Southern North America (820 – 963 CE): Terminal Classic Upheavals, Epiclassic Polities, and Coastal Corridors

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southern North America includes Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

• Anchors: the Valley of Mexico (Xochicalco, Cacaxtla; lake basins); Oaxaca highlands (Monte Albán waning; emerging Mixtec hilltop polities); northern Yucatán (Puuc towns;  Chichén Itzá on the rise); Petén–Belizeforest lowlands (post-collapse continuities at Lamanai); Guatemalan Highlands (K’iche’ ancestors in dispersed hill settlements); the Ulúa–Sula valleys of Honduras; the Pacific littoral (Soconusco, El Salvador, western Nicaragua).

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Within the Medieval Warm Period, the Terminal Classic drought episodes (c. 800–930) stressed southern lowland Maya kingdoms, accelerating depopulation of many Classic centers.

• Rainfall remained steadier in the Valley of Mexico, the Puuc region, and along the Pacific cacao coast (Soconusco), enabling new concentrations of population and trade.

Societies and Political Developments

• Maya lowlands: many Classic polities in Petén declined, but continuity sites (e.g., Lamanai in Belize) persisted; northern Yucatán Puuc towns, and soon Chichén Itzá, reorganized regional power.

• Epiclassic Central Mexico: fortress-shrines like Xochicalco and painted sanctuaries at Cacaxtla flourished after Teotihuacan’s earlier fall, brokering highland–coastal exchange.

• Oaxaca: Monte Albán ebbed; Mixtec lordships began to consolidate (Tilantongo lineages), setting the stage for Postclassic politics.

• Highland Guatemala: dispersed lineage settlements—ancestors of K’iche’ and Kaqchikel—took shape on defensible ridges.

• Honduras/El Salvador/Nicaragua: riverine and coastal towns (Ulúa–Sula, Ahuachapán–Soconusco) linked cacao zones to inland obsidian and jade routes.

Economy and Trade

• Staples: milpa maize, beans, squash; irrigated plots in lake basins; cacao horticulture on the Pacific slope.

• Prestige goods: obsidian (Pachuca, El Chayal), jade (Motagua), spondylus shell (coasts), painted ceramics, and early copper ornaments.

• Corridors: Puuc–Chichén caravans to the gulf; Soconusco canoes up the Chiapas–Guatemala littoral; Belize lagoon routes out the Bay of Honduras; highland footpaths (Mixteca, Guatemala) tied valleys to coasts.

Belief and Symbolism

• Terminal Classic ritual emphasized rain and maize renewal—cave/ cenote offerings in Yucatán; hilltop sanctuaries in Oaxaca; enduring ballgame symbolism across the lowlands and coast.

• Painted program at Cacaxtla blended Central Mexican and Maya iconography, signaling hybrid ritual orders.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Northward shifts to the Puuc and Yucatán coasts, and to Epiclassic highland hubs, redistributed population after drought.

• Coastal intensification (cacao, salt, fisheries) buffered shortfalls inland; long-lived towns like Lamanai exemplified adaptive continuity.

Long-Term Significance

By 963, Southern North America had transitioned from Classic Maya states to Epiclassic–Early Postclassic mosaics: Puuc–Chichén ascendant, Mixtec lordships forming, and coastal cacao–shell circuits binding Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Soconusco to highland markets.

Southern North America (964 – 1107 CE): Toltec Tollan, Chichén Itzá’s Thalassocracy, and Mixtec Ascendancy

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southern North America includes: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

• Anchors: Tula (Tollan) and the Valley of Mexico altepetl; Michoacán lake basins (early Tarascan communities); Oaxaca (Mixtec hill states, Zapotec Mitla); northern Yucatán (Chichén Itzá, Uxmal; coastal ports); Belize–Bay of Honduras lagoons; Guatemalan Highlands; Pacific Soconusco–El Salvador–Nicaragua cacao coast.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Warmer centuries stabilized maize production in the Valley of Mexico, Oaxaca, and Yucatán’s north, even as some interior lowlands remained drier.

• Coastal fisheries and salt works expanded along Belize and the Pacific littoral.

Societies and Political Developments

• Toltec centralization at Tula (c. 980–1150) radiated militarized iconography and craft standards across Mexico.

• Chichén Itzá dominated northern Yucatán (c. 900–1100), projecting maritime power via ports such as Isla Cerritos; the Itzá built columned temples and ballcourts, innovating Postclassic urban forms.

• Oaxaca: Mixtec lords (e.g., Tilantongo) wrote their dynastic histories in painted codices; Mitla rose as a Zapotec religious center.

• Highland Guatemala: fortified hill towns multiplied; rival lineages competed for valleys and obsidian passes.

• Belize–Honduras coast: lagoon towns and river mouths (e.g., Lamanai continuing; Naco region) kept canoe trade to Bay of Honduras active.

• Pacific slope: Soconusco cacao linked El Salvador and Nicaragua to Mexican highlands.

Economy and Trade

• Obsidian from Pachuca, El Chayal; jade from Motagua; cacao as currency and luxury drink; cotton textiles; turquoise via northern routes.

• Tollan–Yucatán–Gulf circuits mixed highland craft goods with coastal shells and salt; pochteca-like merchants (in central Mexico) refined long-distance trade.

Belief and Symbolism

• Toltec war–sun cults (Atlantean columns at Tula); Kukulcan–Quetzalcoatl veneration linked Chichén and central Mexico; Mixtec codices sacralized dynastic marriages and conquests.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Dual political centers—Tula inland, Chichén on the sea—created redundancy; coastal ports along Belize and the Pacific sustained exchange when hinterlands fluctuated.

Long-Term Significance

By 1107, a Toltec–Itzá horizon connected the Valley of Mexico to Yucatán, while Mixtec and Zapotec states matured and coastal cacao/lagoon trade bound Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua into a single Postclassic economy.

A sudden surge of Mayan militarism is the main characteristic of the Post-Classic stage.

The population undergoes great turmoil and numerous migrations; people move everywhere and anywhere they can find allies to fight their common enemies.

Wars cease to be waged for territorial expansion and become a means for exacting tribute and for capturing prisoners to be sacrificed to the gods.

For the first time, architecture centers on defense and fortification.

Numerous civilizations will rise and fall during this period, including the Zapotec and Mixtec in southern Mexico and the Toltec culture in central Mexico.

The area that will eventually comprise Honduras is occupied by a multiplicity of indigenous peoples following the period of Mayan dominance.

Indigenous groups related to the speakers of Oto-Manguean languages of central Mexico's Toltec culture migrate from the northwest into parts of what will become western and southern Honduras.

Most notable are the Manguean-speaking Chorotega, who establish themselves near the present-day city of Choluteca.

Mesoamerican migration accounts often state that Tollan was ruled by Quetzalcoatl (or Kukulkan in Yucatec and Q'uq'umatz in K'iche'), a godlike mythical figure who was later sent into exile from Tollan and went on to found a new city elsewhere in Mesoamerica.

Claims of Toltec ancestry and a ruling dynasty founded by Quetzalcoatl have been made by such diverse civilizations as the Aztec, the Quiché and the Itza' Mayas.

In Aztec legend, there is not one supposed Toltec ruler identified with Quetzalcoatl, but two: the first ruler and founder of the Toltec dynasty, and the last ruler, who saw the end of the Toltec glory and was forced into humiliation and exile.

The first is described as a valiant triumphant warrior, but the last as a feeble and self-doubting old man.

This caused scholars such as Michel Graulich (2002) and Susan D. Gillespie (1989) to suggest that the general Aztec cyclical view of time, where events repeated themselves at the end and beginning of cycles or eras, was being inscribed into the historical record by the Aztecs, making it futile to attempt to distinguish between a historical Topiltzin Ce Acatl and a Quetzalcoatl deity.

The second Toltec Quetzalcoatl supposedly fled in 986 from Tula to …

...Chichen Itza, in southeastern Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where (according to both Central Mexican and Maya annals) he becomes known as Kukulcan, a Maya translation of his name.

From the time of Quetzalcoatl’s emigration from Tula to Yucatan (and perhaps several generations before) similar art and architecture appear at both Tula and Chichen Itza.

The presence of stylistic traits associated with Tula in Chichén Itzá is also taken as evidence for a Toltec horizon.

Especially the nature of interaction between Tula and Chichén Itzá has been controversial with scholars arguing for either military conquest of Chichén Itzá by Toltecs, Chichén Itzá establishing Tula as a colony or only loose connections between the two.

Southern North America (1108 – 1251 CE): Mayapán League, Migrant Mexica, and Highland Maya Consolidation

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southern North America includes: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

• Anchors: Valley of Mexico (Azcapotzalco, Texcoco, Culhuacan; later the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 lies just beyond this slice but migrations start now), Michoacán (Tarascan consolidation in lake basins), Oaxaca(Mixtec–Zapotec polities at Mitla, Tututepec), Yucatán (Mayapán over Chichén by early 13th c.), Petén–Belize small Postclassic towns, Guatemalan Highlands (emergen K’iche’, Kaqchikel), Soconusco–El Salvador–Nicaragua Pacific cacao coast.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• Late-MWP variability increased drought risk in the Yucatán, prompting reliance on cenotes and coastal supply; highland terraces buffered Oaxaca and Guatemala; coastal cacao zones remained resilient.

Societies and Political Developments

• Valley of Mexico: power fragmented among altepetl; the Mexica (Aztec ancestors) migrated into the basin, serving as mercenaries under Tepanec lords (Azcapotzalco).

• Michoacán: Tarascan elites consolidated, advancing copper metallurgy and lake fisheries.

• Oaxaca: Mixtec lords and Zapotec priest-kings (at Mitla) competed; Tututepec on the coast projected power over trade routes.

• Yucatán: the Mayapán League replaced Chichén Itzá as hegemon (~1200–1450), centralizing tribute and coastal trade.

• Highland Maya: K’iche’ and Kaqchikel polities crystallized around fortified hilltop capitals, claiming sacred lineages later preserved in the Popol Vuh.

• Belize–Honduras coast: Bay of Honduras towns kept canoe exchange alive; Naco and Puerto Cortés spheres bridged interior obsidian and Caribbean shells.

• Pacific slope: Soconusco cacao estates fed long-distance exchange into central and southern Mexico.

Economy and Trade

• Currencies & luxuries: cacao beans, cotton mantles, obsidian, jade, spondylus, copper bells.

• Networks: canoe trade along Yucatán–Belize–Honduras shores; overland routes from Oaxaca and Valley of Mexico to Soconusco and the Gulf; lake–canal transport in Michoacán.

Belief and Symbolism

• Postclassic temple–plaza states used feathered serpent cults, Venus war cycles, and codices to legitimate rule; highland Maya sacralized mountain–cave complexes; Tarascan patron deities linked metallurgy and kingship.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Multi-core landscape (Mayapán north, highland Maya south, Mixtec–Zapotec west, Tarascans northwest) spread risk; cenote–well systems and coastal provisioning sustained Yucatán during dry spells.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251, the Mayapán League defined Yucatán; Mexica migration set up 14th-century upheavals in the Valley of Mexico; Tarascan and Mixtec–Zapotec states deepened; highland Maya monarchies matured—laying the foundations for the Aztec–Tarascan–Maya chessboard of the 15th century.

Tula does not last as long as other Mesoamerican dominions.

Around 1000, there had been problems created by the leeching of soil and the drying of the climate.

This had moved Chichimecas south from their drying homelands creating ethnic strife which eventually results in the city’s collapse.

Many of the living quarters appear to have been abandoned by 1150.

Some of Tula's inhabitants flee the destruction of their city, usually identified from around 980 as the Toltec capital, to...

...the Valley of Mexico in or about 1168 or 1179.