Athena Review Image Archive ™
Laguna de Terminos: Satellite image and map of Maya sites
Satellite image of Laguna de Terminos with Postclassic Maya sites (NASA/JPL).
This
Landsat view of Laguna de Terminos shows a cluster of Late Postclassic
Maya sites skirting the barrier island, beach ridge, and mangrove
coastline. In the Late and Terminal Classic periods (AD
600-1000), major towns and trading sites existed along the the Río San
Pedro (lower left corner) and Río Candaleria.
At the time of the
Spanish arrival in 1517-1519, regional trading centers at Xicalango and
Champotón had been functioning throughout the Postclassic era as
politically neutral ports of trade, serving as jumping off points for
coastal boat commerce ranging as far as Central America and the
Antilles.
Both the Cordoba and Grijalva expeditions landed at Champotón, and Grijalva and Cortés each stopped at Laguna de Terminos. Perhaps due to its importance as a Mayan settlement and trading area, Laguna de Terminos is shown in exaggerated scale on the 1524 Cortés map.
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