After the invasion of the Mayan community, the Mayan civilisation started to deteriorate, with many people dying and becoming enslaved.
A lot of the culture was lost and many written records and artefacts were burnt.
A lot of the culture was lost and many written records and artefacts were burnt.
Diseases
Because the Maya disappeared long ago, we will never know for sure what happened to them although many theories exist. One of the theories is that over population may have caused people to move away because there was not enough food for everyone. Droughts also may have caused the Mayans to move as there was not enough water to drink and farm with. other reasons include climatic changes, earthquakes and sickness or epidemics also ware fare from neighbouring cities or invader from other countries.
In 1520, a single soldier who arrived in Mexico was sick with smallpox. This disease swept the population of the Americas and killed many people who became infected. Other European diseases infected the indigenous people of the Americas including many different Mayan groups. Written Mayan records suggest that smallpox rapidly spread through Maya the same time it arrived in Mexico. European diseases are mentioned only briefly in these records which makes it hard to identify just one. Among the most deadly that arrived the the Americas are smallpox, influenza, measles and a number of other diseases. At the time of the fall of Nojpetén in 1697, there are estimated to have been 60,000 Maya living around Lake Petén Itzá, including a large number of refugees from other areas. It is estimated that 88% of them died after the first 10 years of colonisation.
In 1520, a single soldier who arrived in Mexico was sick with smallpox. This disease swept the population of the Americas and killed many people who became infected. Other European diseases infected the indigenous people of the Americas including many different Mayan groups. Written Mayan records suggest that smallpox rapidly spread through Maya the same time it arrived in Mexico. European diseases are mentioned only briefly in these records which makes it hard to identify just one. Among the most deadly that arrived the the Americas are smallpox, influenza, measles and a number of other diseases. At the time of the fall of Nojpetén in 1697, there are estimated to have been 60,000 Maya living around Lake Petén Itzá, including a large number of refugees from other areas. It is estimated that 88% of them died after the first 10 years of colonisation.
Slavery
When the Americas were first colonised, taking the indigenous people as slaves was common. When the Europeans began to settle in America, they needed slaves to work on their cotton, tobacco and sugar farms. In many cases whole communities were violently enslaved, like the Arawaks encountered by Columbus. Weakened by disease, the Native Americans were unable to cope with hard manual labour. The Europeans needed alternative labour and Africans slaves proved to be the answer. Millions of African slaves were brought into the country and were traded. They were strong, worked hard, were immune to many diseases and were easily obtained.