Fray Diego de Landa

Fray Diego de Landa Calderón must be one of the most despised of the Spanish conquistadors of Mexico.

Arriving in Mayan Mexico about fifty years after Columbus landed, de Landa zealously used the methods of the Spanish inquisition to force the Maya to give up their ancient beliefs. In 1561 he did the unthinkable: he burned irreplaceable Maya codices, hand written documents of their beliefs and history, in the plaza in front of the Church of Mani. Only three codices are known to have survived out of what surely was hundreds.

Contributing Writer Nicoletta Maestri's new photo essay Diego de Landa (1524-1579), Bishop and Inquisitor of Early Colonial Yucatan, gives us a close look at this man and discusses whether his subsequent recording of the Maya civilization comes close to redeeming him.