ke civilization, though highly civilized, who were mainly located in present-day Mexico. Some believe that the Aztecs waged war on the Mayas, who were predominately a peaceful culture, and that may have caused their decline. The Aztecs, however, along with the Maya and Inca of Peru, all met their end when the Spanish Empire came to Middle America. The Spanish Empire brought with it many diseases that the Native Americans had not been in contact with, so a large portion of the Native Americans died of diseases like the mumps, small pox and influenza . Despite this drastic decline, many parts of the Mayan civilization survived the Spanish Colonization, often by retreating to the lowlands that were less desirable to the Spaniards.The Mayan civilization is still seen in many parts of modern Middle America today. Many of the Mayan people fled to undesirable lowlands of Belize and Guatemala when the Spaniards arrived, and many of the same ceramics, tools, and weapons were discovered that were made after 1638 in Belize. In many of these areas were the Mayan people fled, there is a definite Spanish influence predominately in religion. It was not uncommon at the time to see an entire town of Native Americans to contain one or two Catholic churches with both Mayan and Spanish priests . Today there are between 5 and 6 million Mayan Indians living in Guatemala today, which is half of its total population . The Spanish colonizers came to America with weapons that the natives had never seen before. Having previously waged battles with spears, clubs, and arrows, the Spaniards’ guns, trained dogs, horses, and cannons intimidated the natives. The Spanish colonials also made attempts to ally themselves with some native tribes in attempts to increase their numbers. This proved effective in their battles against the Aztecs, where only a few hundred Spanish warriors would fight, but they would also have a few thousand native allies. The Sp...
