Why go
A ruin is only part of the story once Spanish rule begins. The failed early campaigns of Francisco de Montejo and the destruction of Maya writings at Maní explain both continued Maya resistance and the gaps in the surviving historical record. Later communities did not simply disappear from the region.
The full story
Spanish forces entered Maya territories in the sixteenth century, but conquest did not happen in a single campaign. Francisco de Montejo’s attempts in Yucatán met resistance and practical difficulties, including shortages. Rivalries among local rulers later affected Spanish advances, yet Maya opposition continued in different areas. The Itzá centre in Petén held out until the end of the seventeenth century. Colonial rule also changed the record through disease, forced religious conversion and the destruction of written works. At Maní in 1562, the Franciscan Diego de Landa ordered Maya books and ritual objects burned. That loss helps explain why so few precolonial codices survive. Even so, Maya histories did not end with the conquest: ruling families could retain local roles, and communities continued to organise and resist. When visiting temples or reading a museum label, remember that the surviving stone inscriptions and Spanish accounts give partial, unequal views of this period.