When Columbus first encountered the Maya, little did he realise that he had found a civilization as ancient and rich in traditions as the European he had left behind. The Spanish conquest of the Maya lands dragged on for almost two centuries with an area the size of Wales remaining under Mayan control until 1929. A small faction even took on the British Empire in Belize. Paradoxically, while the Spaniards were destroying the old civilization, in some ways they helped to preserve it. Richard Crosfield sets out on a journey through the five southern states of Mexico, northern Guatemala and...