Cobá

Coba is an ancient Maya city on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, first settled around 50 BC and peaking between 600-900 AD with an estimated 50,000 inhabitants spread across 60 sq km. It is the nexus of the largest network of sacbeob (stone causeways) in the Maya world, the longest running 100 km to the city of Yaxuna. The Nohoch Mul pyramid rises 42 meters, making it one of the tallest Maya structures. The city controlled vast farmland, trade routes, and crucial water resources. Unlike most Maya cities that collapsed around the 10th century, Coba survived into the Post-Classic Period before final abandonment in the 14th-15th century. Rediscovered in the late 19th century, major excavations began only in the 1970s.