6. Conquests
Keyword(s):
“Conquests” gives a history of the Spanish invasions of late Postclassic Maya states in the sixteenth century. Whether these invasions could be called conquests at all is debatable. These incursions were protracted and incomplete. The fragmentary, plural nature of Maya city-states made conquest a challenge. Spanish conquistadors only managed to establish colonies with the aid of former Aztec warriors and other Mesoamerican allies. Historically, the Maya had disappeared into the rainforest to escape undesirable political or environmental situations and continued to use tactical migration as another form of resistance. Their susceptibility to New World diseases such as typhus, measles, smallpox, and influenza decimated the Maya population.