Lost Shores, Forgotten Peoples: Spanish Explorations of the South East Maya Lowlands (Latin America in Translation) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822326248 ISBN 13: 9780822326243

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2001

Synopsis

Long after the Aztecs and the Incas had become a fading memory, a Maya civilization still thrived in the interior of Central America. Lost Shores, Forgotten Peoples is the first collection and translation of important seventeenth-century narratives about Europeans travelling across the great “Ocean Sea” and encountering a people who had maintained an independent existence in the lowlands of Guatemala and Belize.
In these narratives—primary documents written by missionaries and conquistadors—vivid details of these little known Mayan cultures are revealed, answering how and why lowlanders were able to evade Spanish conquest while similar civilizations could not. Fascinating tales of the journey from Europe are included, involving unknown islands, lost pilots, life aboard a galleon fleet, political intrigue, cannibals, and breathtaking natural beauty. In short, these forgotten manuscripts—translations of the papers of the past—provide an unforgettable look at an understudied chapter in the age of exploration.
Lost Shores, Forgotten Peoples will appeal to archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians interested in Central America, the Maya, and the Spanish Conquest.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"It is exciting to have a translation of these important early documents finally available. Feldman is widely regarded as one of the foremost scholars in Central American ethnohistoric studies. His grasp of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish and paleography is superior, his translations are accurate and faithful to the documents while being understandable to the nonspecialist, and the amount of cultural, geographic, and economic information contained in these documents is amazing."--Karen Olsen Bruhns, San Francisco State University

About the Author:

Lawrence H. Feldman is an anthropologist, researcher, writer, and indexer. His previous books include A Tumpline Economy and Anglo-Americans in Spanish Archives.

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0822326248
• ISBN 13: 9780822326243
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Feldman Lawrence H.