Kingdom of Tikal

The Kingdom of Tikal, known to its own rulers as Mutul, was an ancient Maya state whose capital, called Yax Mutal in antiquity and known today as Tikal, stood in the Peten Basin of what is now northern Guatemala. Its ruling dynasty was founded by Yax Ehb Xook, perhaps in the first century AD, and the kingdom reached its zenith during the Classic Period, from about 200 to 900 AD, when it dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically and militarily and its capital grew to encompass more than sixteen square kilometers and roughly three thousand structures. Tikal's kings tied their authority partly to water management, building artificial reservoirs that could support their subjects through drought, but the kingdom went into decline after 900 AD amid overpopulation, agrarian failure and environmental degradation, and its capital was abandoned by the end of the tenth century.