Copán (in modern Honduras) is located on the floodplain of the river of the same name. It was the most southerly of the Classic Maya centres and, at an altitude of 600 metres, the highest. Copán reached the height of its power in the 8th century CE when it boasted 20,000 inhabitants. An artificial platform, built to a height of over 30 metres, forms a main 12 acre acropolis with lesser platforms spreading out to form an imposing mass of precincts of monumental courts and pyramids. An elite residential area and more modest dwellings surrounded the sacred centre so that Copán once covered some 250 acres. Copan is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
More about: CopanDefinition
Timeline
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c. 1000 BCECopan is first settled by farming communities.
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250 CE - 950 CEThe Classic Maya Period which saw the height of the Maya Civilization in cities such as Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal, Copan and Uxmal.
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331 CETraditional founding date of Maya Copan.
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426 CE - 437 CEReign of the first named Copan ruler K'inich Yax K'uk Mo.
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628 CE - 695 CEReign of King Smoke Imix at Copan.
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695 CE - 738 CEReign of King 18 Rabbit at Copan.
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820 CEReign ends of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat at Copan.
