Prologue
At first glance, the existence of the independent Maya Republic is an anomaly in Latin American history: in a region dominated by the descendants of Spanish-speaking colonists, the Maya Republic predominantly consists of indigenous Mayas who choose to speak their own rather than Spanish (though this has been declining in recent years). While many Hispanic peoples in neighbouring countries are Roman Catholic, the Mayas still follow the Church of the Talking Cross, a syncretic religion that combines aspects of Catholic Christianity with pre-Columbian Mayan beliefs.
However, when studying the history of the people, it should come as no surprise that the Mayans managed to get as far as they are today. The Mayas, instead of existing in a single, unified state like the neighbouring Aztecs, were instead divided into many city-states that warred with each other. As a result, the Spanish conquistadors were forced to invade each city individually, a process that took centuries to complete, and stimulated resistance to the Spanish. The Caste War that led to the independence of the State of La Cruz, while being heavily supported by the British, was the natural consequence of the long-running Mayan resistance to Spanish colonial rule. Although the history of the Mayas in the 20th century was initally dominated by dictatorship and repression, especially in the Balamist Era and Mayan-Guatemalan War, the slow transition of the Maya state from a dictatorship to a democracy at the symbolic start of the 13th Baktun is seen by many as the completion of the slow road to freedom and prosperity for many Mayans.
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