**11.2. The Mayans**

The collapse of the Mayan civilization was because of the destruction of the environment caused by it due to the mismanagement of resources, indicated the American archeologist Richard D. Hansen [71, 72], one of the principal researchers of that old culture. "The Mayans themselves damaged their environment. They destroyed it. The impact of the damage (to the environment) was so strong that they caused the collapse of civilization," says Hansen.

In the Cuenca Mirador, the expert explained, the Mayans developed "the first economic state in the Americas." "In the pre-Classic period (in the year 1500 BC), they formed the first political State, almost an empire, where there was a development with strong economic management and large populations," but due to a strategic error "of government," the same Mayas caused its collapse.

Starting in 150 AC, "due to multifactors" associated with the environment such as diseases, drought, and deforestation, "people started to leave the area." "But it was not a case of abandonment in which people leave, but come back. Here they left and did not return. The collapse of the Mayas was a total abandonment "due to the lack of resources, Hansen stressed. The Mayans "were human" and as such "made mistakes," "abused the resources they had at their disposal." They fell into "conspicuous consumption." Preferring to build great palaces "without thinking about the needs of the people, without feeding them, until they finished everything, "he said.

#### **11.3. Roman Empire**

In the year 100 BC, the Roman Empire was spread along the Mediterranean. The Romans could have stayed in this area, near the sea, but the explorations gave good results, and they were encouraged to continue their territorial expansion by increasing connectivity. However, transportation by land was slow and expensive, unlike maritime transport, so the increase in the connectivity became expensive.

According to Joseph Tainter [73, 74], professor of environment and society at Utah State University, one of the most important lessons of the fall of Rome is that complexity comes at a cost. In the third century, Rome added more and more new elements: a considerable army, cavalry, and subdivided provinces (each with its bureaucracies, courts, and defenses), all components necessary to maintain the cohesion of its almost 60 million inhabitants of the more varied races. Eventually, it could not, to the eaves of knowledge and technique of the time that already left their trace of disorder in the environment, continue to sustain that growing complexity entering a long collapse and fragmentation.
