What did the Mayans experience when they gave up their highly developed civilization and disappeared on a large scale?

Around 800 AD, the Mayans abandoned their highly developed civilization and migrated on a large scale. Every central city they created also stopped building new buildings. The city was completely abandoned one day, and the prosperous big city became barren and was swallowed up by the tropical jungle. There are various speculations about the disappearance of Mayan civilization. Its disappearance is as mysterious as its rise, attracting worldwide attention.

One theory holds that it was caused by foreign invasion and war. During the ancient Maya period 1000 years ago, the Mayans lived in an area ruled by several powerful so-called urban regimes. Due to the sharp increase in marriage between royal families to expand their power, the royal hereditary began to split. Some royal descendants run away from home in search of new territory, while others stay at home and stick to their heirs. Due to the expansion of the aristocratic class, their demand for plundering luxury goods and trophies in other countries' cities has also expanded. So the war got out of hand, trade began to be destroyed, and a large number of craftsmen and farmers were killed. The Mayans attacked each other and gradually evolved into endless wars. Bandits and pirates began to destroy farmland, plunder cities and villages, and slaughter a large number of civilians. There are few Maya left, and finally only about 10% of the residents are left.

There is also a view that it is natural and man-made disasters. Amos Noor, a professor of geophysics at Stanford University in the United States, believes that the ancient Trojan civilization and Mayan characters were destroyed by natural disasters, and the earthquake may be the culprit. He pointed out that the earthquake that occurred in the late 9th century AD razed the two centers of Mayan civilization-Chilgua and Benquevero, further shaking the ruling foundation of the rulers of the Mayan Empire, making them unable to control the situation in chaos. In other words, when there were problems in Mayan society, the earthquake became the fuse, which triggered social unrest and eventually pushed Mayan civilization to extinction.

There are other explanations for the sudden demise of Mayan civilization. Some scholars believe that this may be because the Mayan Empire built in the jungle chose racial migration after discovering that the food supply in the city was unsustainable, and the Mayan Empire gradually collapsed. The foundation of Mayan civilization is slash-and-burn agricultural system: in the dry season from 65438+February to March of the following year, a woodland was cleared with a stone axe, burned before the rainy season, and then corn and soybeans were planted and harvested in autumn. After several years of use, the reclaimed land was abandoned due to the decline of fertility and the invasion of weeds. It should be said that this agricultural system is very suitable in the tropics. And the productivity is also very stable. However, because the used land can not be used again until the soil fertility is restored and the jungle is regenerated, it usually takes 20 years or even longer.

So a large area of land can only feed a small number of people. However, according to archaeological evidence, the population living in the whole Maya lowland jungle may be close to 5 million at the peak, but today the population living in this land is only several hundred thousand. For the land where such a large population lives, it is obviously impossible to maintain the agricultural system of "slash and burn". In 800, the grain output began to decline, and the excavation of tombs showed that infants and women died in large numbers because of malnutrition. What followed was that the rulers and the army intensified the exploitation of farmers and frequently launched wars between cities. In this case, the Mayans had to migrate in order to survive.

Mayan stele

There are also many scholars who believe that with the development of maritime traffic, inland river trade has been replaced by maritime trade, so the Mayan cities connected with rivers in the depths of dense forests and relying on inland river trade for a living have lost their existence, leading to the disintegration of Mayan society.

Medical examination of Mayan mummies in recent years shows that the inexplicable decline of many Mayan cities is probably related to the spread of diseases, especially willow disease. We know that bringing syphilis to the old world was the revenge of the Aztecs and Incas against the Spanish. This new disease, like the Black Death that prevailed centuries ago, caused death to sweep across Europe and Asia. Indeed, during the period from 700 A.D. to 1000 A.D., when Toltec and Aztec came into contact with the Mayans, it was also the period when most Mayan cities were inexplicably abandoned. Some American scientists have come to the conclusion that the reason for the destruction of Mayan civilization is willow disease, because the Mayans were not immune to this virus.

Lack of energy is also the reason why some experts speculate that Mayan civilization disappeared. It is speculated that the Mayans did not have electricity as energy, nor could they use coal or oil as fuel, nor did they find any signs of using wind as energy or power. They can only think that they can rely on the heat of the sun to serve their lives. However, judging from their remaining sites, it is obvious that relying solely on solar heat as the energy supply for life service is stretched. With the rapid increase of population and the continuous construction of various projects, energy shortage is an urgent problem to be solved. In such a narrow area in the jungle, it is obvious that energy cannot meet the requirements of feeding hundreds of thousands of people and building various huge projects. Over time, lack of energy will also lead to the idea of "thinking about change when you are poor". Then, Mayan leaders may also seek immigration measures because of serious energy shortage.