"El colapso maya". Se dio cuando las ciudades fueron totalmente abandonadas; no fue la gente la que desapareció (las actuales poblaciones indígenas de Guatemala, Honduras y el sur de México son descendientes de los mayas); fue el modelo de ciudad-Estado el que se desintegró por completo. ¿A qué se debió este fenómeno según algunos historiadores?

According to the historians, the collapse of the Maya was due to consecutive droughts that resulted in famine and economic collapse.

Explanation:

When it comes to the fall of the Maya civilization it is mostly accepted that it was due consecutive catastrophic droughts. These droughts badly damaged the crops, which in turn cause large scale famine. Because the Maya civilization was tied economically to the agriculture it experienced economic collapse.

The Maya city-states were heavily populated and the population was constantly on the rise. That meant that more and more food is needed which made the society much more vulnerable if the food supply is disrupted. Being located in a tropical area also didn't helped the Maya as the high temperatures throughout the year don't provide conditions for long term storage of food supplies.

When droughts occurred, much longer than the ones occurring usually, and doing so several years in a row, the large population was left without food. Because the main goods around which the economy revolved were no more, the economy crumbled. In order to survive the people simply moved away from the city-states into smaller groups and dispersed in the region.