Maní

History

Maní was founded between 1224 and 1247 by the Xiu, a Maya lineage that moved its seat here from Uxmal, and it became the head town of the province that carried its name. The Xiu gained standing over the other Yucatecan lineages when they defeated the Cocom at Mayapán, and on the eve of the Spanish conquest Maní was the most important province of the peninsula for its political weight, its extent and its dense population. When the Spanish arrived, the Xiu allied with them and helped in the conquest of the rest of Yucatán.

The Franciscans began building the convent of San Miguel Arcángel in 1549, and its main spaces were standing by the 1580s. In front of it, on July 12, 1562, Fray Diego de Landa held the auto de fe for which Maní is remembered: Maya hieroglyphic books and thousands of religious images were burned. Landa himself wrote of how deeply the loss grieved the Maya.

The convent was altered in the 17th and 18th centuries, then declined and was close to ruin by the mid 19th century, a period when the Caste War also reached the town. Its church never closed to worship, and restoration work has been under way since 2001. Maní was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2020.