When Did the Mayan Civilization Peak?

The Maya civilization was one of the most sophisticated in pre-Columbian America. The Preclassic period (2000 BCE-250 CE) saw the development of agriculture, cities, and writing. The Classic Period (250-900 CE) was the golden age: powerful city-states ruled by divine kings built towering pyramid-temples, developed the most advanced writing system in the Americas (over 800 glyphs), created a sophisticated calendar system accurate to within seconds per year, independently invented the concept of zero, and made astronomical observations that rivalled contemporary Old World civilisations. At its peak, the Classic Maya population may have reached 10-15 million. The mysterious "Maya Collapse" between 800-900 CE saw the rapid abandonment of major southern lowland cities, likely due to a combination of drought, deforestation, warfare, and political fragmentation. Maya civilisation continued in the northern Yucatan until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.