For millennia the Maya lived in what is now the lowlands of Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras.For reasons still not full understood, around 900 AD their society collapsed and cities abandoned.While their social structure disappeared, the Mayans did not. | |
11,000 B.C.
The first hunter-gatherers settle in the Maya highlands and lowlands.
3114 or 3113 B.C.
The creation of the world takes place, according to the Maya Long Count calendar.
2600 B.C.
Maya civilization begins.

Olmec figurine
2000 B.C.
The rise of the Olmec civilization, from which many aspects of Maya culture are derived. Village farming becomes established throughout Maya regions.
700 B.C.
Writing is developed in Mesoamerica.
400 B.C.
The earliest known solar calendars carved in stone are in use among the Maya, although the solar calendar may have been known and used by the Maya before this date.

Mayan Calendar
300 B.C.
The Maya adopt the idea of a hierarchical society ruled by nobles and kings.
100 B.C.
The city of Teotihuacan is founded and for centuries is the cultural, religious and trading center of Mesoamerica.
50 B.C.
The Maya city of Cerros is built, with a complex of temples and ball courts. It is abandoned (for reasons unknown) a hundred years later and its people return to fishing and farming.

Teotihuacan
100 A.D.
The decline of the Olmecs.
400
The Maya highlands fall under the domination of Teotihuacan, and the disintegration of Maya culture and language begins in some parts of the highlands.
500
The Maya city of Tikal becomes the first great Maya city, as citizens from Teotihuacan make their way to Tikal, introducing new ideas involving weaponry, captives, ritual practices and human sacrifice.

Palenque
600
An unknown event destroys the civilization at Teotihuacan, along with the empire it supported. Tikal becomes the largest city-state in