Known as one of the Mythical Great Cities, Chich’en Itza had the most diverse population in the Maya world. 

The Itza, which translates to ‘enchanter of the water’, were the ethnic-lineage group that maintained a political and economic dominance in Northern Peninsula. 

It is believed the cenotes in Chich’en Itza provided natural water year round, making it an attractive settlement — one cenote of which was discovered as recently as a few years back. 

These cenotes were also where the pre-Columbian Maya sacrificed objects and human beings as a form of worship for their rain god Chaac. 

Archeologists can’t agree on whether Chich’en Itza was governed by a counsel of elite members or a singular elite lineage — which is how the Southern Lowlands were governed. 

Participating in the Water-Borne Circum-Peninsular Trade Route through its Port site Isla Cerritos on the North Coast, it is believed that Chich’en Itza was an economic power because of its ability to access resources from distant areas — such as obsidian and gold. 

This, alongside the fragmentation of other major centres in the South, made Chich’en Itza a major regional capital, a centralized and dominating power in the Northern Maya Lowlands. 

The earliest hieroglyphics were discovered in Chich’en Itza in 832 AC and the latest in 998, and yet most of its architecture still stands tall to this day. 

It appears that the decline of Chich’en Itza happened well before the Spanish conquest of the lands, in which they established Chich’en Itza as the capital,  and that the Cenote Sagrado remained a place of pilgrimage well into the colonial conquest. 

A conquest that did not go un-interupted — the Spanish were driven out of the Yucatan Peninsula by Mayan resistance only a few years after arriving. It was not until they recruited the Maya from Campeche and Champoton that they were able to conquer the peninsula and turn Chich’en Itza into a cattle ranch. 

A visit to Chich'en Itza is an opportunity to take in buildings and trees that have stood the test of time, and witnessed the rise and fall of a civilization.