Editing Chiapas (section)

===Pre-Columbian Era===
Hunter gatherers began to occupy the central valley of the state around 7000 BCE, but little is known about them.<ref name="rincones29">Jiménez González, p. 29.</ref> In the [[Mesoamerican chronology|pre Classic period]] from 1800 BCE to 300 CE, agricultural villages appeared all over the state although hunter gather groups would persist for long after the era.<ref name="enchis">{{cite web |url=http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_chiapas |title=Historia |year=2010 |work=Enciclopedia de Los Municipios y Delegaciones de México Estado de Chiapas |publisher=INAFED Instituto para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal/ SEGOB Secretaría de Gobernación |location=Mexico |language=es |trans-title=History |access-date=May 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616204839/http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_chiapas |archive-date=June 16, 2011}}</ref>
Recent excavations in the [[Soconusco]] region of the state indicate that the oldest civilization to appear in what is now modern Chiapas is that of the [[Mokaya]], which were cultivating corn and living in houses as early as 1500 BCE, making them one of the oldest in Mesoamerica.<ref name="enchis"/><ref name="rincones35">Jiménez González, p. 35.</ref> There is speculation that these were the forefathers of the [[Olmec]], migrating across the Grijalva Valley and onto the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico to the north, which was Olmec territory. The descendants of Mokaya are the Mixe-Zoque.<ref name="enchis"/> During the pre Classic era, it is known that most of Chiapas was not Olmec, but had close relations with them, especially the Olmecs of the Isthmus of [[Tehuantepec]].<ref name="olmecasarq">{{cite web |author=Thomas A. Lee Whiting |year=1993 |title=Los olmecas en Chiapas |trans-title=The Olmecs in Chiapas |url=http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nChiapas87.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227023031/http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nChiapas87.html |archive-date=February 27, 2011 |access-date=May 8, 2011 |publisher=Arqueología Mexicana magazine Editorial Raíces S.A. de C.V. |language=es |location=Mexico City}}</ref>[[File:JaguarStoneMusRegTuxtla.JPG|thumb|150px|Jaguar sculpture from Cintalapa dating between 1000 and 400&nbsp;BCE on display at the [[Regional Museum of Anthropology and History of Chiapas]].]]

[[File:Palace at Palenque.jpg|thumb|left|The Palace at [[Palenque]]]]
Mayan civilization began in the pre-Classic period as well, but did not come into prominence until the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Classic period]] (300–900&nbsp;CE). Development of this culture was agricultural villages during the pre-Classic period with city building during the Classic as social stratification became more complex. In Chiapas, Mayan sites are mostly concentrated along the state's borders with [[Tabasco]] and Guatemala, near Mayan sites in those entities. Most of this area belongs to the [[Lacandon Jungle]].<ref name="rincones2930">Jiménez González, pp. 29–30.</ref> Mayan civilization in the Lacandon area is marked by rising exploitation of rain forest resources, rigid social stratification, fervent local identity, waging war against neighboring peoples.<ref name="enchis" /> At its height, it had large cities, a writing system, and development of scientific knowledge, such as mathematics and astronomy.<ref name="rincones2930" />
[[File:Zona Arqueológica Yaxchilán 4.JPG|thumb|Ancient Maya city of Yaxchilan]]
It is not known what ended the Mayan civilization but theories range from over population size, natural disasters, disease, and loss of natural resources through over exploitation or climate change. Nearly all Mayan cities collapsed around the same time, 900&nbsp;CE. From then [[Pre-Columbian era|until 1500 CE]], social organization of the region fragmented into much smaller units and social structure became much less complex. There was some influence from the rising powers of central Mexico but two main indigenous groups emerged during this time, the Zoques and the various Mayan descendants. The Chiapans, for whom the state is named, migrated into the center of the state during this time and settled around Chiapa de Corzo, the old Mixe–Zoque stronghold.<ref name="enchis" /> There is evidence that the [[Aztec]]s appeared in the center of the state around Chiapa de Corza in the 15th&nbsp;century, but were unable to displace the native Chiapa tribe. However, they had enough influence so that the name of this area and of the state would come from [[Nahuatl]].<ref name="historycom" />