Canek is the name of two different historical rulers of the Itza

Itza

The Itza are a Guatemalan ethnic group of Maya affiliation speaking the Itza' language. They inhabit the Petén department of Guatemala in and around the city of Flores on the Lake Petén Itzá.- Numbers of ethnic group members and Itza speakers :...

 Maya

Maya peoples

The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...

 of Petén

Petén Basin

The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, located in the northern portion of the modern-day nation of Guatemala, and essentially contained within the department of El Petén...

, Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. The first Canek met Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...

, who passed by the Itza capital Tayasal

Tayasal

Tayasal is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site that dates to the Postclassic period. The site is located in the southern Maya lowlands on a small island in Lake Petén Itzá, now part of the Department of Petén in northern Guatemala...

 on his journey to Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 in 1524. The second Canek was ruler of the Itza when Tayasal was conquered by Martín de Ursua

Martín de Ursua

Martin de Ursua was a Spanish Basque conquistador from Baztan, Navarre during the early colonial period of New Spain in Central America. He is noted for leading the 1696–97 expeditionary force which resulted in the fall of the last significant independent Maya stronghold, Tayasal, located on an...

 in 1697.

The Mayan revolutionary Jacinto Canek

Jacinto Canek

Jacinto Canek, or Jacinto Uc de los Santos was an 18th-century Maya revolutionary who fought against the Spanish in the Yucatán Peninsula of New Spain....

 took his name from the last independent Mayan ruler, and because of him the name was also used as a rallying cry by Mayas in the 19th century Caste War

Caste War of Yucatán

The Caste War of Yucatán began with the revolt of native Maya people of Yucatán, Mexico against the population of European descent, called Yucatecos, who held political and economic control of the region. A lengthy war ensued between the Yucateco forces in the north-west of the Yucatán and the...

between Mayas and Spanish.