I was in belize and the yucatan penninsula a couple times over the last couple of years. The impression that I got was that the maya was one continuous megacity from Guatemala to the Yucatan peninsula. Like what you’d see driving from Washington DC to Boston. Or Richmond to NYC.
The story that is emerging is that there was a mega drought about 800 AD. This was part of a climate change event that dried up the Mississippi valley allowing the cultivation of the rich Illinois lowlands by the people who made cahokia. The same climate event also made Scandinavia warmer so that population exploded.
The drought initially wiped out the lowland populations. The Yucatan survived longer on trade. There were horrific stories that involved human sacrifice that came out of the period. It was an honor for members of the priest class and nobility to sacrifice themselves..The mayan imagined a vain thing. They imagined that there was some sort of cause and effect to their sacrifices and weather events. After 800 no matter how much they sacrificed —the rains did not return.
By 880 AD even the Yucatan maya were severely weakened by drought and human sacrifice. The Toltec came down from Central Mexico and conquered a couple cities in the Yucatan. They introduced a new practice that the Aztecs would later emulate. They raided neighboring states just to grab neighboring warriors and elites for their human sacrifices.
Taken together, human sacrifice, war, and drought emptied the cities of the Maya. Leaving behind only some local farmers,
The weather changed again in 1300-1400. Europe grew colder. The rains returned to the Mississippi Valley and flooded out Cahokia. the rains also returned to the lands of the maya and covered over the region again with jungle.
What was your perception of Belize?