything worse. It destroyed crops, killed people, and disrupted trade. Trade routes for jade were cut off, weakening the economy. The already starving and discontented population began to leave the cities in search of new places to live.

The hastily built walls showed desperation but were not enough to save the city-states from collapse. Along with that, trade declined and economic crisis ensued. With no trade, the city-states lost their supply of essential goods. Moreover, internal wars disrupted trade routes, making the economy even more difficult. Lacking goods, lacking food, lacking trust, the city-states gradually fell into chaos.

So what really caused the Maya empire to collapse?

It was not a single cause but a combination of drought, environmental factors, war, inability to trade, and loss of faith in the Maya kings. Drought was the first shot, but looking at how the Maya managed resources and society, they certainly could not withstand it. What is even more interesting is that the Maya did not completely disappear. Their descendants still live in Central America today with a population of about 7 million people, over 30 branches of the Maya language. Genetic studies show a clear continuity of the Maya, proving that they adapted and reorganized after the collapse.

Maya centers in the North continued to develop. Even when the Spanish arrived, the Maya still resisted strongly. The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a process that lasted nearly two centuries. Unlike their quick defeat of the Aztecs or the Incas. Initially, after capturing some territories in the 16th century, the Spanish turned to the Yucatan Peninsula, where the remaining Maya groups were living. Without a capital, conquering each territory became extremely difficult for the Spanish. In 1524, Pedro de Alvarado led troops into present-day Guatemala to attack the Maya kingdoms.

With guns, horses, and cannons, the Spanish had the advantage but still faced fierce resistance in the jungles and high mountains. Their familiar strategy was to exploit conflicts between tribes. In the following 50 years, the Maya repeatedly abandoned cities, retreating into the deep jungle and waging guerrilla warfare. The Spanish had to establish concentrated villages to destroy temples and force people to convert to Christianity. But the greatest thing that destroyed the Maya was the diseases from Europe. European diseases like smallpox and influenza caused the Maya population to decrease by an estimated 70 to 90%. That means on average, for every 10 Maya, 7 to 9 died from the disease.

Despite being conquered, the Maya did not disappear. They still retained their language, customs, and traditions, creating a unique identity that exists to this day. Thus, the collapse of the Maya empire is no longer a complete mystery. Thanks to archaeology, climate science, and modern technology, we know that it is a story of fragility between humans and nature. But what makes us love this story is that it is not just about failure. The Maya left behind their great legacy, from the pyramids that stand the test of time to the astronomical calendar and writing system that still astonishes people.