What do you think?
Rate this book
Aztek ve Maya Mitolojisi
"These people also used certain characters or letters, with which they wrote in their books about the antiquities and their sciences...We found a great number of books in these letters, and since they contained nothing but superstitions and falsehoods of the devil we burned them all, which they took most grievously, and which gave them great pain."
So writes Friar Diego de Landa in his Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan of 1566, the basic book in Maya studies. Landa did all he could to wipe out Maya culture and civilization. In the famous auto-da-te of July 1562 at Mani, as he tells us, he destroyed 5,000 "idols" and burned 27 heiroglyphic rolls. And yet paradoxically Landa's book, written in Spain to defend himself against charges of despotic mismanagement, is the only significant account of Yucatan done in the early post-Conquest era. As the distinguished Maya scholar William Gates states in his introduction, "ninety-nine percent of what we today know of the Mayas, we know as the result either of what Landa has told us in the pages that follow, or have learned in the use and study of what he told."
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1566
56 people are currently reading
452 people want to read
About the author
Diego de Landa
31 books2 followersDiego de Landa Calderón, O.F.M. was a Spanish bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. Many historians criticize his campaign against idolatry. Many historians criticize his campaign against idolatry. In particular, he burned almost all the Maya manuscripts (codices) that would have been very useful in deciphering Maya script, knowledge of Maya religion and civilization, and the history of the American continent. Nonetheless, his work in documenting and researching the Maya was indispensable in achieving the current understanding of their culture.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 1, 2013
The stars I've given this 'book' are meaningless. You might as well think of them as not even being there (In fact I'll probably go back and make it a starless rating).
This "review" is mostly a short lesson, rather than a review, for those of who who might be interested in post-contact Mesoamerica. If you don't give a crap about Mesoamerica, let alone post-contact, then you might not want to read any further.
Diego De Landa is a mixed bag, and he left us a mixed legacy. De Landa was a Spanish Bishop, sent to administrate the religious aspect of the Spanish Contact/conquest of the Yucatan. Basically, he was responsible for destroying all semblance of Maya culture and religion. He had massive bonfire parties, burning all the Mayan texts and books (In case you didn't know, the Maya made folding books out of bark paper). He also "punished" any Maya who tried to maintain their religious practices, rather than accept the yoke of Catholicism. He essentially represents the kind of person I hate most in this world.
Yet, he also (in part (a very small part)) represents the kind of person I respect in this world. You see, even as he was destroying the Maya civilization and literature, he was simultaneously trying to record everything he saw. Paradoxically, he had an interest in the civilization he was destroying. He wrote down the spoken accounts and stories of the Maya people, about what life was like before the Spanish got there. He also attempted to record the Mayan written language, by using some native Maya scribes to write down the Spanish "sounds" corresponding to their Mayan characters. Meaning, he tried to record a sound-for-sound Mayan alphabet, so the language could be reproduced. What he didn't realize, is that the Mayan language doesn't use an alphabet, it uses a syllabary. I'll save the difference between those two for some later discussion, but suffice to say: De Landa was no linguist.
Yet, giving credit where credit is due (however grudgingly), it is because of De Landa's attempt that we were eventually able to decipher written Mayan text, and now we can read Ancient Mayan writing! Well, what little remains of it, after the rogering the Spanish gave to the entire continent.
Eventually De Landa put together everything he wrote down, and titled it Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán, of which this book is the English translation.
So there you have it, in a nutshell. Diego De Landa committed cultural and physical genocide, which remains today as one of the most horrid atrocities in the history of the world. Yet, he is also responsible for one of the most important historical documents in the history of the world, without which our understanding of the ancient Maya would still be floundering. It is an essential, and infuriating book, which makes me want to eat it. That's right! I want to eat the damned book. I want to eat it, so I can digest all it's important knowledge, while at the same time defecating out all the fecal matter associated with its creation.
This "review" is mostly a short lesson, rather than a review, for those of who who might be interested in post-contact Mesoamerica. If you don't give a crap about Mesoamerica, let alone post-contact, then you might not want to read any further.
Diego De Landa is a mixed bag, and he left us a mixed legacy. De Landa was a Spanish Bishop, sent to administrate the religious aspect of the Spanish Contact/conquest of the Yucatan. Basically, he was responsible for destroying all semblance of Maya culture and religion. He had massive bonfire parties, burning all the Mayan texts and books (In case you didn't know, the Maya made folding books out of bark paper). He also "punished" any Maya who tried to maintain their religious practices, rather than accept the yoke of Catholicism. He essentially represents the kind of person I hate most in this world.
Yet, he also (in part (a very small part)) represents the kind of person I respect in this world. You see, even as he was destroying the Maya civilization and literature, he was simultaneously trying to record everything he saw. Paradoxically, he had an interest in the civilization he was destroying. He wrote down the spoken accounts and stories of the Maya people, about what life was like before the Spanish got there. He also attempted to record the Mayan written language, by using some native Maya scribes to write down the Spanish "sounds" corresponding to their Mayan characters. Meaning, he tried to record a sound-for-sound Mayan alphabet, so the language could be reproduced. What he didn't realize, is that the Mayan language doesn't use an alphabet, it uses a syllabary. I'll save the difference between those two for some later discussion, but suffice to say: De Landa was no linguist.
Yet, giving credit where credit is due (however grudgingly), it is because of De Landa's attempt that we were eventually able to decipher written Mayan text, and now we can read Ancient Mayan writing! Well, what little remains of it, after the rogering the Spanish gave to the entire continent.
Eventually De Landa put together everything he wrote down, and titled it Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán, of which this book is the English translation.
So there you have it, in a nutshell. Diego De Landa committed cultural and physical genocide, which remains today as one of the most horrid atrocities in the history of the world. Yet, he is also responsible for one of the most important historical documents in the history of the world, without which our understanding of the ancient Maya would still be floundering. It is an essential, and infuriating book, which makes me want to eat it. That's right! I want to eat the damned book. I want to eat it, so I can digest all it's important knowledge, while at the same time defecating out all the fecal matter associated with its creation.
June 17, 2020
A very destructive man in the suit of a witness
FRIAR DIEGO DE LANDA – YUCATAN BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONQUEST – 1566-1937-20169
This book is essential if you are interested in the Mayas, but you must keep in mind that the author was not able to know what Maya country was before the conquest because he only arrived there after smallpox and other diseases had decimated the population and the civilization. He is only giving information he got second-hand, but it is important to consider what he has to say. The second remark is the fact that he was responsible for the burning of all books and other written documents he could find and seize. He destroyed hundreds and probably thousands of such codices and today only four have escaped this fate. So his opinion on the religious practices of the Mayas, including what he says about their sacrificial rituals has to be taken with a grain of salt as something he puts forward to justify what he did himself which was plain cultural genocide.
Now this book solves a couple of questions. First of all, the buildings are oriented on the four cardinal points but not the angles of the pyramids or other palaces, but the sides of the square pyramids and all other buildings.
He insists on the cruelty of the Spaniards. Let’s just quote some of these cruel treatments: “… burning them alive with the greatest inhumanity in the world… a captain had hung many women with their infant children hung from their feet… hung two Indian women, one maiden and the other recently married, for no other crime than their beauty… fearing a disturbance among the soldiers … cutting off their noses, hands, arms, and legs, and the breasts of their women; throwing them into deep water with gourds tied to their feet, thrusting the children with spears because they could not go as fast as their mothers… cut off their heads…” and he says what sounds like some understatement: “resulting in the reduction of the population.” (page24-25) And remember that was after the smallpox-et-al pandemic.
He insists too on the cruelty of the Mayas with themselves, with the Mayas. “… they made sacrifices of human beings as easily as they did of birds, and as often as their accursed priests or the chilanes said it was necessary, or as it was the whim or will of their chiefs…” (page 91) But we must keep in mind once again that he never witnessed what it was before the conquest and there were two difficulties for him to get reliable information: first it was only second hand about a past that did not exist anymore; second he speaks of the books but he has had them all destroyed and thus cannot rely on them accurately; third we can also think there might have been a problem with the language since he apparently did not really understand or read the language and he probably relied on translators like Cortes relied on La Malinche for translating and communicating with the Aztek and other tribes.
But what he says on the clothing, arts and music, dancing and festivities is interesting, though of course, he could not say what it was before the conquest without the distorting nostalgia of his informers.
But what he says about language is more than interesting since it is from this that Knorozov actually was able to crack this glyphic written language. Diego de Landa tried to break the alphabet of this language and he did not really understand that his informers were giving him words starting with the sound he was looking for. Page 60, he writes: “The letters are as follows, each with its name above to understand their correlation with ours.” And the list of glyphs he gives is the list of the twenty days of the Tzolkin calendar with their names above. But these names are the names of the days not of the letters because the glyphs are not letters but in this case full words. And he is very consistent and persistent on the point. Note by the way many illustrations are added by the modern editor because Diego de Landa could not really use or refer to the Dresden Codex since for him it did not exist anymore (he burned them all, remember) and he did not even know the city of Dresden. The illustrations are thus not very clear if they are original or added for this modern edition.
But the most important passage is page 83 with the facsimile of one page of Diego de Landa’s manuscript with his proposed alphabet, and he actually says just before: “They also wrote in syllables.” (page 83) It is not “also”: it is “always” the case. Their phonetic writing, when it is phonetic, is always a syllabary and not an alphabet. Yet, we can rather easily recognize some of the glyphs he gives that are properly linked to a sound or a syllable, and we can find the T-numbers of some of them rather easily. For example, “ku” that should be “k’u” is T604, and close to the glyph Montgomery gives page 155 of his Maya Dictionary. In the same way, “u” can be seen as T1, Montgomery page 253. The two “b” glyphs are in fact “be” or T301, Montgomery page 43 (the road, the footprint), and “bi” or T585, Montgomery page 43 (the Quincunx).
To conclude here, I must say that what he says about the architecture and the buildings is important because at the time they were still standing, at least some of them and had not been repossessed by the tropical forest. Today we enjoy what has been excavated and restored or at least consolidated and preserved. But the four centuries that have elapsed since this 16th century have certainly not improved the state of repairs of most buildings. And that’s why it is interesting to read this testimony from 1566.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
FRIAR DIEGO DE LANDA – YUCATAN BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONQUEST – 1566-1937-20169
This book is essential if you are interested in the Mayas, but you must keep in mind that the author was not able to know what Maya country was before the conquest because he only arrived there after smallpox and other diseases had decimated the population and the civilization. He is only giving information he got second-hand, but it is important to consider what he has to say. The second remark is the fact that he was responsible for the burning of all books and other written documents he could find and seize. He destroyed hundreds and probably thousands of such codices and today only four have escaped this fate. So his opinion on the religious practices of the Mayas, including what he says about their sacrificial rituals has to be taken with a grain of salt as something he puts forward to justify what he did himself which was plain cultural genocide.
Now this book solves a couple of questions. First of all, the buildings are oriented on the four cardinal points but not the angles of the pyramids or other palaces, but the sides of the square pyramids and all other buildings.
He insists on the cruelty of the Spaniards. Let’s just quote some of these cruel treatments: “… burning them alive with the greatest inhumanity in the world… a captain had hung many women with their infant children hung from their feet… hung two Indian women, one maiden and the other recently married, for no other crime than their beauty… fearing a disturbance among the soldiers … cutting off their noses, hands, arms, and legs, and the breasts of their women; throwing them into deep water with gourds tied to their feet, thrusting the children with spears because they could not go as fast as their mothers… cut off their heads…” and he says what sounds like some understatement: “resulting in the reduction of the population.” (page24-25) And remember that was after the smallpox-et-al pandemic.
He insists too on the cruelty of the Mayas with themselves, with the Mayas. “… they made sacrifices of human beings as easily as they did of birds, and as often as their accursed priests or the chilanes said it was necessary, or as it was the whim or will of their chiefs…” (page 91) But we must keep in mind once again that he never witnessed what it was before the conquest and there were two difficulties for him to get reliable information: first it was only second hand about a past that did not exist anymore; second he speaks of the books but he has had them all destroyed and thus cannot rely on them accurately; third we can also think there might have been a problem with the language since he apparently did not really understand or read the language and he probably relied on translators like Cortes relied on La Malinche for translating and communicating with the Aztek and other tribes.
But what he says on the clothing, arts and music, dancing and festivities is interesting, though of course, he could not say what it was before the conquest without the distorting nostalgia of his informers.
But what he says about language is more than interesting since it is from this that Knorozov actually was able to crack this glyphic written language. Diego de Landa tried to break the alphabet of this language and he did not really understand that his informers were giving him words starting with the sound he was looking for. Page 60, he writes: “The letters are as follows, each with its name above to understand their correlation with ours.” And the list of glyphs he gives is the list of the twenty days of the Tzolkin calendar with their names above. But these names are the names of the days not of the letters because the glyphs are not letters but in this case full words. And he is very consistent and persistent on the point. Note by the way many illustrations are added by the modern editor because Diego de Landa could not really use or refer to the Dresden Codex since for him it did not exist anymore (he burned them all, remember) and he did not even know the city of Dresden. The illustrations are thus not very clear if they are original or added for this modern edition.
But the most important passage is page 83 with the facsimile of one page of Diego de Landa’s manuscript with his proposed alphabet, and he actually says just before: “They also wrote in syllables.” (page 83) It is not “also”: it is “always” the case. Their phonetic writing, when it is phonetic, is always a syllabary and not an alphabet. Yet, we can rather easily recognize some of the glyphs he gives that are properly linked to a sound or a syllable, and we can find the T-numbers of some of them rather easily. For example, “ku” that should be “k’u” is T604, and close to the glyph Montgomery gives page 155 of his Maya Dictionary. In the same way, “u” can be seen as T1, Montgomery page 253. The two “b” glyphs are in fact “be” or T301, Montgomery page 43 (the road, the footprint), and “bi” or T585, Montgomery page 43 (the Quincunx).
To conclude here, I must say that what he says about the architecture and the buildings is important because at the time they were still standing, at least some of them and had not been repossessed by the tropical forest. Today we enjoy what has been excavated and restored or at least consolidated and preserved. But the four centuries that have elapsed since this 16th century have certainly not improved the state of repairs of most buildings. And that’s why it is interesting to read this testimony from 1566.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
December 27, 2010
In 1562, Friar Diego de Landa of Yucatan discovered that some of the Indians who had supposedly been converted to Christianity some 20 years before did, in fact, worship their old "idols". He conducted an inquiry in the best traditions of the Spanish Inquisition, torturing some 4500 Indians and causing the deaths of 158, burned 5000 "idols" and 27 hieroglyphic books. The Church was alarmed that Landa had overstepped the boundaries of his authority, and recalled him to Spain to stand trial before the Council of the Indies. This story is told in any book on the Spanish conquest of the Americas. This book is what Diego de Landa wrote in Spain to argue his case. It is a description of the natural history of Yucatan (the agouti, the manatee, which is described as a fish that is amazingly animal-like, the armadillo, the papaya, the guava etc.), the story of its Spanish conquest, the customs, language, laws and social organization of its people, and the cycle of the year. From the European point of view, the Yucatec Mayas lived in the bizarrest human civilization ever to exist (as opposed to noncivilized peoples such as the Australian Aborigines, whose lifestyles were equally bizarre).
April 20, 2020
Imagine living you life in a small village. It is about the 14oo's, and it is a much simpler time. You go about your routines as your ancestors have done before you and live life according to customs passed down from generation to generation.
One day, ships approach from the sea. Strangers, in every sense of the word come amongst you, your family, and friends and begin to slowly, duplicitously, and ultimately forcefully impose their ways and customs on you and your kind.
This is what happened to the Maya's in Yucatan. What followed was approximately 400 years of slow subjugation, terror, and decimation of the Mayan culture.
I feel a closeness to this particular topic as my family is from Yucatan. This is why I picked up the book to begin with. Just to get a history lesson of Yucatan in general. What I didn't realize, is that this book was written by one of the Conquistadors who began the campaign against the Maya, and who claimed Yucatan in the name of Spain.
It's a biased account based on the viewpoint of someone who is deeply devoted to the Christian fate, and to Spain as a budding empire. He looks down upon Mayan people as savages and begins the process of indoctrination. He is the one responsible for finding many Mayan books, and gave the order to burn them due to the fact that they were full of topics regarding "occult gods".
This book is hard to read at times because he and his kind brought so much pain and suffering to the Mayan's. My ancestors. However the cruel irony is that his book is one of the major sources of information we have on how Mayan's lived and operated before the Spanish came. He has a lot of good information, and a lot of information that is contrived only to paint the Mayan people as savage, and get the Spanish king to give them permission to break them however he saw fit. And break them he/they did.
The latter chapters of the book denounce many of De Landa's "facts" but also uses a lot of the other information to paint a picture, as best as possible, of days before Spanish conquest. And seeing it from this perspective, it is a very interesting book. Though, tedious at times due to the very dry way it is written.
Overall, I would say this book is very informative and infuriating. However it is history and there is nothing that can change that. The conquerors came and promised all manner of good tidings and fortunes if they submitted to the alien culture that they offered. And if they didn't...
"If you do not do this, and maliciously set delays, I assure you that with God's aid, I shall enter with power among you, and shall make war on you on all sides and in every way I can, and subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of his Majesty; and I shall take your wives and children and make them slaves, and shall sell them as such and dispose of them as his Majesty shall command; and I shall take your property and shall do you all the harm I can, as to the vassals who will not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him."
One day, ships approach from the sea. Strangers, in every sense of the word come amongst you, your family, and friends and begin to slowly, duplicitously, and ultimately forcefully impose their ways and customs on you and your kind.
This is what happened to the Maya's in Yucatan. What followed was approximately 400 years of slow subjugation, terror, and decimation of the Mayan culture.
I feel a closeness to this particular topic as my family is from Yucatan. This is why I picked up the book to begin with. Just to get a history lesson of Yucatan in general. What I didn't realize, is that this book was written by one of the Conquistadors who began the campaign against the Maya, and who claimed Yucatan in the name of Spain.
It's a biased account based on the viewpoint of someone who is deeply devoted to the Christian fate, and to Spain as a budding empire. He looks down upon Mayan people as savages and begins the process of indoctrination. He is the one responsible for finding many Mayan books, and gave the order to burn them due to the fact that they were full of topics regarding "occult gods".
This book is hard to read at times because he and his kind brought so much pain and suffering to the Mayan's. My ancestors. However the cruel irony is that his book is one of the major sources of information we have on how Mayan's lived and operated before the Spanish came. He has a lot of good information, and a lot of information that is contrived only to paint the Mayan people as savage, and get the Spanish king to give them permission to break them however he saw fit. And break them he/they did.
The latter chapters of the book denounce many of De Landa's "facts" but also uses a lot of the other information to paint a picture, as best as possible, of days before Spanish conquest. And seeing it from this perspective, it is a very interesting book. Though, tedious at times due to the very dry way it is written.
Overall, I would say this book is very informative and infuriating. However it is history and there is nothing that can change that. The conquerors came and promised all manner of good tidings and fortunes if they submitted to the alien culture that they offered. And if they didn't...
"If you do not do this, and maliciously set delays, I assure you that with God's aid, I shall enter with power among you, and shall make war on you on all sides and in every way I can, and subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of his Majesty; and I shall take your wives and children and make them slaves, and shall sell them as such and dispose of them as his Majesty shall command; and I shall take your property and shall do you all the harm I can, as to the vassals who will not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him."
Read
June 20, 2019Easily the most depressing thing I have ever read. It took me four days to read 150 pages because of that. Lord have mercy.
May 24, 2013
The only known Western account of Maya civilisation, ironically by the priest instrumental in destroying an entire civilisation - this is what makes this book fascinating!
April 2, 2017
I certainly had mixed feelings about this book.
I came across this book in a store in Mexico (one of the few) and was curious. First, I have made many trips to the Yucatan area including Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Coba, Izamal and Ek Balam, too name a few. I certainly know their architecture and art, their general timeline and of course, what happens with the arrival of the Spanish. As of late I have made a few trips to Spain, including seeing the first gold from Mexico in the cathedral in Toledo. As a white tourist, sometimes this can be very alarming. But time has moved on.
As the very first line of the Introduction notes, "Diego de Landa has been considered a man of contradictions and a fanatic and intransigent friar." Yikes! Father Diego de Landa, educated in Toledo, spent several decades in the Yucatan area before being sent back to Spain to be re-educated. "Why was he so mean the Mayan people?" asked the Spanish clergy. While he spent ten years in Spain, Landa wrote this honest and informative account of the Mayans.
Some of this was hard to read, including a passage where writing in the third person he points out how Landa had the women strung up in a large tree, their children below them. Brutal, factual and yet written in a very clear and documentative style, with an assortment of his own views added. One has to consider the time frame (1563-1572). Oddly I wouldn't even call this racist. His religion runs through it all and he does give the Mayans a lot of credit for their calendars and language. In fact, reading this helped to explain their views of time (not an easy concept).
He was a brilliant man, adept at understanding this culture that he spent so much time to convert. A question arose while reading this - was this penance for his sins to the church or maybe he was empathetic to the Mayans but had to act in a certain manner to show his allegiance to the church and Spain. Guess we will never know? In 1572, King Felipe II of Spain nominates him to a special seat in the Yucatan and in 1573 Landa returns to Mexico, later dying in Merida in 1579. Now the odd part. Landa had never printed the book except for one copy. The manuscript disappeared until a French abbot discovered it in 1863 and published it with a French forward.
If you are curious about this time period, want a good glimpse of Mayan culture, norms and science, want an interesting view of the flora and fauna in a land unspoiled by the west, you will enjoy this little book. My conflict still stands about being a tourist in their land, their history and conflict with Spain. But it does make for an enjoyable and informative read.
I came across this book in a store in Mexico (one of the few) and was curious. First, I have made many trips to the Yucatan area including Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Coba, Izamal and Ek Balam, too name a few. I certainly know their architecture and art, their general timeline and of course, what happens with the arrival of the Spanish. As of late I have made a few trips to Spain, including seeing the first gold from Mexico in the cathedral in Toledo. As a white tourist, sometimes this can be very alarming. But time has moved on.
As the very first line of the Introduction notes, "Diego de Landa has been considered a man of contradictions and a fanatic and intransigent friar." Yikes! Father Diego de Landa, educated in Toledo, spent several decades in the Yucatan area before being sent back to Spain to be re-educated. "Why was he so mean the Mayan people?" asked the Spanish clergy. While he spent ten years in Spain, Landa wrote this honest and informative account of the Mayans.
Some of this was hard to read, including a passage where writing in the third person he points out how Landa had the women strung up in a large tree, their children below them. Brutal, factual and yet written in a very clear and documentative style, with an assortment of his own views added. One has to consider the time frame (1563-1572). Oddly I wouldn't even call this racist. His religion runs through it all and he does give the Mayans a lot of credit for their calendars and language. In fact, reading this helped to explain their views of time (not an easy concept).
He was a brilliant man, adept at understanding this culture that he spent so much time to convert. A question arose while reading this - was this penance for his sins to the church or maybe he was empathetic to the Mayans but had to act in a certain manner to show his allegiance to the church and Spain. Guess we will never know? In 1572, King Felipe II of Spain nominates him to a special seat in the Yucatan and in 1573 Landa returns to Mexico, later dying in Merida in 1579. Now the odd part. Landa had never printed the book except for one copy. The manuscript disappeared until a French abbot discovered it in 1863 and published it with a French forward.
If you are curious about this time period, want a good glimpse of Mayan culture, norms and science, want an interesting view of the flora and fauna in a land unspoiled by the west, you will enjoy this little book. My conflict still stands about being a tourist in their land, their history and conflict with Spain. But it does make for an enjoyable and informative read.
September 7, 2018
Es un libro corto e interesante, si bien es mencionado con frecuencia como una obra fundamental para entender la cultura y el pueblo maya, hoy en día sirve también para entender un poco la mentalidad española de la época y la impresión que este pueblo causó en los españoles del siglo XVI. Hay que tener en cuenta que desde la mirada actual (la de un occidental del siglo XXI), los españoles del siglo XVI se encontraban en un estadio tecnológico más próximo al de los mayas de aquel entonces, que al nuestro.
No sé si hay algo que me haya llamado la atención de forma particular respecto de las costumbres mayas de la época, quizás el dato más sorprendente de todos es la falacia muchas veces repetida (yo la escuché en el colegio) de que los mayas habían desaparecido cuando llegaron los españoles. Que su civilización había colapsado a manos de un pueblo guerrero que los sometió y se levantó sobre sus ruinas: los aztecas. Pero esto no es cierto en absoluto, los mayas existían como pueblos, divididos en tribus, cuando llegaron los españoles y existen aún hoy en el sur de México y Guatemala (Los aztecas pertenecían al México central). Simplemente que no su civilización ya no estaba en auge, la época de las grandes construcciones había quedado atrás hacia el 900 DC, pero su pueblo y su cultura aún existían y existen al día de hoy.
No sé si hay algo que me haya llamado la atención de forma particular respecto de las costumbres mayas de la época, quizás el dato más sorprendente de todos es la falacia muchas veces repetida (yo la escuché en el colegio) de que los mayas habían desaparecido cuando llegaron los españoles. Que su civilización había colapsado a manos de un pueblo guerrero que los sometió y se levantó sobre sus ruinas: los aztecas. Pero esto no es cierto en absoluto, los mayas existían como pueblos, divididos en tribus, cuando llegaron los españoles y existen aún hoy en el sur de México y Guatemala (Los aztecas pertenecían al México central). Simplemente que no su civilización ya no estaba en auge, la época de las grandes construcciones había quedado atrás hacia el 900 DC, pero su pueblo y su cultura aún existían y existen al día de hoy.
April 3, 2021
This account of post-conquest Yucatán is very informative in detailing the culture, geography and customs of the people who lived there at the time but is also frequently derogatory towards the people and permissive of the cruelty of the Spanish towards the native people of Yucatán. The introduction explains that the author, a priest, supervised the torture of those people who were not seen as sufficiently Christian and this cruelty is evident in parts of his account. Whilst this account does provide a lot of detail, the author's prejudice and occasional lack of understanding of the culture means that this is even more difficult to read at times than accounts written by other Spaniards living in post-conquest Central America and is not always correct.
August 8, 2020
Even they are words from the mouth of the one who burned almost all of the Mayan's written knowledge, and perpetrated many, many atrocities against them and their culture, he knew them well, and some even held him in high regard. Because of this he had an intimate and deep knowledge of their culture, albeit always refracted through the lens of 16th century Spanish politics, power struggles, and the mind of a Western European Franciscan. However it is an incredible primary source and (probably overly simplified) snapshot of Mayan culture for the time period from shortly after contact through several decades after (1560's).
July 30, 2019
uff menura llantera, como invasión y posterior conquista de los Españoles en tierra de lo que hoy es América hizo de los naturales un mundo insoportable donde los que quisieron ser libres de yugo español y el resto terminó viviendo en la más oproviosa servidumbre, sin embargo éste estudio para la destrucción de las culturas nos dejó un legado que podemos leerlos en estos libros.
!!!cuánto se perdió!!! y no hablo del oro y la plata robada, sino de toda la epistemología de nuestros abuelos en todo el continente americano.
!!!cuánto se perdió!!! y no hablo del oro y la plata robada, sino de toda la epistemología de nuestros abuelos en todo el continente americano.
January 30, 2018
Pretty interesting material, but also really dry.
It's fascinating to see de Landa vacillate between what is clearly a proto-anthropological curiosity/urge to chronicle and old religious reflex to judge.
I also really appreciate Gates' commentary and perspective. I'm sort of amazed to see the point of view of an old, blue-blooded white man in the 1930s waaay over on the left. Perhaps it's made all the more stark in today's political environment.
It's fascinating to see de Landa vacillate between what is clearly a proto-anthropological curiosity/urge to chronicle and old religious reflex to judge.
I also really appreciate Gates' commentary and perspective. I'm sort of amazed to see the point of view of an old, blue-blooded white man in the 1930s waaay over on the left. Perhaps it's made all the more stark in today's political environment.
June 21, 2021
Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán es un libro cultural.
Landa fue un religioso católico que escribió este libro y, aunque sea sospechoso, trato de no mal interpretar lo que se dice en el libro.
Es un buen libro pero no hay que quedarnos aquí, Landa no lo entendía todo y hay que poner en tela de juicio sus interpretaciones.
Landa fue un religioso católico que escribió este libro y, aunque sea sospechoso, trato de no mal interpretar lo que se dice en el libro.
Es un buen libro pero no hay que quedarnos aquí, Landa no lo entendía todo y hay que poner en tela de juicio sus interpretaciones.
July 31, 2020
This is the second version I've read of this book, one from a different translator. A.R. Pagden did a great job of distilling the book down into a coherent document and this version is better than Gates' version imo.
July 19, 2024
dejando de lado el sesgo racista y cristianizado, es una obra excelsa para ser una copia de la original, fray diego de landa entre la destrucciòn que dejo, dio a luz a un manuscrito detalladamente magnifico sobre el yucatan que encontrò.
July 4, 2019
Me gustó aprender más acerca de la cultura maya ❤️
July 8, 2020
My main issue was the clear and obvious typos. While it IS a transcript of an older document, there at least could have been a footnote where the correction was made.
October 28, 2021
Valuable as a first hand written account of the Yucatan around conquest, but much of the description is dry. Wish there was more focus on the conquest and resistance to that conquest.
April 16, 2022
2,5/5 → 5/10
Read
April 15, 2024Research. Interesting read. Not going to rate it. Just a historical text
Read
November 19, 2024one star for toxic, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic attitudes. just kidding just kidding
November 9, 2025
Read this for school
December 8, 2025
only read it for school, intresting, but wouldn't pick it up again just because
June 2, 2023
Diego De Landa is a mixed bag, and he left us a mixed legacy. De Landa was a Spanish Bishop, sent to administrate the religious aspect of the Spanish Contact/conquest of the Yucatan. Basically, he was responsible for destroying all semblance of Maya culture and religion. He had massive bonfire parties, burning all the Mayan texts and books (In case you didn't know, the Maya made folding books out of bark paper). He also "punished" any Maya who tried to maintain their religious practices, rather than accept the yoke of Catholicism. He essentially represents the kind of person I hate most in this world.
Yet, he also (in part –a very small one) represents the kind of person I respect in this world. You see, even as he was destroying the Maya civilization and literature, he was simultaneously trying to record everything he saw. Paradoxically, he had an interest in the civilization he was destroying. He wrote down the spoken accounts and stories of the Maya people, about what life was like before the Spanish got there. He also attempted to record the Mayan written language, by using some native Maya scribes to write down the Spanish "sounds" corresponding to their Mayan characters. Meaning, he tried to record a sound-for-sound Mayan alphabet, so the language could be reproduced. What he didn't realize, is that the Mayan language doesn't use an alphabet, it uses a syllabary. I'll save the difference between those two for some later discussion, but suffice to say: De Landa was no linguist.
Yet, giving credit where credit is due (however grudgingly), it is because of De Landa's attempt that we were eventually able to decipher written Mayan text, and now we can read Ancient Mayan writing! Well, what little remains of it, after the rogering the Spanish gave to the entire continent.
Eventually De Landa put together everything he wrote down, and titled it Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán, of which this book is the English translation.
So there you have it, in a nutshell. Diego De Landa committed cultural and physical genocide, which remains today as one of the most horrid atrocities in the history of the world. Yet, he is also responsible for one of the most important historical documents in the history of the world, without which our understanding of the ancient Maya would still be floundering. It is an essential, and infuriating book, which makes me want to eat it. That's right! I want to eat the damned book. I want to eat it, so I can digest all it's important knowledge, while at the same time defecating out all the fecal matter associated with its creation.
Yet, he also (in part –a very small one) represents the kind of person I respect in this world. You see, even as he was destroying the Maya civilization and literature, he was simultaneously trying to record everything he saw. Paradoxically, he had an interest in the civilization he was destroying. He wrote down the spoken accounts and stories of the Maya people, about what life was like before the Spanish got there. He also attempted to record the Mayan written language, by using some native Maya scribes to write down the Spanish "sounds" corresponding to their Mayan characters. Meaning, he tried to record a sound-for-sound Mayan alphabet, so the language could be reproduced. What he didn't realize, is that the Mayan language doesn't use an alphabet, it uses a syllabary. I'll save the difference between those two for some later discussion, but suffice to say: De Landa was no linguist.
Yet, giving credit where credit is due (however grudgingly), it is because of De Landa's attempt that we were eventually able to decipher written Mayan text, and now we can read Ancient Mayan writing! Well, what little remains of it, after the rogering the Spanish gave to the entire continent.
Eventually De Landa put together everything he wrote down, and titled it Relación De Las Cosas De Yucatán, of which this book is the English translation.
So there you have it, in a nutshell. Diego De Landa committed cultural and physical genocide, which remains today as one of the most horrid atrocities in the history of the world. Yet, he is also responsible for one of the most important historical documents in the history of the world, without which our understanding of the ancient Maya would still be floundering. It is an essential, and infuriating book, which makes me want to eat it. That's right! I want to eat the damned book. I want to eat it, so I can digest all it's important knowledge, while at the same time defecating out all the fecal matter associated with its creation.
July 26, 2013
Mayan Culture Preserved by One Who Sought Its Destruction
While driving on the lonely highway toward the city of Valladolid, in the center of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, on the horizon loomed a surreal shadow. I tried to imagine what this palatial structure could be. Upon arriving at the charming colonial city, I came upon a magnificent Spanish colonial monastary. What was amazing was that it was built upon the base of a pyramid razed by the Spanish conquistadores, who reused the stones for their building. Next to this remarkable edifice, one will find a statue erected in his memory, its plaque stating that it is a monument to the dangers of religious fervor and extremism. One cannot think of a more apt metaphor of the Spanish attempt to wipe out the indigenous Maya culture than this building. This remarkable book chronicles the travels of Friar Diego de Landa and fellow conquistadores in their attempts to convert the Maya of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula to Catholicism. It reads like many of the Medieval first-hand accounts by the crusaders (e.g., Jean de Joinville) in that horrible details of destruction can be justified in the name of spreading the Gospel. The accounts of Bernal Diaz at Tenochtitlan are another parallel.
So why should I feel that such a book merits five stars? This book is a very important first-hand (though painful) accounts of colonial Mexican history and a witness to the destruction of an indigenous culture. It is ironic that this book is also a very important source of Maya customs, daily activity, and history. It's a veritable treasure trove of information (with very interesting illustrations) of the culture the Spanish conquistadores sought to eradicate.
While driving on the lonely highway toward the city of Valladolid, in the center of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, on the horizon loomed a surreal shadow. I tried to imagine what this palatial structure could be. Upon arriving at the charming colonial city, I came upon a magnificent Spanish colonial monastary. What was amazing was that it was built upon the base of a pyramid razed by the Spanish conquistadores, who reused the stones for their building. Next to this remarkable edifice, one will find a statue erected in his memory, its plaque stating that it is a monument to the dangers of religious fervor and extremism. One cannot think of a more apt metaphor of the Spanish attempt to wipe out the indigenous Maya culture than this building. This remarkable book chronicles the travels of Friar Diego de Landa and fellow conquistadores in their attempts to convert the Maya of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula to Catholicism. It reads like many of the Medieval first-hand accounts by the crusaders (e.g., Jean de Joinville) in that horrible details of destruction can be justified in the name of spreading the Gospel. The accounts of Bernal Diaz at Tenochtitlan are another parallel.
So why should I feel that such a book merits five stars? This book is a very important first-hand (though painful) accounts of colonial Mexican history and a witness to the destruction of an indigenous culture. It is ironic that this book is also a very important source of Maya customs, daily activity, and history. It's a veritable treasure trove of information (with very interesting illustrations) of the culture the Spanish conquistadores sought to eradicate.
January 25, 2019
a modern translation of a 400 year old book by a Spaniard describing the Yucatan. The peoples, the animals, the plants. What is fascinating is the descriptions meant for Spain at a time where there was no way to fact check. Weird and wrong descriptions abound and more.
July 11, 2016
Friar Diego de Landa came to Mexico in the early 1500´s. His job was to convert the Mayans to Christianity. However, he was often cruel and tortured the local people as an inquisitor. He was sent back to Spain to face judgment. While there, he wrote this books about his knowledge of the Mayan people.
This is a good book about the geography and culture of the Mayans in the Yucatán. I am impressed he wrote this book based on his memories of the time he lived in the Yucatán area. His explanation of the Mayan calendar was very confusing, though. I didn´t understand what he had to say. In the section on animals and plants, he often called them by their Mayan name which makes sense since they probably didn´t have a Spanish name for them.
The introduction was helpful in explaining de Landa´s situation and history and the importance of his writing. However, I had wished that some of the animal & flora names could have been explained in English for a better understanding.
Very helpful in understanding the history of Yucatán and the Maya people.
This is a good book about the geography and culture of the Mayans in the Yucatán. I am impressed he wrote this book based on his memories of the time he lived in the Yucatán area. His explanation of the Mayan calendar was very confusing, though. I didn´t understand what he had to say. In the section on animals and plants, he often called them by their Mayan name which makes sense since they probably didn´t have a Spanish name for them.
The introduction was helpful in explaining de Landa´s situation and history and the importance of his writing. However, I had wished that some of the animal & flora names could have been explained in English for a better understanding.
Very helpful in understanding the history of Yucatán and the Maya people.
December 22, 2014
An interesting AND boring bit of history concerning the subjugation of the Mayan peoples of the Yucatan in the 1500's. From anthropological and sociological points of view, this is an interesting book. However, it was quite a slog to get through.
In the mid-1500's, Friar Diego de Landa was called back to the King of Spain's court to justify his horrific treatment of the native peoples of the Yucatan. When considering how non-religious Spaniards treated the peoples of the New World, de Landa's treatment must have been pretty horrendous to warrant such an action on the part of the Spanish Court.
This book is his justification of his treatment of the native peoples. Somehow or another, de Landa managed to win the argument and ended getting sent BACK to the Yucatan as a Bishop for the church. Words simply fail me.
In the mid-1500's, Friar Diego de Landa was called back to the King of Spain's court to justify his horrific treatment of the native peoples of the Yucatan. When considering how non-religious Spaniards treated the peoples of the New World, de Landa's treatment must have been pretty horrendous to warrant such an action on the part of the Spanish Court.
This book is his justification of his treatment of the native peoples. Somehow or another, de Landa managed to win the argument and ended getting sent BACK to the Yucatan as a Bishop for the church. Words simply fail me.
September 12, 2007
The view of a culture from the conqueror's unfavorable and uncomprehending (is that a word?) perspective. Not among the greats of old school travel lit ... I'd prefer something like Ibn Batutta's travels, Marco Polo's lies, travels of John Mandeville (more lies), Sir Richard Burton, Freya Stark's Valleys of the Assassins, etc.
January 6, 2010
I only read a very abridged version. It was surely enough, though, to make me despise all that was done to cancel the Maya cultural heritage from the face of the planet. 'On July 12, 1562, De Landa carried out an enormous auto de fé at Mani, in which he ordered the burning of over 5000 Maya idols, sacred items and codices'. No need for further comments.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews