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Chichen Itza (in Spanish Chichén Itzá) is the largest ancient ruined city of the Maya civilization in Yucatan.

Chichen Itza is a Maya name meaning "At the mouth of the wells of the Itza people", which was the usual name for the site in Pre-Columbian times, although it is also refered to in the ancient chronocles as Uucyabnal, meaning "7 Great Rulers". Yucatan has no rivers, so the fact that there were 3 natual sink holes or cenotes providing plentiful water year round at Chichen made it a natural spot for a center of population; two of these are still in existance, the most famous being the legendary "Cenote of Sacrifice", which was sacred to the Maya rain god Chac. Offerings of jade, pottery, and incence were thrown into the great well as offerings to Chac, and occasionally during times of desperate drought a human sacrifice -- however there is no confirmation in either ancient chronocles nor the archeological dredging of the cenote to confirm the lurid tales of some tour guides claiming great numbers of beautiful young virgin women were regularly cast into the well. The Sacred Cenote was long a place of pilgrimage Yucatan.

Chichen was a major center by about 600 in the middle of the Maya Classic period, but the city saw it's greatest growth and power after the Maya sites of the central lowlands to the south had already collapsed.

Some of the notable classic era structures at Chichen include a fine complex of buildings in the "Puuc" architectural style. The Spanish nicknamed this complex "Las Monjas" or "The Nunnery" but was actually the city's classic era government palace. Nearby is a round building on a large square platform nicknamed "El Caracol" or "the snail" for the stone spiral staircase inside; this was an observatory (the doors were alligned to view the vernal equinox, the Moon's greatest northern and southern declinations, and other astronomical events) sacred to Kululcan, the feathered-serpent god of the wind and learning.

	File:Head of serpent column s.jpg	File:Ballcourt2 s.jpg
west side of El Castillo	plumed serpent	inner court of ballcourt

Chichen also has a variety of other structures densely packed in the ceremonial center of about 5km 2 (2 square miles) and several outlying subsidiary sites. Nearby are the sacred Caves of Balankanche, where a large selection of ancient pottery and idols may be seen still in the positions where they were left in Pre-Columbian times.

The Maya chronicles record that in 1221 a revolt and civil war broke out, and archeological evidence confirms that the wooden roofs of the great market and the Temple of the Warriors were burnt at about this date. Chichen Itza went into decline as rulership over Yucatan shifted to Mayapan.

While the site was never completely abandoned, the population declined and no major new constructions were built. The Sacred Cenote, however, remained a place of pilgrimage.

In 1531 Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo claimed Chichen Itza and intended to make it the capital of Spanish Yucatan, but after a few months a native Maya revolt drove Montejo and his forces from the land. (see: Spanish Conquest of Yucatan)

In 1839 United States travel writers Benjamin Norman, followed a few months later by John Lloyd Stephens, visited and published accounts of the ruins of Chichen Itza. Various other expeditions made further examinations of the ruins, cumulating in the 20 year excavation project by the Carnegie Institution and Harvard University that began in 1924.

Chichen Itza is today a World Heritage Site and a very popular tourist destination.