As the title implies, what are the long-term consequences for both the Americas and the world if the Mayan civilization were to survive as an independent nation? Before any of you say that it is impossible, remember that although the Mayans were the first to make contact with Europe, they were the last to fall under Spanish domination, the last state going down in 1697. And even then they were fiercely independent, resistant to missionary attempts, and rebellious. To this day many traditional gods are worshiped in some parts and the only success the missionaries had was to make the Christian God the head of their pantheon. A rebel Mayan state began a war for independence that lasted decades from 1847 to 1901. The last independent village fell in 1933.
But what I am wondering is how, if, and what would result from a Mayan state that retains its independence and at least most of its pre-Columbian culture? I wrote the beginnings of a timeline once that I did not publish that had the Classic Mayan states in the lowlands survive by having one of them establish a hegemony over the whole Southern Lowland region. Then they fixed the soil erosion and deforestation problem at least a bit by using terra preta, slash-and-char, instead of slash-and-burn, so they wouldn't have to keep clearing the forests. In addition, most of the changes that marked the Postclassic would still have had to happen and did in my scenario, with less centralization and more power to the popol naah (house of the mat, the ruling council) than to the kinich ahau (holy lord).
If one state were to eventually establish a hegemony over most or even all the Maya area, including northern and southern lowlands in addition to perhaps even the highlands, could they fare better against Spanish and subsequently Mexican rule with their higher population base and more advanced-than-OTL culture? I am also thinking of starting an actual TL about this, never did one before.
But what I am wondering is how, if, and what would result from a Mayan state that retains its independence and at least most of its pre-Columbian culture? I wrote the beginnings of a timeline once that I did not publish that had the Classic Mayan states in the lowlands survive by having one of them establish a hegemony over the whole Southern Lowland region. Then they fixed the soil erosion and deforestation problem at least a bit by using terra preta, slash-and-char, instead of slash-and-burn, so they wouldn't have to keep clearing the forests. In addition, most of the changes that marked the Postclassic would still have had to happen and did in my scenario, with less centralization and more power to the popol naah (house of the mat, the ruling council) than to the kinich ahau (holy lord).
If one state were to eventually establish a hegemony over most or even all the Maya area, including northern and southern lowlands in addition to perhaps even the highlands, could they fare better against Spanish and subsequently Mexican rule with their higher population base and more advanced-than-OTL culture? I am also thinking of starting an actual TL about this, never did one before.