Mayan_increase_trade_cities

As many of the cities in the Mayan Empire began to grow, so did the need for increased trade. Cities such as Tikal and El Mirador are two such examples. Tikal, specifically, had a population somewhere in the range of 60,000-120,000 people, which means it would have needed to get food and other goods from up to 100 km away. Because of the size of these cities, they would have also needed a larger amount of control from the Rulers to oversee it. Eventually the increased trade, and growing cities gave the Rulers more power over their territory and their subjects. However, not only the central cities in the empire grew. Because of the increased amount of traffic through the smaller cities along trade roots, these once isolated cities grew too, creating a fairly consistent amount of growth throughout the Post-Classic period.