APPENDIX V. 
A DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS OF COPAN, BY FRANCISCO ANTONIO FUENTES Y 
GUZMAN, IN 1689.1 
CHAPTER TEN. 
OF THE WAR AND CONQUEST OF COPAN. 
Of the famous city of Copan there remains to-day barely a heap of ruins. At 
one time this opulent city was the terror, and then later the support of the entire 
district. Its chief,in alliance with him of Esquipulas, gave the latter many resources 
of every sort toward his defense against the Spaniards; these then encountered the 
most determined resistance in the conquest of Copan itself, to which event we now 
come.” 
When the Conqutstadores reached the borders of Copan they found the city 
filled with defenders. The garrison was a numerous army of troops from Zacapa, 
Sensenti, Guyxar, and Ostua, in a total of more than 30,000 men armed with swords 
(macanas), arrows, slings, and with ample food supplies (Fuentes, vol. 11, chap. 2, 
p. 125). The site they occupied was defended to the south by the extended moun- 
tain range of Chiquimula de la Sierra, to the north by that of Gracias 4 Dios, to 
the west by a ravine running north and south and filled with the waters of the 
famous Copan River. This was done through a flood-gate artfully designed, which 
when released flooded the entire stretch of land and rendered it impassable, espe- 
cially for the Spanish troops and their horses. Besides this defense, the Cacique 
had caused to be constructed behind that great moat a trench of heavy timbers, 
with loopholes for the archers. Besides this he had a stockade built around the 
entire camp, to make the whole impenetrable. Such was the state of things when 
the Spanish army approached, much disconcerted to find themselves before such 
formidable enemies. 

1The above description of Copan is taken from the unpublished second part of “Recordacién florida, Dis- 
curso Historial, Natural, Material, Militar y Politico del Reyno de Guatemala, 2° parte. Que escribe el Capitan 
D" Fran® Antonio de Fuentes y Guzm4n, vecino patrimonial, y Regidor de la misma muy noble y muy leal ciudad 
de Guatemala. Afio de 1689.” 
This work is unquestionably the leading authority on the history of Guatemala during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, and in a larger sense occupies the same position in its particular province as do the his- 
tories of Sahagtin and Bernal Diaz del Castillo for Mexico, and those of Landa and Cogolludo for Yucatan. 
The first part only has been published (see Fuentes y Guzman, 1882-1883). The original manuscript of the 
unpublished second part is in the archives of the Cabildo of Guatemala City, where are also the originals of Bernal 
Diaz del Castillo’s equally important Historia verdadera de la Conquista de Nueva Espana and of the Actos de 
Cabildo of Guatemala City for the first 6 years (1524 to 1530), both of which latter have been published. 
The second part of the Fuentes y Guzman “ Recordacién florida” is a beautiful example of seventeenth cen- 
tury Spanish script, legibly written in a clear black ink, in an excellent state of preservation, and illustrated with 
several water-color drawings, including an important map (in perspective) of the city of Santiago de los Caballeros 
de Guatemala (now Antigua Guatemala), as it was in the latter part of the seventeenth century. 
The two chapters given in full below are not taken from the Fuentes y Guzman original, but from a paraphrase 
thereof written by Mariano Padilla at Guatemala City during the middle of the last century. 
When Padilla quotes Fuentes y Guzm4n direct, he uses a blue ink and a more vertical hand-writing, but when 
he is only paraphrasing he writes in black. He faithfully renders the sense of the original, but presents it in a more 
readable style, that of Fuentes y Guzman being somewhat turgid. 
The first extract below, Chapter X of Book IV (pp. 200-210 of the Padilla redaction, folios 133-135 of the 
original Fuentes y Guzman manuscript) deals with the conquest of Copan by Hernando de Chaves in 1530, and 
the s.cond, Chapter XI of Book IV (pp. 210-219 of the Padilla redaction, folios 136-139 of the original Fuentes y 
Guzman manuscript), treats of the ruins of Copan. It is almost self-evident from Fuentes y Guzman’s extraordi- 
nary descriptions that he never saw the latter personally, but described them only from hearsay. The writer is 
indebted to Mr. William Gates for the above translation. 
2See the Pipil MS., fol. 13; the Cakchiquel MS., ff. 9, 10, 17, chap. Aruc-Chilabal; the Quiché MS., fol. 17, 
chap. Ahpopquihan; also the original report of H. de Chaves. [This note is in the handwriting of Padilla.] 
543 
