Itzá is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern peninsula. The Maya name 'Chichen Itza' means 'At the mouth of the well of the Itza.' This derives from chi', meaning 'mouth' or 'edge', and chʼen or chʼeʼen, meaning 'well'. Name and orthography Elaborate stone facades in Chichen Itza's 'Monjas' complex in 1902 Ĭhichén Itzá is one of the most visited archeological sites in Mexico with over 2.6 million tourists in 2017. The land under the monuments had been privately owned until 29 March 2010, when it was purchased by the state of Yucatán. The ruins of Chichén Itzá are federal property, and the site's stewardship is maintained by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History). The city may have had the most diverse population in the Maya world, a factor that could have contributed to the variety of architectural styles at the site. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the result of cultural diffusion.Ĭhichén Itzá was one of the largest Maya cities and it was likely to have been one of the mythical great cities, or Tollans, referred to in later Mesoamerican literature. The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico and of the Puuc and Chenes styles of the Northern Maya lowlands. AD 800–900) and into the early portion of the Postclassic period (c. AD 600–900) through the Terminal Classic (c.

Ĭhichén Itzá was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic (c. The archeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico. Chichén Itzá (often spelled Chichen Itza in English and traditional Yucatec Maya) was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period.

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