Invading Guatemala: Spanish, Nahua, and Maya Accounts of the Conquest Wars (review)

Restall and Asselbergs’ new contribution sets out to cast light on the bloody Spanish-led invasions of the Guatemalan Highlands of the 1520s. This slim volume delivers a concise historical summary of those events alongside translated documents from the time period, some being presented in English for the first time. Falling into this latter category is a letter written by Pedro de Alvarado’s brother, Jorge, detailing his crucial role in the pacification of Guatemala. It is on this letter that one of Restall and Asselbergs’ important contributions rests, in that they use it and other documents to debunk an oft-reproduced myth about the Spanish conquest (echoing a discourse begun by Restall in his Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest), namely that Pedro de Alvarado single-handedly conquered the highland Maya of Guatemala. On the contrary, Restall and Asselbergs show that Pedro de Alvarado’s invasions of Guatemala, spanning from 1524–1526, though brutal and merciless, failed to create anything but chaos, unrest, and continued resistance on the part of the K’iche’ and Kaqchikel Maya. It was not until Jorge de Alvarado took up the fight from 1527–1529, and in his brother’s absence, that the pacification of Guatemala was complete.

The strengths of Restall and Asselbergs contribution are three-fold. First, the authors do not shine a spotlight on the Alvarado brothers at the exclusion of other players in this conquest story. Instead they present a nuanced look at the Guatemalan conquest, illustrating factions and conflicts within the Spanish camp, the perspectives and voices of the invaded Maya, and the aspirations and sense of betrayal experienced by the Spaniards’ Nahua and Mexica allies. This array of voices and views offers a rich perspective on history and illuminates the complexities of conquest in a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic landscape. Second, as noted above, the authors focus on debunking myths about the Spanish conquest. An introductory chapter provides a distillation of Restall’s views from earlier publications, namely that mythic perceptions about the Spanish conquest have become codified in our understanding of these historical events and have served to misrepresent and simplify a complex reality. In this particular work, the authors highlight a single myth—Pedro de Alvarado’s role in the pacification of Guatemala. Through the presentation of various historical documents, Restall and Asselbergs convincingly demonstrate that it was the efforts of Jorge de Alvarado, as well as the legion of native allies that accompanied the Spanish on these and other invasions, that resulted in the conquest of the Guatemalan Highlands. Finally, the presentation of the aforementioned documents themselves is a substantial contribution. Indeed, most of this short book is dedicated to letters, questionnaires, and book passages written by the Alvarado brothers, Bernal Díaz, and Bartolomé de Las Casas, as well as excerpts taken from a collection of letters compiled by dissatisfied Tlaxcalan allies of the Spanish, pictorial accounts from Nahua conquistadors, and accounts of the invasion written by Kaqchikel Maya.

The shortcomings of this book become meaningful only within the context in which it may be used. If intended as a compact scholarly resource for the specialist that presents translations of conquest-era historical documents from a widely varied set of sources, the book fills its purpose perfectly. If intended as a larger discourse on the Spanish-led invasions of Guatemala for students, non-specialists, or interested laypersons, then the book falters somewhat. While written in clear and intelligent prose, free of confusing jargon and providing sound historical context within the first chapter, the book may leave the reader hoping for more of the authors’ voices and views interspersed with—and particularly following after—the translated documents. Most noticeably absent is a concluding chapter to bookend this contribution and provide a broader perspective on and interpretation of the historical documents. Overall, however, I find much more to recommend in this short but engaging and important...