A.V. Pakin Shiva Pilgrimage of 1536 and the conquest of Yucatan: version of the episode of the later Maya history

Abstract: The article focuses on one of the key episodes in the history of late Yucatec Maya, the extermination of the nobility of one of the most powerful dynasties of Yucatan Shiva by their old foes from Kokomo family. The historians of the Conquest, considered that this was the main reason that led them to the Spanish camp and that it allowed the Spanish conquistadors to finally conquer the peninsula after the two failed attempts. In the study of this episode, little attention was paid to the source research aspects. Existing versions contain different dates of the incident, the participants and the aim of the pilgrimage. Analysis of the versions preserved in written early colonial sources using a simple cross-criticism shows that they actually date back to the injured party, that is, Shiva, where the description of the event in a short time transformed into the description of the alleged embassies of Shiva to the Spaniards, reports of which have been taken for granted by historians of the major conquest (R. Chamberlain, V.I. Gulyaev). These sources reflect the views of the interested party. Recent studies of the sources O. Harada and T. Hillerkyussa show how easy it was for the authors to manipulate the facts. Documents created by the Indian authors after the Conquest are written in the “loyalist” spirit and distort or do not mention the facts, which are improper from the point of view of the morality and culture of the conquerors (such as the pagan cults). These researchers suggested that the attitude to the Spanish conquerors did not depend on the relationship of the local rulers against the overall fragmentation of the polities of Yucatan. The fatal nature of the episode with the extermination of pilgrims in Otsmale is exaggerated by the historians. The Shiva dynasty actively sought an alliance with any force hostile to Kokomo, and this was one of the hidden purposes of the “pilgrimage”. The results of this study reassess some of the key episodes of the Yucatan conquest .

Keywords: