Mayan_History_Postclassic

During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 9th to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterised by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatan continued to flourish for centuries more; some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatan until a revolt in 1450. The area then devolved into city states until the Yucatán was conquered by the Spanish.The Itza Maya, Kowoj and Yalain groups of Central Peten survived the "Classic Period Collapse" in small numbers and by AD 1250 reconstituted themselves to form competing city-states. The Itza kingdom had its capital at Noj Peten, an archaeological site thought to underlay modern day Flores, Guatemala. It ruled over an area extending across the Peten Lakes region, encompassing the community of Eckixil on Lake Quexil. These sites and this region were inhabited continuously by independent Maya until after the final Spanish Conquest of 1697 AD.Postclassic Maya states also continued to survive in the southern highlands. One of the Maya kingdoms in this area, the Quiché, is responsible for the best-known Maya work of historiography and mythology, the Popol Vuh. However by the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519 it is generally accepted that most of these centers had substantively declined from their Classical peak.