The region of Yucatán had just been–at least formally–conquered by Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez and a new capital established in Merida in 1542, when the young friar Diego de Landa arrived in Mexico in 1549. He soon became the guardian of the convent and church of Izamal, where the Spaniards had established a mission. Izamal was an important religious center during the pre-Hispanic period, and the founding of a Catholic church in the same location was seen by the priests as a further way to extirpate Maya idolatry.
For at least a decade, de Landa and the other friars were zealous in trying to convert the Maya people to Catholicism. He organized masses where Maya nobles were ordered to give up their ancient beliefs and to embrace the new religion. He also ordered inquisition trials against those Maya who refused to renounce to their faith, and many of them were killed.