The area covered what we now call the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán. A play called Rabinal Achi is considered important. There are many Mayan languages still spoken today, including one called the Achi language. They keep the old Mayan traditions and beliefs. They live in the same areas the Mayan civilization used to live in. However, the Maya people still live there today. The Conquistadors arrived in the 15th century and took over Mexico and later Central America, even in the Mayann areas. The Maya civilization started getting smaller after 900 AD. They made changes to their buildings to make them even better. Their art and buildings have many different styles. The Maya people traded with other people in the Americas. It is estimated that at its maximum, the civilization had at least ten million people. The Mayan civilisation spread all the way from central Mexico to Honduras, Guatemala, and northern El Salvador. The Mayan civilisation was biggest between the years of 420 AD and 900 AD. They were good at art, building, and their priests studied stars and planets, which helped them make calendars. The Mayan people used a written language and a numeral system. The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC. Their food included maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers. The staple foods of the Maya diet were cultivated.

At that date, complex societies were living in the Mayan region.

The Mayans lived there 4,000 years ago (about 2000 BC). They lived there for a long time and some of the Maya people live there even today. The Maya civilization and Mayan religion. Where the Maya civilization lived (inside the red lines) compared to where other Mesoamerican people (inside the lines) in the years 250–900 AD

Maya civilization religion