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950: A great civilization collapses. But few individuals survive in the highlands of Central America, which bears the traces of a prosperous civilization. [57] The Mayans lived in Central America from the second millennium BC. They drained the marshy lands and built irrigation systems. From 300 BC, for 600 years, they built independent city-states in Guatemala , Belize and the southern Yucatan Peninsula.. They were organized into social classes by nobles, priests, kings, officials and warriors, as well as ordinary farmers, craftsmen who carved in jade and stone or who made decorated ceramic vessels, paintings, tools, jewelry, or merchants who organized fairs. The Mayans invented an alphabet of 800 hieroglyphs-pictograms, studied mathematics whose system was based on the number "20", astronomy and formed calendar systems. After a volcanic eruption in 230, although the cities of the south were abandoned, after 300 until 800 , civilization reached its peak while in the ancient world, the Roman Empire was in decline.
Cities like Tikal were built (in 450, 100,000 people lived here), Palenque , Yaxchilan, Copan or Calakmul. There were conflicts between city-states, and prisoners of war taken from a city for non-payment of a tribute were sacrificed for religious purposes, so that the gods would offer prosperity and fertility to the inhabitants. For ambitious constructions such as pyramids and temples they had to provide more food and labor. Intense sacrifices have numerically reduced the population, leading to economic stagnation and the collapse of cities. Climate change has led to a modest reduction in rainfall that has contributed to the collapse of this civilization.
