What Happened to the Mayan People?

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Running Head: Assignment 1: Essay 1 Assignment 1 - Essay: What Happened to the Mayan People? Humanities – HUM 111 Abstract During the Post-Classic period, around 750 AD, the Mayan civilization started to collapse. This paper will present several theories of what happened to the early Mayan civilization, which lead to their disappearance. A brief summary of two theories will be presented which could explain the mystery of their disappearance. The most convincing theory will be presented and explanations provided to best support the theory. Assignment 1 - Essay: What Happened to the Mayan People? Mayan history covers three periods: Pre-Classic 300BC – 250AD, Classic Period 250AD – 900AD, and the Post-Classic, after 900AD. However, it was during the Post-Classic period, when the civilization started to decline (Sayre, 2011, p 392). There have been many mysteries surrounding how the decline began, however, none are conclusive. There are several theories as to what happened to the Mayan people, such as the disaster, warfare, famine and environmental change theories (Minster). After a brief summary of each theory, the most-likely theory, famine and environmental will be discussed and explanations provided to support it. Some of the theories were as follows: • Disaster theory was that a catastrophic event occurred. The event could have been an earthquake, volcano or an epidemic disease (Minster). • Warfare theory implied that the Mayans went to war amongst themselves to the point where they caused the collapse of their civilization (Minster). • Famine/environmental change theory, suggested that because of the extremely large population, their vulnerability to
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