snoozy_snewin said:
i need help on my major essay and my question is What do the Historians see as the reasons for the decline and eventual abandonment of the Mayans in the Central and Southern areas in the 8th, 9th and 10th century?
What have you got so far?
From my limited understanding, you could divide the reasons into two themes: human and non-human.
Geobiological historians like Crosby jabber on about how the Mayans had a disadvantage to begin with in that the land wasn't as supportive as it should have been, and how there was that huge drought - worst in 10,000 years or something. They'd also point out that the physical layout of Maya meant that the administrative areas were far too isolated to exert control over the empire.
More anthropological historians like Manning would jabber on about how the Mayans internally screwed their society up by 'evolving' to question the divine order of things - namely the powerful aristocracy. From memory, there were a series of wars because of the Yucatan opression of the people, or something. They'd also point out how the Mayans essentially destroyed their land by not using renewable agricultural methods.
If I was you, I'd have a read of Jared Diamond's
Collapse - it's quite basic and simple, but it'll be an excellent introduction. Also, his bibliography is excellent. If you can't get your hand on the book but need the biblio (it's separated by each chapter, and there's one chapter on Maya), give me a buzz and I can scan it for you.
