Читать книгу The Spaniard's Innocent Maiden - Greta Gilbert - Страница 4

Author Note

This is a story of a clash of cultures and also of their fusion. It takes place during one of the cruellest, most astonishing periods in world history: Cortés’s conquest of the Aztecs, beginning in 1519.

At the time the Aztecs—or Mexica—ruled Mexico from their capital of Tenochtitlan, one of the largest and most advanced cities in the world. The Mexica were the Romans of Mesoamerica: their ever-expanding empire covered eighty thousand miles, and they exacted tribute from some six million souls—including the Totonacs.

The heroine of this story is a Totonac woman. She participates in the fateful alliance of the Totonacs and Spanish against the Mexica, but slowly realises that the Spanish are becoming her new oppressors. For her, the only hope for freedom lies in the mysterious lands of the Maya.

Often called the Greeks of Mesoamerica, the Maya lived amidst the ruins of their ancient civilisation. Culturally advanced, but geographically isolated, they were never conquered by the Mexica and evaded Spanish rule until 1697. In some respects they evade it still.

Everywhere the descendants of the Conquest live on. I have tried to present this part of their history as knowledgeably and respectfully as possible.

Thank you for reading!