Why did a Spanish friar burn the Maya's books, and what survived?

Diego de Landa, a Spanish Franciscan friar who later became bishop of Yucatán, burned Maya books because he believed they were the devil's work, and only four of the thousands of Maya books survive. Landa led a campaign against idolatry and human sacrifice, and in doing so he burned Maya manuscripts that held knowledge of Maya religion, civilization and history. On 12 July 1562, at a ceremony in Maní, a disputed number of codices (27 books, according to Landa) and about 5,000 alleged cult images were burned. Landa wrote that the books contained only superstition and lies of the devil, so "we burned them all", which the Maya regretted to an amazing degree.

The loss is hard to measure. Of the thousands of books in which the Maya recorded their learning and ritual, only four have survived to modern times, and one of them, the Maya Codex of Mexico, was only judged authentic in 2018 after its authenticity had long been disputed. The Maya made these folding books on paper from the inner bark of a wild fig tree, which was more durable and a better writing surface than papyrus. The most important survivor is the Dresden Codex, whose tables accurately predicted solar eclipses for 33 years in the 8th century. Much more would be known if Landa had not burned books, whether 27 or, in historian George Stuart's speculation, hundreds or maybe thousands.

The irony is that Landa also became a key witness. His written account recorded the Maya writing system, which despite its inaccuracies later proved instrumental in the decipherment, and Mayanist William Gates said that 99 percent of what we know comes from Landa's account or from studying what he told, while Landa also burned 99 times as much. Landa's Inquisition involved physical abuse of certain Indigenous Maya, and he was sent back to Spain to stand trial for an illegal Inquisition, where he was strongly condemned, but a committee absolved him in 1569, and after 1571 the king made him bishop of Yucatán.