950 CE – 1517 · Maya city-states
Post-Classic Maya city-states (900-1500 CE) increased militarization and territorial conquest.
Following Classic collapse, Post-Classic Maya kingdoms (Mayapan, Chichen Itza, Cozumel, and others) engaged in more explicitly militaristic competition. Fortified settlements became common. Warfare increasingly emphasized territorial conquest rather than ritual capture. Mayapan hegemony (1200-1460s) temporarily unified Yucatan. The League of Mayapan's collapse initiated wars fragmenting the peninsula.
Post-Classic militarization and territorial emphasis presaged Aztec-style conquest warfare. The period's conflicts weakened Maya unity before Spanish invasion.
Redirecting…