The Maya were organized in theocratic city states, which had relatively little contact to each other.

The cities had a centre formed by temples, palaces for the priests and places of worship for their cultural activities such as special ball games. The farmers settled around these centres.

Between 700 and 900 AD, the maya were one of the highest developed nations in the world. They were excellent architects and had the most exact calender.

Around 900 AD, the toltec tribe of the Itzá immigrated into the north of Yucatán. They soon dominated the Maya, inventing new religous rituals and a militaristic state.

When the Spanish invaded Yucatán in 1528, they sowed the seeds of discord between the various Maya houses, and finally killed everyone who didn't surrender.

Political opression, forced labour, and religious conversion dominated the following centuries, and the Indios were almost extinguished.

In 1821, the end of the mexican war of independence, the Spanish left Yucatán, but the living conditions of the exploited land workers didn't change, because they were still opressed by the Creoles.

There were many uprisings, the last one, "Guerra de Castas", in 1847. But it's aim of founding an own Maya state wasn't achieved.

Although the Maya were granted full political and legal equality in 1937, the social integration of the Maya in Mexico still represents a big problem.

 

the kings stone relief in palenque.