A large ethno-linguistic group in southern Mexico and Central America whose ancestors ruled much of that region in the first millenium A.D. Once, a large network of feuding city states stretched from the Yucatán peninsula through the highlands of Guatemala and Honduras. Inexplicably, the Maya abandoned these cities at various times, most recently around the thirteenth century. Today the Maya constitute a large ethno-linguistic group in southern Mexico and Central America. The Maya have resisted domination since the time of Montejo and Alvarado, the first conquistadors. During the so-called Caste War in the late 1840s, the Yucatec Maya very nearly drove out Mexican authority from the Yucatán. The last hold-outs only surrendered in 1935. In Guatemala, many Mayan peoples were killed in Guatemala's brutal Civil War throughout the 1980s. The Maya are increasingly voicing their concerns, and mobilizing for their rights, both in Central America and Mexico. Some Mayans have emigrated to the United States.