1989/12/08 by Elizabeth Graham, David M. Pendergast, Grant D. Jones · 92 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Latin American history and culture #Archaeology and Natural History #Mexican Socioeconomic and Environmental Dynamics #Maya #CONQUEST #Colonialism #Frontier #Peninsula #Yucatan peninsula #Ethnology #Archaeology #History #Geography #Ancient history #Ecology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.246.4935.1254
published in Science 246(4935), 1254-1259 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 1989/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
The defeat of the Aztecs of Mexico by Hernán Cortés in 1521 was but the beginning of a long and torturous conquest of Central America that did not always result in the mastery of people and production for which the Spanish had hoped. The Maya of the resource-poor Yucatán peninsula were spared the heavy colonial hand that held fast to central Mexico and its riches. In addition, the dense forests of the peninsula served as a haven for refugees fleeing oppressive conditions in colonial towns. Despite the paucity of documentary information on Maya communities of the frontier, knowledge of Maya-Spanish relations in the 16th and 17th centuries has advanced in recent years through archeological and ethnohistorical research. Work in one region of the Maya lowlands has brought us closer to an understanding of the early interaction of the rulers and the ruled.