The Maya people today
D.Anton

During a visit to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, we attended a Mayan ceremony on top a volcano. Today in Guatemala 40% of the population identify themselves as Mayas, over 6 million people. In Mexico the Mayans are concentrated in Chiapas and Yucatan with more than 2 million individuals. There are also numerous Mayan communities in Honduras, Belize and El Salvador. The total population of the Mayan world is approximately 10 million.
It is normally considered that at the time of the Spanish invasion Maya states grouped 12-15,000,000 inhabitants. After the conquest there was high mortality due to the massacres perpetrated by the conquerors (Pedro de Alvarado with indescribable cruelty was one of the main culprits) and the brutal burning of many codices ordered by the Franciscan Bishop Diego de Landa (they contained much of the documentation of this rich culture).
An invaluable cultural and human wealth was lost and millions of Maya died during the colonial period. Beyond death, contempt and forgetting, the Maya have survived preserving their culture and ceremonies. In spite of everything, today the Maya, along with the Quechua in the South, are the largest indigenous ethnic group in the Americas.
D.Antón