1. The Mayan Codices
Bishop Diego de Landa set about burning thousands of carved images and killing the population. Only three Mayan Codices examples of Maya writing, have survived

5. http://bibliodyssey. blogspot. com/2010/02/oldest-book-from-americas

8. The Dresden Codex

10. http://bibliodyssey. blogspot. com/2010/02/oldest-book-from-americas

11. The Mayan Codices
In South America suppression and destruction of ideas found expression against the Maya. Bishop Diego de Landa launched his own Inquisition and set about burning thousands of carved images and killing the population. The worst outcome was the act of burning Mayan Codices... Only three Pre-Columbian codices, containing rare examples of Maya writing, are known to have survived

13. Mayan Codices
The violence and torture of the Spanish Inquisition wasn't just a horror for 13th Century Europeans. Over in South America suppression and destruction of ideas found expression against the Mayans. A Bishop Diego de Landa launched his own Inquisition and set about burning thousands of carved images and killing the population. The worst outcome was the act of burning Mayan Codices... His zealous hatred of what he perceived to be the Mayas’ pagan idolatry resulted in his most notorious actions – ordering the burning of a disputed number of Maya codices (Landa admits to 27, other sources claim “99 times as many”) and approximately 5,000 Maya cult images were burned. These actions passed into the Black Legend of Spanish cruelty and fanaticism in the Americas. Only three Pre-Columbian codices, containing rare examples of Maya writing, are known to have survived

14.
The Ancient Maya wrote in a beautiful, highly artistic script.  They carved with it, painted with it, and wrote it in in their bark-paper books. But, Bishop Diego de Landa did not share my view of their artistry.  To him, the Mayan script was a tool that the devil used to spread heathenism. Consequently, he outlawed the Mayan language and writing. The Maya who disobeyed this law, were arrested and tortured. In 1562, the Bishop burned the Maya’s books; and destroyed much of their history, literature, and traditions in the process (Diego de Landa). Over time, the Maya lost their ability to read the ancient script.