The remains of ancient cities are abundant in the settled portion of
Yucatan, which lies north of the great forest. Charnay found "the
country covered with them from north to south." Stephens states, in the
Preface to his work on Yucatan, that he visited "forty-four ruined
cities or places" in which such remains are still found, most of which
were unknown to white men, even to those inhabiting the country; and he
adds that "time and the elements are hastening them to utter
destruction."
Previous to the Spanish Conquest, the region known to us as Yucatan was
called Maya. It is still called Maya by the natives among themselves,
and this is the true name of the country. Why the Spaniards called it
Yucatan is unknown, but the name is wholly arbitrary and without reason.
It is said to have arisen from an odd mistake like that which occasioned
the name given to one of the capes by Hernandez de Cordova. Being on the
coast in 1517, he met some of the natives. Their cacique said to him,
"Conex cotoch," meaning "Come to our town." The Spaniard, supposing he
had mentioned the name of the place, immediately named the projecting
point of land "Cape Cotoche," and it is called so still.
At that time the country was occupied by the people still known as
Mayas. They all spoke the same language, which was one of a closely
related family of tongues spoken in Guatemala, Chiapas, Western
Honduras, and in some other districts of Central America and Mexico.
Yucatan was then much more populous than at present. The people had more
civilization, more regular industry, and more wealth. They were much
more highly skilled in the arts of civilized life. They had cities and
large towns; and dwelling-houses, built of timber and covered with
thatch, like those common in England, were scattered over all the rural
districts. Some of the cities now found in ruins were then inhabited.
This peninsula had been the seat of an important feudal monarchy, which
arose probably after the Toltecs overthrew the very ancient kingdom of
Xibalba. It was broken up by a rebellion of the feudal lords about a
hundred years previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. According to the
Maya chronicles, its downfall occurred in the year 1420. Mayapan, the
capital of this kingdom, was destroyed at that time, and never afterward
inhabited.
Merida, the present capital of Yucatan, was built on the site of an
ancient Maya city called Tihoo. It is stated in the old Spanish accounts
of Merida that it was built on that site because there was in the ruins
an abundance of building material. There is mention of two "mounds"
which furnished a vast amount of hewn stone. Mr. Stephens noticed in
some of the edifices stones with "sculptured figures, from the ruins of
ancient buildings;" and he mentions that a portion of an ancient
building, including an arch in the Maya style, was retained in the
construction of the Franciscan convent.