New research suggests that Mayan traditions greatly influenced religious architecture during the Spanish colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula.
A University of Gothenburg student working on his doctoral thesis in archeology made this discovery by comparing early Spanish colonial churches and Maya dwellings built on the Yucatán Peninsula and in Belize.
Both religion and the Spanish monarchy had a large influence on shaping society during the colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula, which was once home to the Maya civilization. Up until now, colonialism was viewed as a unilateral relationship.
"Colonial churches and chapels represented authority in the form of buildings and architecture that was used to control Maya society," said Teobaldo Ramirez Barbosa, author of the doctoral thesis. "Converting the Mayas to Christianity was an important part of the Spanish strategy and guidelines for the colonization of Mexico."
In his thesis, Barbosa concludes that the influence Mayans had on Spanish settlers can be interpreted as hybridity, or what he defines as the combination of two different traditions that yields something new.
"The Mayas have used the same building materials since pre-Hispanic times," Barbosa added. "My results show that their tradition of using masonry, wattle and daub, stucco and ramada roofs, as well as semi-circular, circular and squared shapes of buildings, can be discerned in some types of Spanish churches."
The conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula is believed to be the most prolonged and difficult campaign attempted by the Spanish. After several years of failure, the most northern region of the peninsula finally gave way to Spanish control in 1546. At this time, the city of Merida, founded in 1542, served as the capital of the region and the base for further Spanish invasion to the south.
For his thesis, Barbosa also conducted three archaeological surveys of Espiritu Santo Bay in Mexico. His goal was to find the location of the colonial site Kachambay and its church Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción, founded in 1621. He also hoped to unveil previously undiscovered rancherias, or small indigenous settlements that were built in response to the congregation system established by the Spanish.
By surveying the area in great detail, Barbosa succeeded in finding two small settlements in the northern part of the bay. This, he says, provides concrete evidence of human activity in a region that has historically been considered uninhabited. In fact, one of the settlements can be directly connected to Kachambay.
"These finds opens up for new surveys and excavations in the area and how the Mayas adapted to the new situation by fleeing from the congregation regime," Barbosa concluded.
