Chronology

3114 BCE According to Maya belief, the present universe was created.

Pre-Classic Period, 1800 BCE to 250 BCE

Villages evolved into complex cities.

1700 BCE The first settlements appeared on the Pacific coast, with maize crops and ceramic production.

1300 BCE The first settlements were established in the Maya lowlands

950 BCE Monumental architecture begun to appear.

600 BCE Early forms of writing appear.

300 BCE The Pre-Classic Cities of El Mirador, Nakbe, San Bartolo, and Yaxnohcah flourished.

100 CE Dynastic kingdoms arose in the cities of Tikal, Naranjo, and Uaxactun.

150 CE The Pre-Classic cities of El Mirador and Nakbe collapsed.

Classic Period, 250-800 CE

The Maya lowlands were dominated by dynastic kingdoms and alliances between powerful city states. Royal courts supported art, science and long-distance trade.

378 CE Tikal was conquered by warriors from the distant city of Teotihuacan. A new king, the son of the king of Teotihuacan, was installed.

520 CE The Kaanul dynasty expanded to control the Maya lowlands

562 CE Tikal was conquered by the Kaanul dynasty and its Caracol allies.

615 to 683 CE King K’inich Janaab Pakal reigned in Palenque.

635 CE The Kaanul dynasty split and the group in Dzibanche moved southwest, establishing a new capital in Calakmul.

636 to 686 CE The Kanaal king Yukno’m the Great reigned in Calakmul.

695 CE Tikal’s king Jasaw Chan K’awiil defeated Yukno’m Yich’aak K’ahk’ of Calakmul.

738 CE King K’ahk’ Tiliw of Quirigua captured Copan’s king Waxaklajuun Ubaah K’awiil.

740 to 800 CE The network alliance of Maya kingdoms deteriorated. 

Terminal Classic, 800-900 CE

After the great powers collapsed, kings were no longer believed to have divine status. Urban infrastructure crumbled, and people abandoned the cities in the southern lowlands.

800 to 950 CE The lowland Maya cities collapsed and were abandoned. 

900 to 1100 CE The large city of Chichen Itza dominated the Yucatan peninsula.

909 CE The last known dated monument in the southern Maya lowlands ws created in Tonina.

1250 CE The city of Mayapan became the new dominant power in the northern Maya lowlands.  

1461 CE According to colonial sources, Mayapan was destroyed in a battle between the houses of Tutu Xiu and the Cocom, with its territories disintegrating into 16 small states.

1475 CE Foundation of Iximche, capital of the Kaqchikel people.

Post-Classic Period, 900-1550 CE

New cities were established in the north, based on a more equitable distribution of power. A new merchant class evolved, and markets started to play a major role in the economy.

1524 to 1546 CE Four million Maya people perished as a result of European contact, either at the hands of colonial conquerors or from diseases they introduced.  

Colonial Period, 1550-1820 CE

1697 CE The last independent Maya kingdom fell when Spanish conquistador Martin de Ursua seized Tayasal, the capital of the Itza people.

1810 to 1822 CE Mexico and Guatemala become independent countries.

Modern nation states, 1820-today

1847 to 1901 CE Mexicans and Maya engaged in what was later called the Caste War of Yucatan. It was America’s largest uprising of Indigenous people against foreign domination, and more than 50,000 died.

1873 to 1944 CE Various dictatorships in Guatemala used the Maya for forced labor

1978 to 1984 CE Civil war between the government of Guatemala and Maya-led forces left more than 150,000 dead, 40,000 missing and 1,400,000 displaced. 

1992 CE Rigoberta Menchu Tum, a K’iche Maya woman from Chimel, Guatemala, was awarded the Noel Peace Price in recognition of her work for social justice and Indigenous rights.

1994 CE The Zapatista Uprising took place in Chiapas, Mexico, in response to the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Thousands of Maya from several highland communities fought the Mexican state over privatization of their ancestral lands.

December 21, 2012 CE The 13th bak’tun of the Maya calendar ended.  Many in the western world erroneously believed that the Maya thought the world would end on this date. For the Maya, however, the end of the bak‘tun period is only the beginning of a new one.