Calkiní

Calkiní was a principal town of Ah Canul, a Maya province in the northwestern Yucatán Peninsula. Its history is preserved in the Calkiní Codex, a collection of Maya accounts describing the Canul lineage, the boundaries of its lands and the arrival of the Spaniards. Tradition places the founding of the community near a sacred ceiba tree and a well called Halim.

After the fall of Mayapán, members of the Canul lineage established authority in the region. Their descendants faced the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. The codex recalls the defeat of the Canul and the tribute presented to Francisco de Montejo near the great ceiba. It also names local rulers and records the settlement of Spaniards, preserving a Maya view of the changes that came with conquest.