In
about 1221 Mayapán, which became the dominant state in
the northern lowlands, conquered Chichén
Itzá.
Mayapán
was smaller than Chichén Itzá but more densely settled.
Among its 3500 buildings were houses for nobles and commoners,
and it was surrounded by a fortified stone wall 8 km (5
mi) long to protect it against neighboring groups.
Structures
were packed very tightly in the 4 sq km (1.5 sq mi) area
of this walled city.
Warlords
and merchants continued to gain in importance, and the
continual call to arms took up the time of the common
people, who spent less and less time on their crafts.
Architecture,
pottery, and carvings of the period are crude in comparison
to those of earlier periods.
Finally, in about 1450, a competing lineage defeated the
rulers of Mayapán, and the entire peninsula fell into
civil war.
The
following 100 years of warfare left the Maya vulnerable
to the invading Spaniards.
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