Mani

Maní was the capital of the Xiu lineage, who by tradition founded it in the thirteenth century and made it the head town of the province, or cuchcabal, of the same name. The Xiu gained prestige over the other Yucatec houses when their leader rose against the Cocom at Mayapán in 1441 and destroyed them. By the eve of the Spanish conquest Maní was the most important cuchcabal on the peninsula, with a wide territory and a dense population on a flat limestone plain where water comes only from cenotes and rain-filled hollows.

The Xiu then sided with the Spanish and helped them conquer the rest of Yucatán. A Franciscan monastery of San Miguel Arcángel was built there, and in it, on 12 July 1562, Friar Diego de Landa held an auto-da-fé, burning Maya books and thousands of idols as works of the devil. Landa himself claimed to have burned only 27 books, and the number is disputed. Under Spanish rule the Maya of Maní kept their language and village life.