The Yucatan-From Prehistoric Times to the Great Maya Revolt

The Yucatan-From Prehistoric Times to the Great Maya Revolt PDF Author: Douglas T. Peck
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781462821013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
This book introduces an innovative and verified pattern of Maya history that follows the origin of the Olmec culture in Tabasco through its melding into and becoming the Chontal Maya/Itza of the Yucatan. The Yucatan has been the focal point and geographical crossroad of profound cultural, ethnological, and sociological change and development in Mesoamerica from ancient times to the present. This far-reaching and historically significant acculturation was brought about by two widely separated epic migrations and military conquests by foreign peoples bringing radically new, innovative, and advanced culture to the area. The first of these was the migration and military conquest by the Olmec/Chontal Maya/Itza from Tabasco bringing their written language, mathematics, architectural expertise, and religion into northern and central Yucatan. This golden age of Maya civilization, centered in the Yucatan, lasted for a millennium during which the advanced Maya culture flowered and spread south into Honduras and Guatemala and west into the highlands of Mexico. In like manner, the second migration and military conquest of the Yucatan by Spanish conquistadors also brought new and advanced cultural norms to the area. The history of the origin, development, and impact of these two momentous events constitutes the thrust of this book and is contrary to and challenges much of the currently accepted historiography related to the subject. Contrary to current consensus the book shows that the seafaring and mercantile oriented Chontal Maya/Itza from Yucatan were a populous worldly element of the Maya civilization who traveled and spread their cultural influence not only throughout continental Mesoamerica, but ventured across the seas to the islands of the Caribbean and to the shores of Southwest Florida in the territory of the Calusa Indians. Consistent with this accomplishment, they had developed naval engineering, Metallurgy, tool design, woodworking, and ship building capabilities that enabled them to construct the large composite seaworthy vessels (not just log canoes) required. And from their expertise in mathematics and astronomy they developed a sophisticated method of celestial navigation for their overseas voyages a millennium before celestial navigation was developed in Europe.

The Yucatan-From Prehistoric Times to the Great Maya Revolt

The Yucatan-From Prehistoric Times to the Great Maya Revolt PDF Author: Douglas T. Peck
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781462821013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 495

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book introduces an innovative and verified pattern of Maya history that follows the origin of the Olmec culture in Tabasco through its melding into and becoming the Chontal Maya/Itza of the Yucatan. The Yucatan has been the focal point and geographical crossroad of profound cultural, ethnological, and sociological change and development in Mesoamerica from ancient times to the present. This far-reaching and historically significant acculturation was brought about by two widely separated epic migrations and military conquests by foreign peoples bringing radically new, innovative, and advanced culture to the area. The first of these was the migration and military conquest by the Olmec/Chontal Maya/Itza from Tabasco bringing their written language, mathematics, architectural expertise, and religion into northern and central Yucatan. This golden age of Maya civilization, centered in the Yucatan, lasted for a millennium during which the advanced Maya culture flowered and spread south into Honduras and Guatemala and west into the highlands of Mexico. In like manner, the second migration and military conquest of the Yucatan by Spanish conquistadors also brought new and advanced cultural norms to the area. The history of the origin, development, and impact of these two momentous events constitutes the thrust of this book and is contrary to and challenges much of the currently accepted historiography related to the subject. Contrary to current consensus the book shows that the seafaring and mercantile oriented Chontal Maya/Itza from Yucatan were a populous worldly element of the Maya civilization who traveled and spread their cultural influence not only throughout continental Mesoamerica, but ventured across the seas to the islands of the Caribbean and to the shores of Southwest Florida in the territory of the Calusa Indians. Consistent with this accomplishment, they had developed naval engineering, Metallurgy, tool design, woodworking, and ship building capabilities that enabled them to construct the large composite seaworthy vessels (not just log canoes) required. And from their expertise in mathematics and astronomy they developed a sophisticated method of celestial navigation for their overseas voyages a millennium before celestial navigation was developed in Europe.

The Caste War of Yucatán

The Caste War of Yucatán PDF Author: Charles River Editors
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading When the Spaniards "discovered" Yucatán, they thought it was an island. Although they later realized that it was part of the vast country that Cortés had conquered, they were not very wrong to think of it as an isle, considering the zealous and independent spirit that has characterized its inhabitants then and now. Although it has been part of Mexico for 170 years, it was encouraged by the example of Texas, compelling the peninsula to twice proclaim its independence and create the short-lived Republic of Yucatán. Many presidents in Mexico had to repress the great peninsula that, despite its longing for independence, had a vibrant foreign trade with the world capitals and a privileged geographical location, even as it lacked the abundance of resources that Texas and California possessed. It was especially the cultivation of henequen, a resistant fiber obtained from an agave that's useful for many industries, that propelled the economic development in Yucatán. This helped interest many capitalists when it came to settling in Mérida, one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico and the Americas, the so-called "white city." As that suggests, Yucatán was not a wasteland when the first shipwrecked, battered Spaniards arrived on its shores. In fact, they found the descendants of an ancient civilization who refused to be conquered and who, when they finally succumbed to the steel and germs of the Europeans, refused to assimilate and instead disappeared into the jungle. By the mid-19th century, virtually all the native peoples of America had been defeated or were fleeing in small bands from canyon to canyon, only for the Maya to lead the last great, indigenous rebellion in the Yucatán, attempting to shake off the white domain initiated through the conquest of Spain. The so-called "Caste War" was a total war, much larger than the skirmishes with the Native Americans in the United States around the same time. While the Apaches and Comanches were barely bands of men attacking towns and ranches, wandering homeless, the Mayan rebellion was nothing less than a war of annihilation in an attempt to take back their former nation. For many years, large portions of the peninsula were under the control of these proud Native Americans, leaving its roads and jungles essentially forbidden to the white man. Ironically, these events would help Western academics "rediscover" the Maya civilization, and several archaeological and scientific expeditions began to dig up the cities, monuments, and pyramids that make this part of Mexico one of the most frequented places by international tourists today. Thus, while a successful hotel industry was growing in the "very sad country" with the most spectacular beaches, and the ancient Mayan cities were acclaimed, their descendants were left in poverty and oblivion. Using the weapons that they retained from service in the Yucatec army and weapons supplied by the British through Belize, the Mayan insurgents in the Caste War, as it came to be known, almost succeeded in taking over the entire Yucatan. However, on the eve of what would have been a successful siege of Mérida, the Maya soldiers gave up and returned to their fields. Pursued by the Yucatec forces, the Maya melted back into the jungle and formed communities that exist to this day. The Caste War of Yucatán: The History and Legacy of the Last Major Indigenous Revolt in the Americas examines the events that brought about the rebellion, the people who fought it, and the results. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Caste War like never before.

Goddess of the Ancient Maya

Goddess of the Ancient Maya PDF Author: Douglas T. Peck
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462821030
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description
Since retiring from the USAF as a Command Pilot and Engineering Officer, Colonel Peck has become one of the leading historians of Spanish seafaring conquest in the New World. Drawn to an interest in the enigmatic Maya Colonel Peck entered into a decade- long field study of the prehistoric Maya and discovered that the current view of Maya accomplishments in science and seafaring was appallingly inaccurate. In previous published works Colonel Peck has shown that contrary to current consensus, the Maya had developed a variety of efficient bronze tools with which they constructed large seaworthy vessels and traveled to the Caribbean and the shores of Florida using a sophisticated method of celestial navigation a millennium before it was developed in Europe.

Ix Chel Maya Queen of Heaven in the New World

Ix Chel Maya Queen of Heaven in the New World PDF Author: Douglas T. Peck
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1456850415
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
And in this book Colonel Peck reveals the current view of Maya religion is also appallingly inaccurate. The sophisticated Maya religion, which closely followed the pattern of contemporary Eurasian religions, originated in ancient times with a matriarchal “Goddess of Creation” and evolved into a patriarchal “First Father” concept in the Classic period preceding Spanish conquest. Current historians have failed to recognize that fact because of the naïve belief that the writings of colonial period folklore, which picture Maya religious concepts as crude, primitive, and often grotesque fables, represented Maya religion rather than the true, sophisticated, and realistic religious concepts expressed in their prehistoric writing and art as documented in this book.

The Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico PDF Author: John S. Sledge
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643360159
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
“[Sledge] rightfully celebrates and affirms the southern sea’s enriching past and gives readers reason to want for its wholesome and meaningful future.” —Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea The Gulf of Mexico presents a compelling, salt-streaked narrative of the earth’s tenth largest body of water. In this beautifully written and illustrated volume, John S. Sledge explores the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf’s human history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the Gulf’s viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de León, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Dwight Sigsbee at the helm of the doomed Maine. Gulf events of global historical importance are detailed, such as the only defeat of armed and armored steamships by wooden sailing vessels, the first accurate deep-sea survey and bathymetric map of any ocean basin, the development of shipping containers by a former truck driver frustrated with antiquated loading practices, and the worst environmental disaster in American annals. Occasionally shifting focus ashore, Sledge explains how people representing a gumbo of ethnicities built some of the world’s most exotic cities—Havana, way station for conquistadores and treasure-filled galleons; New Orleans, the Big Easy, famous for its beautiful French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and relaxed morals; and oft-besieged Veracruz, Mexico’s oldest city, founded in 1519 by Hernán Cortés. In the modern era the Gulf has become critical to energy production, fisheries, tourism, and international trade, even as it is threatened by pollution and climate change. The Gulf of Mexico is a work of verve and sweep that illuminates both the risks of life on the water and the riches that come from its bounty.

The Caste War of Yucatán

The Caste War of Yucatán PDF Author: Nelson A. Reed
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804740012
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
This is the classic account of one of the most dramatic episodes in Mexican history--the revolt of the Maya Indians of Yucatán against their white and mestizo oppressors that began in 1847. Within a year, the Maya rebels had almost succeeded in driving their oppressors from the peninsula; by 1855, when the major battles ended, the war had killed or put to flight almost half of the population of Yucatán. A new religion built around a Speaking Cross supported their independence for over fifty years, and that religion survived the eventual Maya defeat and continues today. This revised edition is based on further research in the archives and in the field, and draws on the research by a new generation of scholars who have labored since the book's original publication 36 years ago. One of the most significant results of this research is that it has put a human face on much that had heretofore been treated as semi-mythical. Reviews of the First Edition "Reed has not only written a fine account of the caste war, he has also given us the first penetrating analysis of the social and economic systems of Yucatán in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." --American Historical Review "In this beautifully written history of a little-known struggle between several contending forces in Yucatán, Reed has added an important dimension to anthropological studies in this area." --American Anthropologist "Not only is this exciting history (as compelling and dramatic as the best of historical fiction) but it covers events unaccountably neglected by historians. . . . This is a brilliant contribution to history. . . . Don't miss this book." --Los Angeles Times "One of the most remarkable books about Latin America to appear in years." --Hispanic American Report

Francisco López de Gómara's General History of the Indies

Francisco López de Gómara's General History of the Indies PDF Author:
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 1646424719
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
This work is the first English translation of the entire text of part one of sixteenth-century Spanish historian Francisco López de Gómara’s General History of the Indies. Including substantial critical annotations and providing access to various readings and passages added to or removed from the successive editions of the 1550s, this translation expands the archive of texts available to English speakers reconsidering the various aspects of the European invasion of America. General History of the Indies was the first universal history of the recent discoveries and conquests of the New World made available to the Old World audience. At publication it consisted of two parts: the first a general history of the European discovery, conquest, and settlement of the Americas, and the second a detailed description of Cortés’s conquest of Mexico. Part one—in the multiple Spanish editions and translations into Italian and French published at the time—was the most comprehensive, popular, and accessible account of the natural history and geography of the Americas, the ethnology of the peoples of the New World, and the history of the Spanish conquest, including the most recent developments in Peru. Despite its original and continued importance, however, it had never been translated into English. Gómara’s history communicates Europeans’ general understanding of the New World throughout the middle and later sixteenth century. A lively, comparatively brief description of Europe’s expansion into the Americas with significant importance to today’s understanding of the early modern worldview, Francisco López de Gómara’s General History of the Indies will be of great interest to students of and specialists in Latin American history, Latin American literature, anthropology, and cultural studies, as well as specialists in Spanish American intellectual history and colonial Latin America.

The Caste War of Yucatán

The Caste War of Yucatán PDF Author: Nelson Reed
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781503619067
Category : HISTORY
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
This is the classic account of one of the most dramatic episodes in Mexican history--the revolt of the Maya Indians of Yucatán against their white and mestizo oppressors that began in 1847. Within a year, the Maya rebels had almost succeeded in driving their oppressors from the peninsula; by 1855, when the major battles ended, the war had killed or put to flight almost half of the population of Yucatán. A new religion built around a Speaking Cross supported their independence for over fifty years, and that religion survived the eventual Maya defeat and continues today. This revised edition is based on further research in the archives and in the field, and draws on the research by a new generation of scholars who have labored since the book's original publication 36 years ago. One of the most significant results of this research is that it has put a human face on much that had heretofore been treated as semi-mythical. Reviews of the First Edition "Reed has not only written a fine account of the caste war, he has also given us the first penetrating analysis of the social and economic systems of Yucatán in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." --American Historical Review "In this beautifully written history of a little-known struggle between several contending forces in Yucatán, Reed has added an important dimension to anthropological studies in this area." --American Anthropologist "Not only is this exciting history (as compelling and dramatic as the best of historical fiction) but it covers events unaccountably neglected by historians. . . . This is a brilliant contribution to history. . . . Don't miss this book." --Los Angeles Times "One of the most remarkable books about Latin America to appear in years." --Hispanic American Report.

The Caste War of Yucatan

The Caste War of Yucatan PDF Author: Nelson Reed
Publisher: Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804701648
Category : Mayas
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This is the classic account of one of the most dramatic episodes in Mexican history - the revolt of the Maya Indians of Yucatan against their white and mestizo oppressors that began in 1847.

The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan

The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan PDF Author: , Jr Stephen Salisbury
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3752424516
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
Reproduction of the original: The Mayas, the Sources of Their History / Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan by Jr Stephen Salisbury