Conquest and Survival in Colonial Guatemala: A Historical Geography of the Cuchumat N Highlands, 1500-1821

Compared to what is known about Mexico and Peru, our knowledge of the encounter between Spaniards and Indians in much of Central America remains blurred and speculative. While works exist that deal with the isthmus of Central America as a whole and the nation states that emerged within it, few detailed regional studies are available. Based primarily on unpublished archival sources, this work examines the impact of Spanish rule in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, an isolated region of north-western Guatemala. The Maya peoples who live there withstood the onslaught of European intrusion to a degree little known or appreciated before the original publication of “Conquest and survival in colonial Guatemala”. This revised edition includes a new preface, an updated bibliography, and a substantive epilogue that stresses the theme of native resistance to Spanish domination. Maya resistance was demonstrated physically in the form of armed struggle and rebellion, and expressed culturally through fugitivism, idolatry, tax evasion, monolinguism, and civil disobedience.In chapters that focus on land, settlement, economy, and population, Lovell exposes the colonial roots of problems at the heart of Guatemala’s current political crisis. “Conquest and survival in colonial Guatemala” modifies certain generalizations about the impact of Spanish rule in Central America and sharpens our understanding of how varied native response to this outside presence was. Spanish imperialism penetrated and left its mark on even the remote Cuchumatan highlands, but the vibrant Maya culture found there was not obliterated; indeed, although under considerable duress, it endures to this day.