What led to the romantic perception of the Mayan civilization?
score:5
The following passage from Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan would lend some credence to the first two explanations of remarkable discoveries of a fallen civilization:
The sight of this unexpected monument put at rest at once and forever, in our minds, all uncertainty in regard to the character of American antiquities, and gave us the assurance that the objects we were in search of were interesting, not only as the remains of an unknown people, but as works of art, proving, like newly discovered historical records, that the people who once occupied the Continent of America were not savages.
Keep in mind that Stephens' books were the among the first western studies of Mayan sites and the first to gain wide circulation. On top of that, Stephens is quite a talented writer and writes in the style of similar works in during the period. Given that (as you point out) most earlier books and references had been systematically destroyed, these books would have been about the only point of reference to draw from. The books themselves read more like travel literature or real-life adventure than an anthropological or archaeological study - he was out to sell books and doesn't hide the fact, for example:
My object has been, not to produce an illustrated work, but to present the drawings in such an inexpensive form as to place them within the reach of the great mass of our reading community.
So likely, the answer is likely a combination of all of the things you mentioned, combined with a very healthy dose of not knowing much of anything about the Maya beyond brief examinations of the ruins. In fact, Stephens wildly underestimates the age of some of the sites:
I am inclined to think that there are not sufficient grounds for the belief in the great antiquity that has been ascribed to these ruins; that they are not the works of people who have passed away, and whose history has become unknown; but opposed as is my idea to all previous speculations, that they were constructed by the races that occupied the country at the time of the invasion by the Spaniards, or of some not very distant progenitors.
As for where Gendrop came up with the notion that the Maya were an "eminently peaceful people", it probably wouldn't have been from Stephens. Much of the impression that Stephens forms of the Maya implies a strong cultural continuity with the Aztec, and he acknowledges the accounts of Cortez as historically accurate, including his references to human sacrifice and territorial conflicts.
Upvote:2
Romanticism combined with the need of the Mexicans to have some sort of moral superiority to claim over their northern neighbours.
Wouldn't do to give the Americans in the Mexican-American war (and the Texas war of indepence from Mexico, and the other conflicts between them) a ready made image of hordes of bloodthirsty savages intent on cutting the hearts out of their conquered foes to use as propaganda.
And the romantics that formed the bulk of 19th century historians were quite eager to help create that image of the "noble savage", even when the evidence stared them in the face in the form of mass graves, altars with carved imagery of people brutally slaughtered, etc. etc.
More post
- 📝 Do (modern) audio recordings exist for the sound of Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Coptic, or other ancient languages?
- 📝 Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
- 📝 Were any German cities spared by the Allies for personal or idiosyncratic reasons?
- 📝 When did coal replace firewood in early America?
- 📝 What was considered an epoch by the Phoenicians?
- 📝 Did Japan ever pay Russia war reparations after WW2? Why or why not?
- 📝 How was plate armour attached and secured?
- 📝 What kind of labor was used to build the Egyptian pyramids?
- 📝 Why does the Canadian Air Force name its ranks like its Army, whilst the Australian and New Zealand Air Forces use the Royal Air Force's?
- 📝 Travel time for African Slave trade
- 📝 Why does the Spanish Military Medical Corps use the Amalfitan Cross?
- 📝 What caused the increase in world population rate around 1700's?
- 📝 History from pop culture (novels): the UK in the 1910's
- 📝 What techniques were used to make rings in medieval times?
- 📝 Were U.S. ships attacked in Tokyo Bay?
- 📝 Is the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) still used for anything?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 Did Saladin speak any European languages?
- 📝 Were there hippies in the USA in 1930?
- 📝 What is the history of the legality of polygamy in Arab states?
- 📝 How long does a generation last?
- 📝 How did Native Americans refer to themselves in the 19th century?
- 📝 How did the French and English forces "stack up" toward the end of the Hundred Years' War?
- 📝 Why did the Roman Republic never set up a civilian police department?
- 📝 Did ninjas ever use a costume like the one we usually see in films?
- 📝 What is the oldest movie theater in the US that has been in continuous use as a movie theater?
- 📝 Examples of wars without power as a motive
- 📝 Was the strait of Malacca a potential "chokepoint" during the age of discovery?
- 📝 What, if any, celebrations or commemorations were done in 1000 AD?
- 📝 At the peak of the American whaling industry, what share of the workforce were involved in it?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What led to the romantic perception of the Mayan civilization?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What led to the first fight in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What Factors Have Led to the Duration of US Copyrights Continuously Increasing?
- 📝 What events led to the fall of the Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States period?
- 📝 What led to the creation of Belgium?
- 📝 What led Extremadurans to take a leading role in the conquest of Spain's territories in the Americas?
- 📝 What was the perception of the average British person of the Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 What led to American air superiority over the Axis in World War II
- 📝 What particular watershed events led to the War of the Roses?
- 📝 To what extent did Gandhi affect the factors that led to the partition of India?
- 📝 What factors led to the 30% devaluation of pound sterling in 1949?
- 📝 What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
- 📝 What led to the abandonment of the word "canton" for RSFSR subdivisions?
- 📝 What were the factors that led to stagflation in the United States during the 1970s?
- 📝 What was Pope Innocent III's response to the Children's crusade led by Stephan of Cloyes?
- 📝 What factors led to the rise of political parties in the United States?
- 📝 What factors led to the US government issuing nutrition guidelines in 1916?
- 📝 What differences led to Technicolor becoming the dominant color filming technology in Hollywood?
- 📝 What political events led to the Separate Car Act that was upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson?
- 📝 What events led to the Aztecs and Mayans adopting cocoa beans as a currency?
- 📝 What led the U.S. to standardize option contracts to 100 shares per lot?
- 📝 What are the largest numerical units that the median-wealthy person in Western civilization was aware of through the centuries?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 What is the origin of 3 meals a day?
- 📝 What is the first recorded dog name?
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Alexandria?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 What fueled the street lights in 13th-century Cordoba?