The Maya creation story recorded in the 16th century is the Popol Vuh. More precisely, it is a sacred K’iche’ Maya narrative that combines creation mythology, heroic tales, and the history of the K’iche’ people.
The text describes successive attempts by divine beings to create humanity, culminating in people made from maize. It also recounts the adventures of the Hero Twins, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, whose struggle with the rulers of the underworld is one of the best-known stories in Maya mythology.
The Popol Vuh was preserved orally before being written down in the K’iche’ language around 1550, after the Spanish conquest began. The surviving colonial manuscript was later transcribed and translated by the Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez around 1701. His work is the main source through which the text is known today.
The name is often translated as “Book of the Community” or “Book of Counsel.” The Chilam Balam books are also Maya historical and religious texts, but they are separate Yucatec Maya works. The Florentine Codex and Codex Mendoza concern central Mexico, not the K’iche’ creation narrative.