Khan Academy: Maya, an Introduction

The Maya civilization (300-900 C.E.) was one of the most sophisticated in the pre-Columbian Americas. It extended from southeastern Mexico across modern-day Guatemala, Belize and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador. The Maya were never politically unified but lived in around sixty separate kingdoms, each with its own ruler. Relations between the kingdoms were complex. There was negotiation, trading and inter-marriage, as well as invasion and warfare.