The Mayan civilization was one of the most complex and advanced in the world. It developed over thousands of years in Mesoamerica and populated large areas of modern-day land southeastern Mexicosuch as Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Chiapas and Tabasco as well as large parts of Central America. There he built monumental cities, developed an advanced writing system, performed precise astronomical calculations, created complex calendars, and ran an agricultural economy based primarily on corn.
However, Between the 8th and 9th centuries many of its capitals were abandoned. Urban centers such as Tikal, Calakmul or Copán turned from political and commercial centers into ruins swallowed up by the jungle in just a century. For a long time this sequence attracted the attention of archaeologists and historians who could not find a plausible cause.
Some of the hypotheses outlined spoke of internal wars between cities, others of epidemics, invasions or political crises. Even more extreme theories emerged that were linked to supernatural or extraterrestrial phenomena that were abducting the residents. However, with the development of scientific research, the most accurate conclusion was reached that the withdrawal was not sudden, but but a product of progressive environmental destructionexacerbated by the practices of civilization itself.
in the book collapse (2005), American geographer and historian Jared Diamond suggested that a prolonged drought combined with massive deforestation was the trigger for the collapse of the Maya. Far from being an isolated natural disaster, it was a process amplified by human activity. Archaeological research and subsequent environmental studies supported this theory.
In 2012, various studies confirmed that large-scale clearing of forests to expand agricultural land, produce firewood and fuel significantly changed the regional climate balance. With the reduction in forest cover, the soil lost its ability to regulate temperature and retain moisture, leading to droughts.
Climate simulations conducted by Columbia University researchers based on population data and the extent of deforested areas showed how this process would have led to crop failures. Food shortages and the collapse of trade networks. Faced with the impossibility of maintaining large urban concentrations, many communities were forced to abandon the lowlands and migrate in search of new resources.
One of the most disturbing aspects of this theory is that the Mayans had a deep knowledge of their environment. “The Mayan people knew how to survive in their ecosystem”said BL Turner, lead author of one of the key studies. However, demographic pressures and the need to preserve large cities led them to continue with practices that proved unsustainable in the long term.
The collapse did not mean the complete disappearance of the Maya people. Their descendants now live in various regions of Mexico and Central America. What was lost was the urban and political model they had created. Although it seems that this study only allows us to understand the past, it would also help prevent future problems.
Robert Oglesby, a climate modeler at the University of Nebraska, found that similar processes are still occurring today. In Guatemala, for example, deforestation is progressing rapidly. Data shared by Global Forest Watch recorded more than 26,000 forest loss warnings in just two months of 2025. According to Oglesby, this environmental degradation is returning to the region “Much more susceptible to severe droughts”and reproduces conditions similar to those before the Maya collapse.
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