When the Spanish conquistadors set sail for Central America in 1517, their goal was to destroy the Mayan civilization. But upon arrival, the colonialists found that much of their work had already been done before them. Impressive limestone cities - a classic feature of one of the most advanced societies of antiquity - are already overgrown with jungle.

The question of how the Maya met their end remains one of history's most enduring mysteries. The Mayan people survived; they even managed to organize a long resistance to the European aggressors. But by the time the Spaniards landed, the political and economic power that built the famous pyramids in those places and supported the population of two million had already disappeared.

The first foundations of the Maya were laid in the first millennium BC, and civilization reached its peak by about 600 AD. e. In the chronology of Mesoamerica, the Maya are between the first Olmecs and the late Aztecs. Archaeologists have found thousands of ancient Maya cities, most of which are scattered throughout the southern Mexican Yucatan Peninsula, Belize and Guatemala.

Most likely, even more Mayan ruins are under a thick layer of tropical forests.

After about 200 years of serious archaeological research, we have learned enough about the Mayan civilization to admire it. Their distinctive art and architecture showed that they were a people of fine craftsmen.

The Maya were also intellectually advanced. They understood mathematics and astronomy well and used them to align pyramids and temples according to planetary precession and solar equinoxes. And they used the only known script in Mesoamerica, a bizarre-looking set of characters, Maya hieroglyphs.

The miracles left by the Maya provided them with a mystical halo. But how civilization perished is a real mystic, in every detail. And it seems that we understood why the Maya came to an end.

Let's start with what we know. Somewhere in 850 AD. BC, after centuries of prosperity and dominance, the Maya began to leave their majestic cities, one by one. In less than 200 years, the greatness of civilization has reached only a fraction of the past. Isolated settlements remained, but the heyday of the Maya is gone forever.

Beyond the tragic extent of the Mayan decline, despite decades of research, archaeologists still don't know what caused it. As in the case of the Roman Empire, the culprit of the fall of civilization was clearly not alone. But the pace of the Maya's death has led some scientists to conclude that the cause was a major catastrophe, capable of destroying cities one by one in its path.

There are many theories about what ended the Maya. Among them are old and well known - invasion, civil war, loss of trade routes. But since the Central American climate records were compared in the early 1990s, one theory has become especially popular: the Mayan civilization was doomed by severe climate change.

In the centuries immediately before the collapse of the Maya - the so-called "classic era" from 250 to 800 AD. e. - Civilization hummed. The cities prospered, the harvest was rich. Climate records (which are taken mainly from the analysis of cave formations) showed that during this period, relatively heavy rains fell on the territory of the Maya. But the same records show that around 820 AD. e. the area was hit by 95 years of intermittent droughts, some of which lasted for decades.

Ever since these droughts were first identified, scientists have noticed a striking correlation between their timing and the collapse of the Maya. And while correlation alone isn't enough to close the question, the close relationship between droughts and falls has led experts to believe that a 9th-century climate shift might have somehow caused the decline of the Maya.

However attractive the drought explanation may be, it is not enough. Because not all Mayan cities fell with the drying up of the climate.

Maya cities that fell during the droughts of the 9th century were mainly located in the southern part of their territory, in the place of modern Guatemala and Belize. In the Yucatán peninsula to the north, however, the Mayan civilization not only survived these droughts, but flourished. This northern resurgence puts a spoke in the wheels of drought theory: if the south was paralyzed by climate shift, what happened to the north?

Various explanations for this north-south divergence have been proposed, but so far no theory has won. However, a recent discovery may shed light on this enduring paradox.

Mayan archaeologists have difficulty extracting data. Virtually no Mayan written records, of which there were once thousands, survived colonial times (on the orders of Catholic priests, the Spaniards burned heaps of Mayan books - of the remaining only four are known). Instead, scientists rely on calendar records on stone monuments, stylistic analyzes of Maya pottery, and radiocarbon dating of organic materials to determine when the ancient Maya flourished.

Previous studies have already determined the approximate age of the main urban centers in the north of the Maya civilization; it turned out that the north survived the droughts of the 9th century. However, until recently, this sample of data was never collected in a single study. And to do this is important, because you can look at the northern Maya as a whole and, based on this, determine the general trends of ups and downs.

In a study published in December, archaeologists from the US and UK put together for the first time all the calculated ages of urban centers in northern Maya lands. 200 dates were collected from locations throughout the Yucatán Peninsula, half from stone calendar records and half from radiocarbon dating. Then scientists managed to create a broad picture of the times when the northern Mayan cities were active, as well as the times when each of them could sink into oblivion.

What scientists have found significantly changes our understanding of when and perhaps why the Mayan civilization came to an end. Contrary to previous opinion, the north went into decline during a drought - in fact, it suffered two of them.

Stone records showed that in the second half of the 9th century there was a 70% decline in the activity of Mayan cities. This rate of decline was echoed in radiocarbon dating across the northern Maya region, with wood construction declining in the same period. What is important, at the same time, the drought was destroying the Maya civilization in the south - and for the north it did not go unnoticed.

Scientists believe that the fading of creative activity indicates a political and social collapse that took place in the north. The north certainly fared better than the south in the 9th century, but recent evidence suggests that the region experienced significant decline anyway. Previously, it could not be detected due to the subtle nature of the event: a decline in production, even a large one, is difficult to detect without a comprehensive, region-wide analysis carried out by a new study.

The decline of the north in the 9th century is an interesting detail of Maya history, but nothing fundamental about it - after all, we already knew that the northern Maya survived the droughts of the 9th century (Chichen Itza and other centers flourished in the 10th century).

Yet scholars have identified a second decline that has changed our understanding of Mayan history. After a brief recovery during the 10th century (which, remarkably, coincides with an increase in precipitation), scientists have noticed another sharp decline in production in numerous places in the northern Maya territory: stone carving and other building activity fell by almost half from 1000 to 1075. n. e. Moreover, as during the crisis 200 years ago, scientists have found that the decline of the Maya in the 11th century took place against the backdrop of a severe drought.

And not just drought. The droughts of the 9th century were certainly severe. But the 11th century brought the region the worst drought in 2,000 years, the "mega-drought".

After a short recovery, there was a decline in production in the north - against the backdrop of a drought. Climate data show that rainfall was decreasing for most of the century, from 1020 to 1100, just at the same time that the northern Maya collapsed. Correlation alone means little. But two made even skeptics believe in this causality.

The mega-drought of the 11th century had previously been cited as the cause of the fall of the northern Maya, but old dating methods did not make it clear whether the two events overlapped. A detailed analysis published in December allowed us to state with some certainty that climate change caused not one, but two periods of Maya decline.

The first wave of droughts ended the Maya in the south, while the second seems to have doomed them in the north.

After the second wave of droughts, the Maya never recovered. Chichen Itza and most of the important centers in the north never flourished. There are a few retreats - like the northern city of Mayapan, which flourished in the 13th to 15th centuries - but they don't match the size and complexity of the Classic Maya cities. In many ways, the 11th century was the last breath of the Maya.

Apparently, climate change played an important role in the fall of the Maya. But why?

Much of the archaeologists' explanation for the collapse involves agriculture. The Maya, like all major civilizations, depended heavily on crops for their economic success - and, of course, for maintaining their massive workforce. The simplest explanation for the decline of the Maya is the annual decline in crops caused by droughts, which gradually reduced the political influence of the Maya and ultimately led to complete social disintegration.

But even supporters of the drought hypothesis admit that the picture should be much more detailed.

“We know that Maya territory was experiencing increased military and sociopolitical instability due to 9th-century droughts,” says Julie Hoggart of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who participated in the December climate analysis.

Intercity conflict is also a good way to destroy civilization; maybe the Maya just killed each other. Perhaps all this proceeded against the backdrop of severe droughts. As food supplies dwindled during the dry decades, the competition for resources became more intense and eventually led to a tipping point in which the ancient Mayan civilization was irreparably fragmented.

There is also at least one explanation that does not require any military action. Perhaps the Mayans were doomed not by warriors, but by talents. Because the Maya were excellent artisans and environmental sculptors.

In order to grow enough food to feed their millions, the Maya dug a huge system of canals, sometimes hundreds of kilometers wide, which allowed them to drain and raise the swampy badlands that were plentiful in Maya territory, turning them into arable land. Some archaeologists have called them "floating gardens". The Maya also cleared vast tracts of forest for both agriculture and their cities.

Some scientists believe that the competent management of the environment could cause a further collapse of the Maya, for example, due to the deterioration of the natural climate. Some scientists believe that deforestation for land clearing and for agriculture may have led to localized drought effects that were exacerbated during an extensive drought.

An indirect consequence of their agricultural misfortune may be that they have allowed their populations to become too large, and large populations are vulnerable to continued decline in food supplies.

Whatever the reason - or reasons - for the fall of the Maya, we know something about the fate of the people who were left with the consequences of all this. From 1050 AD e. the Mayans took to the road. They left the interior lands where their ancestors flourished and headed towards the Caribbean coast or other sources of water, lakes and rivers.

The Mayan exodus may have been motivated by famine. If crops really died out after the droughts of the 9th and 11th centuries, moving to places rich in water made sense, as access to sea food and fertile lands near the sea appeared. Whatever the reason, the Maya trudged towards the moisture.

But then again, it has always been that way. One of the duties of the Mayan rulers was to communicate with the gods, who ensured a wet year and good harvests. At sites throughout the Mayan world, archaeologists have raised human bones from the bottom of lakes and sinkholes - thought to be doors to the underworld - eloquently proving that humans were sacrificed to please the gods. When the rains were good and civilization flourished, it was clear that the prayers of the Maya were answered.

Causes of the death of the Mayan civilization?

The Mayan civilization began around 2000 BC. e., but from the beginning of the 900s AD. e. began to rapidly decline. Causes the disappearance of the maya still not installed.

The civilization of the ancient Maya developed on the territory that now belongs to some states of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and the western part of Honduras. Archaeologists have discovered about 1000 settlements and 3000 Mayan settlements.

The cities of the ancient Maya were well developed, they had many amenities, including water supply system. But since the 9th century AD. e. a sharp decline in the population of cities began to occur, spreading to the central Yucatan. Residents left the cities, water supply systems fell into disrepair, stone structures were no longer erected.

Dramatic and massive decline of the ancient Maya- the subject of heated debates of modern scientists. There are two main hypotheses - ecological and non-ecological. It is possible that the rapidly increasing population has upset the balance of the relationship between man and nature, there has been a noticeable shortage of soil for agriculture, drinking water, etc.

Adherents non-environmental hypothesis suggest that the cause of the decline of the Mayan civilization could be climate change, namely drought. Scientists in 2012 published the results of a complex computer simulation. It turned out that the Maya could die as a result of even a small drought. The experiments carried out confirmed that the lack of fresh water could begin if the level of precipitation decreased by 25% or more. Such a phenomenon, by the way, was observed between 800 and 950 AD. e., the beginning of the decline of ancient civilization. As a result of the decrease in rainfall, the soil released for the fields has changed, the yield has fallen sharply, and this, in turn, could cause famine. Scientists have found that the most drought observed between 1020 and 1100 years.

Other non-environmental hypotheses include - epidemics, conquests, climate change, all sorts of catastrophes. Some archaeologists pay attention to the version of the Mayan conquest, since among the archaeological finds there are objects that belonged to another people of Central America - the Toltecs, who invaded Central Mexico in the 8th century AD. e. However, most scientists do not support this theory.

Environmental changes that led to a shortage of drinking water and food could also provoke an aggravation of internecine wars, and the Toltecs who invaded at this time could only aggravate the situation. As a result, the decline of civilization could be the result confluence of several unfavorable factors. By the 16th century, the surviving Maya moved closer to the ocean, and their once majestic cities were swallowed up by the jungle. At the same time, the Maya did not disappear as a people; today there are about 6 million descendants of the ancient Maya who continue to maintain the ancient culture of their people.

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After the rediscovery of Mayan rainforest cities, explorers and archaeologists began to debate the cause of their decline. Not surprisingly, in the current state of these once great cities, many Europeans and Americans initially strongly rejected the very idea of ​​a civilization thriving in the wilds of the tropical rainforest. They concluded that the decline of the Maya cities was inevitable in such unfavorable natural conditions and that civilization could never have arisen there on its own. From their point of view, the Maya were colonists from other places - from Mexico to Egypt or China. Nowadays, archaeologists are not inclined to perceive the rainforest as an environment hostile to human habitation, and do not at all object to the local origin of the Maya Indians.

Another explanation, popular in early writings about the collapse of the Mayan civilization, was a sudden natural disaster. Silent cities, swallowed up by the rainforest, really gave the impression that they were left in a hurry: people fled from disaster and did not return. Several Mayan cities, including Quirigua, were indeed hit by earthquakes, and in Xunantunih one of the palaces, which suffered significant damage from the earthquake, was never restored. However, most of the major Maya centers (located quite far from the fault lines of the earth's crust) show no signs of damage from earthquakes.

Epidemic diseases, such as the bubonic plague in medieval Europe, led to mass death of the population and great social unrest. Yellow fever has been suggested as one of the reasons for the departure of the Maya from the cities on the low plains, although this disease does not appear to have been very common in the New World before 1492. Such an explanation is in principle possible, but we have no material evidence to support the theory of an epidemic disease: neither numerous skeletons of dead people, nor mass graves of victims of the epidemic.

Caribbean hurricanes often swept over the Maya lowlands, devastating large areas of agricultural land. The themes of hurricanes and disease are intertwined in the hypothesis that a devastating virus that infects corn reached the coastal lowlands, brought from the eastern Caribbean Sea by hurricane winds, and destroyed the maize crops on which Maya prosperity depended. As the leading authority on Maya history, Professor Robert Scherer of the University of Pennsylvania, points out:

“The idea that the transient and relatively localized effects of hurricanes can cause the decline of an entire civilization is rather difficult to digest. Deforestation in the path of a hurricane could even have a beneficial effect, as it cleared new land for agricultural exploitation.”

Another version of the catastrophe is contained in the hypothesis of the invasion of a more warlike people from Mexico, which caused the fall of the Maya. Professors Jeremy Sabloff and Gordon Willey of Harvard University have suggested that the invaders, better armed and organized, came from the Gulf Coast and swept through Maya lands like locusts. In the cities of Seibal and Altar de Sacrificio, drastic changes were found in the forms of household ceramics, architecture and sculpture; this allowed researchers to assert that the cities were captured by foreigners who established their own customs and orders there. The foreign presence in Ceibal is clearly indicated by the appearance of the gods of the Mexican pantheon and the image of an obvious foreigner with a page-cut haircut and cropped mustache, with the inscription "Ah Bolon Tun" on a sculpture dating from 849.

However, most archaeologists agree that the prime candidates for the invaders are the Putong Maya, a warrior and trading race that was heavily Mexican-influenced and controlled coastal trade routes. What profit did the greatest merchants of ancient Central America want from the destruction of their main clients? Perhaps the invaders were more of a symptom than the cause of the problem; the Putong Maya simply retreated inland to protect their trade routes as the Mayan civilization in the southern plains collapsed around them.

According to some researchers, the cause of the fall of the Mayan civilization was a conflict of a more peaceful nature. They argue that the lowlanders depended on the trade relationship with Mexico to support the ambitious building programs carried out by the city rulers. Everything was fine while the trade routes passed through Tikal, but in the 9th century. n. e. A shorter sea route around the Yucatan Peninsula was opened. Deprived of the main source of wealth, the Mayan rulers became impoverished, and their cities soon fell into decay.

Geologists have found out why the Mayan civilization died

MEXICO, December 31st. Two severe droughts in the Yucatan Peninsula contributed to the sudden disappearance of an ancient Mesoamerican civilization, according to a new study. To prove their case, scientists took mineral samples from the Great Blue Hole and nearby lagoons in Belize, as well as soil samples from several other places in the heart of the Mayan civilization.

Study co-author Andre Droxler of Rice University said that for the first time, scientists have been able to convincingly prove the climatic version of the Mayan decline. And although the drought is not the only reason for the death of the highly developed culture of the ancient people, it definitely played a fatal role in its fate, My Planet reports.

The Maya civilization flourished in the Yucatan Peninsula between 300 and 700 AD. e. During this period, the pyramids and sakbe roads were built, people mastered astronomy, created their own writing systems, counting, time calculation and the legendary calendar. However, already in the 9th century, in the southern regions of the Mayan population, there was a rapid decline in population, which subsequently spread to the entire central Yucatan. Residents are leaving the cities, the water supply systems are falling into disrepair.

Scientists have found that during the years of the collapse of the Maya civilization (800-1000s), the number of tropical cyclones was reduced by a factor of three: from five or six to one or two in 20 years. After that, the Maya moved north. In the 1000-1100s, a severe drought again set in: it was during this period that the inhabitants left the destroyed Chichen Itza and other northern cities. From the middle of the 10th century, people no longer erected stone structures.

Until now, the disappearance of the Mayan civilization has been the subject of controversy among scientists. In favor of the hypothesis of a climatic version of the decline of the Maya is supported not only by research led by Droxler, but also by earlier analyzes of sedimentary rocks collected in Belize - geologists have been collecting evidence of drought in this region since 1995.

Scientists believe the main cause of the drought is shifts in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a system that normally directs precipitation to the tropical regions of the planet, drying up the subtropics. During the summer, the ITCZ ​​rains on the Yucatan, but during the Mayan decline, scientists believe that the associated monsoons may not have hit the peninsula at all.

The scarcity of rainfall led to the decline of the agriculture that supported the life of the cities, and then, most likely, famine and internecine conflicts came. “When such a massive drought sets in, famine and unrest inevitably set in,” Droxler explains.

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Many geographical discoveries of Europeans ended with the colonization of new lands and the brutal suppression or even extermination of local peoples. So it was with the discovery of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Mayan culture.

In fact, historians are primarily interested in the fate of civilizations. At the same time, very few of them pay attention to the natural, natural causes that led to the degradation and death of this or that civilization. It is usually believed that the main culprits are neighboring states or warlike conquering tribes, as well as newcomers from Europe.

However, it was not so easy to explain the collapse of the Mayan culture with such reasons. It turned out that in this case it is necessary to take into account geographical factors and conduct paleogeographic studies. They, in turn, shed light on a complex set of causes that affect any society, because it is in indissoluble unity with the natural environment.

But first we need to go back to the 16th century. After the unsuccessful expedition of Francisco Cordova, a new campaign was organized under the command of Juan Grijalva - on four ships with 240 soldiers. The senior helmsman was Alaminos, and one of the participants was Bernal Diaz. This time they landed first on a coastal island, and then on the mainland - on the northeastern outskirts of the Yucatan, west of Cordoba.

After armed clashes with the Indians, Grijalva managed to establish trade with them, receiving food and a small amount of low-grade gold products. Local residents pointed to the west, making it clear that there was a lot of gold, while repeating the word "Mexico City". But even without that, there was a lot of gold, because the emperor of Mexico, the leader of the Aztecs Montezuma, ordered not to impede the advance of the aliens and exchange the yellow metal that they love so much for their goods.

And this time the Spaniards had a chance to see altars covered with human blood, terrible idols. They saw the bodies of the victims with severed arms and legs, opened chest. Diaz saw one of the bloody rites: “On that day, they sacrificed two boys, cut their chests and put their bloody hearts as a gift to their dirty god. They wanted to fumigate us, but we didn’t give in. boys."

This time the expedition explored the Yucatan coast for about 1000 km, finally making sure that this is a peninsula. The brought cargo of gold ignited the passions of the conquistadors, who learned about the existence of a rich country on the continent. This was the beginning of the discovery, conquest and destruction of the Aztec empire, the Maya. (However, Spain and Portugal, which initially flourished on captured gold, eventually relegated their economies to second-rate levels in Europe.)

The question arises, which is also relevant for our era: why did the great civilizations of the New World collapse relatively quickly? If the states of the Incas and Aztecs were in the prime of power and culture, small groups of conquistadors would not be able to conquer them. This is confirmed by the events that accompanied the discovery of the Yucatan by the Europeans. But in this case, the conquistadors were opposed by the order of the feral descendants of the great Mayans, who once created the most accurate calendar in the ancient world.

They were amazing people. It remains a mystery how they were able to correctly determine the length of the year without optical instruments and centuries of astronomical observations. The hieroglyphic writing of the Maya is so complex that it still causes controversy among specialists and cannot be deciphered in everything. In mathematics, this people was the first to introduce the concept of zero. They own original cultural monuments, colorful paintings, magnificent architectural structures.

The most fantastic versions were expressed about the origin of the Maya. Bartolomeo Las Casas suggested that these were the descendants of one of the missing tribes of Israel mentioned in the Bible, who, after being defeated by the Assyrian king Sargon II, moved to the New World. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes was sure that the surviving inhabitants of the sunken Atlantis moved to the Yucatan. However, the opinion of Diego de Landa was confirmed: the Maya culture developed and flourished on local soil.

Historians unsuccessfully tried to unravel the mystery of the death of the Mayan culture. They were joined by soil scientists, ecologists and paleogeographers. They found out some interesting facts. It turns out that in the Yucatan, the upper soil horizons are weakened, depleted in nutrients. The reason for this was established: the long dominance of slash-and-burn agriculture On periodically - after 10-12 years - burned areas, the soil did not have time to restore fertility and was constantly depleted and degraded. Crop failures, famine, extinction of the population began.

The remarkable biogeographer N.I. Vavilov wrote: “The absence of farm animals forced a person to limit the sowing area to small plots, carefully cultivate small areas, develop peculiar plant care skills ... Many varieties of corn, beans, papaya, fruits and cotton have reached great perfection here.”

Later it turned out that the Maya practiced not only slash-and-burn agriculture. They arranged agricultural terraces, irrigation facilities. As the historian V.I. Gulyaev: "For two months of work, the Maya farmer of the classical period produced such an amount of food that covered all the needs of his family for the year, as well as taxes and tributes paid by the community to the ruling caste. He spent the remaining time on all kinds of household chores and crafts, hunting and served his labor service in the construction of temples, palaces and other public buildings.

It was at that time that the majestic Mayan pyramids were erected. Like all cyclopean structures, they testify to the flourishing of civilization, the awareness of the people and the rulers of their power.

The priesthood was the intellectual elite of the society, the keeper of secret knowledge. According to Diego de Landa, the high priest of the Maya "appointed priests in the villages when there was a need, testing them in the sciences and ceremonies, and entrusted them with affairs ex officio, obliging them to be a good example for the people, supplying them with books and sending them to places. And these priests were busy serving in temples and teaching their sciences, as well as composing religious books. They gave their students knowledge about the following things: memorable events, medicines for various diseases, ancient monuments, how to read and write their hieroglyphs and drawings.

As connoisseurs of the calendar, the priests indicated the timing of agricultural work. In the tropics, where the seasons are almost indistinguishable, such information was vital to rational agriculture.

Priests and rulers practically assumed responsibility for everything that happened in the country. Constant references to higher powers, divine attitudes during natural disasters - severe droughts, earthquakes or tropical cyclones - turned into social conflicts: it turned out that the gods were dissatisfied with what was happening on earth, they were angry with the earthly rulers. Riots broke out. Lost faith in the priests. Perhaps, having acquired power over society, the priesthood itself degenerated, stupidly performing rituals, losing the meaning of knowledge, not caring about their verification or clarification.

In addition to everything, this caste of "keepers of knowledge and mysteries" hid their knowledge and secrets from the rest of the people. And when, during social catastrophes, uprisings, priests were destroyed or expelled, this eventually turned into economic decline: there was no one to keep a calendar, determine the timing of sowing and other agricultural work. Lost information - the most valuable public property. This dealt a blow to the entire economic system.

It is possible that even without that the priesthood, locking itself up as a privileged caste, lost the very essence of skills and rituals, mindlessly repeating the same thing, observing formal prescriptions automatically. And as you know, thoughtless repetition of information devalues ​​it.

The great Mayan civilization was unable to maintain its high level of culture. And if the social organism does not develop, if it turns into a kind of inert mechanism, if intellectual activity freezes in it, then it begins to degrade relatively quickly. Moreover, in the Maya empire, the isolation of individual castes and regions, city-states grew, the unity of society was lost, intellectual potential and vitality decreased. And all this took place against the background of a decrease in soil fertility and an increase in desertification.

The Maya civilization is one of the few that has gone through a complete natural cycle of development: formation, growth, flourishing, stability, decline and death. The last phase was completed by the conquistadors. This instructive example can be used to study the interaction of environmental, social, economic and intellectual factors in public life. Now that technological civilization has become global, the example of the Maya is especially valuable. After all, our global civilization is becoming more and more monotonous - according to the American model.

... The discovery by Europeans of Yucatan and then Mexico turned into a tragedy for the local population. The newcomers craved only material values, not paying attention to spiritual values. Many monuments of the spiritual culture of the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas were destroyed. In fact, it was only in the 20th century that active research began on these disappeared civilizations and, first of all, the environmental factors of their degradation were revealed. This was already a discovery in the field of historical geography and the ecology of society. Such a scientific discovery is, perhaps, not yet appreciated and remains incomplete. This is a vast field for new research, the results of which can be extremely fruitful and relevant.