Here is the Copan Acropolis as it looked in 1995, with the jungle trying to regain control. As with nearly all the other great Mayan cities, Copan collapsed for reasons still unknown. The last carved record at Copan was made in 822, nearly 1200 years ago.
The Maya generally abandoned their cities in favor of a less complex culture, and the Maya have survived throughout their traditional areas in Central America and Mexico to the present day, numbering in the millions.
When the Spanish came, there were few Mayan cities to resist the conquest. Those cities that fought were mostly destroyed by the Spanish, but a great many others, such as Copan, remain relatively intact, because the Spanish ignored them. In addition to their decentralized structure, that is why there are so many Mayan sites compared to what little remains of the defeated Inca and Aztec Empires, whose great structures were demolished by the victorious Spanish conquerors. |
