Exploring firsthand accounts written by Maya nobles from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries-many of them previously untranslated-Restall offers the first Maya account of the conquest. The story holds surprising twists: The conquistadors were not only Spaniards but also Mayas, reconstructing their own governance and society, and the Spanish colonization of the Yucatan was part of an ongoing pattern of adaptation and survival for centuries.
“At last, the Mayas’ perspective of the Spanish Conquest! Evocative and poignant.” —Susan Schroeder, author of Chimalpahin and the Kingdoms of Chalco
“Matthew Restall has discovered the lost world and re-awakened the silent voices of Maya conquistadors. Now everyone can read some of the surprising sources he has wrested from neglected archives, which make colonial society vivid and intelligible as never before.” —Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of Before Columbus and Millennium: A History of the Last Thousand Years
“Now joining The Broken Spears in importance. . . . Maya Conquistador is provocative and highly recommended. It will undoubtedly alter previous views of the relationship between the Mayas and the Spanish conquerors of the Yucatan.” —James C. Harrison, Multicultural Review