Mayan civilization rose and fell over the course of 2,000 years. By the time of the European invasion of Central America, many Mayan cities had long been abandoned. Though the last Mayan outpost was not taken by the Spaniards until 1697, Mayan high culture had ended centuries earlier. The Aztec civilization was of more recent origin and reached its height in only a few centuries. The Aztec decline was the direct result of the Spanish conquest. Mayans and Aztecs had many cultural similarities, but they differed in fundamental areas such as the structure of the state and their relations with other peoples. The primary difference between them, however, is that the term Mayan refers to a large number of Maya-speaking peoples whose cultural and political cohesion "was quite extraordinary for any time or place."1 Despite the general cohesion of Mayan culture, however, scholars identify three specifics eras and three distinct geographical areas "which display great cultural differences."2 The Aztecs, on the other hand, were only one of a number of tribes who spoke the Nahua language, and their geographical range was far more limited than the Mayans'.
Mayan history is usually divided into three long eras. The Preclassic, or Formative, Period extended from 600 B.C. to A.D. 300 and the rise of Mayan culture in this era was centered in the regions now known as Guatemala and Honduras. In the Classic Period, which went from A.D. 300 to A.D. 900, the Mayans "reached intellectual and artistic heights" unmatched in the New World.3 In the Postclassic Period (A.D. 900-1441) the cultural centers were in the northern Yucatan Peninsula and the Guatemalan highlands. Invading Toltecs from central Mexico found an already decaying Mayan culture in the late tenth century. The Postclassic era was marked by a synthesis of artistic styles and "hybridization of Toltec and Maya religion and society."4 Though the Mayans broke into smaller and smalle...