Historians have pieced together several scenarios as to the reasons
             why the Mayan civilization practically disappeared from the height of its
             glory in the jungles of Guatemala. It is generally accepted that by about
             AD 900 a decline had set in with the Mayan people through warring invaders
             The Mayans were introduced to Europeans in 1502 when Christopher
             Columbus and his men encountered a Maya trading canoe near the coast of
             Honduras. The "Spaniards seized the canoe and rifled the cargo, which
             included copper axes, yellow stone hatchets, wooden war clubs studded with
             flints, pottery, and colorful garments of woven cloth. The invaders
             realized that this canoe belonged to a rich trading network." (Trout, 89)
             As word spread on the potential to gain riches at the expense of this newly
             discovered civilization, more and more invaders began searching for the
             "In the 16th century, soldier-chronicler Bernal Dfaz del Castillo
             described two major goals of the invading Spaniards: To bring light to
             those in darkness, and also to get rich." (Trout, 90) Historians often
             have conflicting viewpoints of what invading parties led to the downfall of
             the Mayan civilization. "Rather than a single invasion there may have been
             multiple raids from many different quarters. Unfortunately the details
             cannot yet be worked out, and it is impossible at the moment to see whether
             these raids preceded (and in part caused) the Maya collapse, or whether
             internal breakdown came first." (Bray, 103)
             But the Maya did not just sit back and allow the Spaniards to tear
             them apart. In 1517, three Spanish ships on a raiding expedition traveled
             to the mainland of Yucatan where they looted Mayan temples. "The 110
             Spaniards were thereupon attacked by masses of warriors, but the soldiers
             managed to drive the Maya fighters off with the ships' artillery." (The
             Mayan warriors marched into battl...