Assuming that the conquistador's ships-or even colombus's ship sank on the sea,can the Mayans-"modernize" somehow?
Can they expand?
How far they could reach?
Can they expand?
How far they could reach?
The idea of 'golden ages' is far overblown and while the Classic Era did represent a higher level of development in the area compared to later times it's hardly unreachable ever again.Mayas golden age was over long time before Columbus. And if you mean Aztecs hardly even they can survive very long even without Columbus. Many neighbour nations hated them. And altough Columbus/conquistadors fails it would delay colonisation of America only few decades.
The idea of 'golden ages' is far overblown and while the Classic Era did represent a higher level of development in the area compared to later times it's hardly unreachable ever again.
Also, people harping on about how the Aztecs' neighbors hating them gets kind of annoying after a while. Yes, it's true, but it's hardly unique to the Aztecs. Every empire in history is hated by their neighbors, usually to the same degree. If Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes invaded the Roman Empire around 100 AD or so from the east, do you really think the enemies of the Romans would not take advantage of that and take any offer of alliance with the khan? Same situation in Mexico when the Spanish came.
In any case, given enough time it's not unreasonable for the Maya to advance, bronze work was starting to become a thing in Mesoamerica at that time. Expansion is also possible, though it must be remembered that there were many warring Maya kingdoms and dynasties at that time, as usual. One becoming a local hegemon and expanding into new regions isn't impossible however. The K'iche' IOTL were already on their way to doing that. They had just a few more enemies in the highlands that stood a chance of fighting against them, with them out of the way they'd be able to expand east, further into the more sparsely populated regions of Central America. West would be a little more difficult, the Maya states in the west at that time were not particularly strong and far enough west are the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, powerful nations who are also tributaries of the Triple Alliance.
And? They all certainly resented their Roman overlords. I'd be very surprised if the average Gaul or Goth or whomever didn't want Rome gone. Don't overstate the extent to which the Aztecs were hated. Their most famous enemies who people like to laud as victims shared the same culture, same language, same religion as the Mexica and Acolhua and so on. The only difference is that that Tlaxcalteca were losing.Actually, I think I'm going to have to disagree with you there about the Romans.
Sure the Romans were not the nicest guys (not by a long shot) but I actually don't think they were as hated as the Triple Alliance was.
With the exception of the Sassanians who really did not like the Romans, most of the Barbarians at the edge of the Roman empire wanted to BE Romans, not end Rome.