History of Yucatan

Diego Lopez de Cogolludo (1613-1665) was born in Alcalá de Henares in Spain. He took the habit of St. Francis in the convent of San Diego, March 31, 1629. He emigrated to Yucatán, where he became successively lector in theology, guardian and finally provincial of his order. He is one of the leading historians of Yucatan.
At his death he left in manuscript his extensive History of Yucatan, for which he is mainly known. Its elaboration began in 1647 and finished it in 1656.
His work, the Historia de Yucatán, was published in Madrid in 1688, and was not reprinted until 1842 and 1867. It is a book with information from a time when the oldest historical sources, now non-existent, were still accessible.
To write this History of Yucatan López de Cogolludo had the opportunity to study many original documents about the conquerors and the native inhabitants of Yucatan . Among them he consulted and used the writings of Bishop Diego de Landa to a considerable extent. Although, in the opinion of some contemporary scholars, many of his claims should be taken with cautious criticism.
It was a work carried out in a sporadic way and in the midst of many difficulties because, as a contemporary of his affirms:

“the various offices he held in his order prevented him from taking up residence in one place and obliged him to travel ordinarily carrying his manuscripts among his small luggage and working sometimes in Mérida and sometimes in various towns of the province, among which he himself enumerates the convents of Sotuta, Telkax, Izamal, Cacalchen, Motul and Oxkutcaba.”

The first chapters of Historia de Yucatán recount how the Spanish conquered the Yucatan Peninsula and its people, the Maya, in three long campaigns. The first campaign was led by Francisco de Montejo, in 1527. The latter was directed by his son of the same name, in 1545.
The book contains a description of the land, customs, and beliefs of the Mayan people, who Lopez believed descended from the Phoenician and Carthaginian. There are also several chapters that narrate the advances of the Franciscan order in the conversion and instruction of the Maya.