Yucatán 1562: Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa investigates secret Maya rites with torture and killings and has the books of the Maya destroyed at Maní

In 1562 the Franciscan provincial Diego de Landa found that the Maya were secretly keeping to their ancient rites. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, he conducted his investigation with such cruelties of torture and death that Bishop Toral stopped it upon his arrival. By then, it is asserted, two million sacred images and hundreds of manuscripts had been destroyed. At Maní in 1562, 27 books were publicly destroyed. Landa himself wrote that the books were burnt because they contained nothing but superstition. He later became bishop.

Period

1562 (less than 1 year)

Country

Mexico

Institutions

Franciscan Order
Diocese of Yucatán

Category

Torture, Colonialism, Persecution, Censorship

Level of evidence

B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

Persons

Diego de Landa (Franciscan provincial, later Bishop of Yucatán)
Toral (Bishop of Mérida, stopped the investigation)

Background

Course of events

1. The Diocese of Yucatán was established in 1561. The following year Diego de Landa, provincial of the Franciscans, learned that the natives were secretly keeping to their ancient rites and opened an investigation.
   Evidence: Robert Appleton Company / The Encyclopedia Press (Wikisource), Artikel Maya Indians, Abschnitt zur Geschichte

   „In the next year the famous Diego de Landa, Franciscan provincial, and afterwards bishop (1573-79), becoming aware that the natives throughout the peninsula still secretly cherished their ancient rites, instituted an investigation“

2. Before it was stopped, two million sacred images and hundreds of hieroglyphic manuscripts are said to have been destroyed, practically the whole voluminous Maya literature; the source marks this as an assertion. Another passage names 27 parchment books publicly destroyed by Landa at Maní in 1562. Almost only four codices have survived.
   Evidence: Robert Appleton Company / The Encyclopedia Press (Wikisource), Artikel Maya Indians, Abschnitt zur Geschichte

   „there had been destroyed, as is asserted, two million sacred images and hundreds of hieroglyphic manuscripts“

   Evidence: Robert Appleton Company / The Encyclopedia Press (Wikisource), Artikel Maya Indians, Abschnitt zur Schrift

   „Twenty-seven parchment books were publicly destroyed by Bishop Landa at Mani in 1562“

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

1. In his own writing Landa justified the burning by saying that the books contained only superstition and lies of the devil. He noted that the natives felt great pain at this.
   Evidence: US Department of the Interior, Government Printing Office (Wikisource), Einleitung, Zitat aus Landa

   „as they contained nothing that did not savor of superstition and lies of the devil we burnt them all, at which the natives grieved most keenly and were greatly pained“

Original texts

See also

• 1571-1776 · 205 years

  Spanish Inquisition in the Americas (Mexico, Lima, Cartagena)

  • Colombia
  • Mexico
  • Peru
  • Anti-Judaism
  • Heresy trials
  • Colonialism
  • Persecution
• 1609-1621 · 12 years

  Peru from 1609: After the denunciations of the priest Francisco de Ávila, the campaign against indigenous "idolatry" begins with an auto da fé, whipping and burning of mummies

  • Peru
  • Colonialism
  • Persecution

Scholarly literature and reference works

1. Reference work
   Robert Appleton Company / The Encyclopedia Press (Wikisource): Maya Indians, in: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), 1 January 1913. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
2. Scholarly literature
   US Department of the Interior, Government Printing Office (Wikisource): Cyrus Thomas, A Study of the Manuscript Troano, Einleitung von Daniel G. Brinton (Contributions to North American Ethnology, Bd. 5), 1 January 1882. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 31 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.