chiefdom · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Maní

1441 CE – 1542 CE (approx.) · capital Maní

The Maya province of the Tutul Xiu lineage in western Yucatán, which allied with the Spanish in 1542 and preserved some of the richest Maya records.

Origins

The Xiu, who claimed origins outside Yucatán and links with Uxmal, led the revolt that destroyed the League of Mayapan around 1441. They then founded a province centred on Maní, south of the Puuc hills, which became one of the most powerful in the peninsula.

Rule and society

Maní was ruled by a halach uinic of the Xiu lineage, the Tutul Xiu, who governed many towns through local batabs. Its feud with the Cocom of Sotuta flared in 1536, when the Xiu lord Ah Dzun Xiu was murdered at Otzmal. Xiu scribes kept genealogies and later compiled the Book of Chilam Balam of Maní.

Decline and legacy

In 1542 Ah Kukum Xiu came to T'ho and submitted to Montejo the Younger, giving the Spanish a vital ally. In 1562 Diego de Landa held his notorious auto-da-fé at Maní, burning Maya books. The Xiu family retained noble status in colonial times.

Lineage

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Maní. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mani
MLA
“Maní.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mani. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Maní.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mani.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Maní’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/mani (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻