Spanish conquest of Yucatán
Encyclopedia
The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish
conquistador
es against the Late Postclassic
Maya
states and polities
, particularly in the northern and central Yucatán Peninsula
but also involving the Maya polities of the Guatemala
n highlands region. This episode in the conquest and colonization of the Americas
began in the early 16th century, but was a more difficult and lengthier exercise in subjugation than the equivalent campaigns against the Aztec
and Inca Empire
s. It would take some 170 years and the help of the Xiu Maya before the last recognized Maya stronghold fell, that of the Itza
capital of Tayasal
on Lake Petén Itzá
, in 1697. Following the great revolt of the seven Mayan provinces to the east, the authorisation of the Indian auxiliaries
to enslave any Mayan rebels they managed to catch helped quell the resistance. Except for the Petén region and the Guatemalan highlands, Spanish control over Yucatán itself was effectively in place by 1547 even though as late as 1550, there were only some 1,550 Spanish in all of the colonial provinces.
Unlike the campaigns against the Aztec and Inca states, the Maya had no single political center whose overthrow would hasten the end of collective resistance by the indigenous peoples
. Instead, the Maya were organized into a number of independent states, which the conquistador forces needed to subdue almost one by one, and many of these fiercely resisted the Spanish incursions.
Particularly in the early stages, a prime motivating factor for the conquistadores was their interest in seizing great quantities of precious metals, such as gold
and silver
. Since the Maya lands were poor in these resources, they held comparatively little initial interest for the Spanish, who were attracted instead to central Mexico
and Peru
by promising reports of the greater rewards on offer there. However, with the prospects of new land grants and the acquisition of labour forces, it was not long until Spanish intentions turned to the Maya region, with the first concerted efforts to establish a presence commencing from the 1520s.
After Spanish dominion over the region was finally established, the Maya peoples
themselves remained restive against Spanish rule, both under the colonial phase of New Spain
and then under the newly-independent Mexican state
. Maya discontent in Yucatán would later erupt into open revolt in the mid 19th century, in the Caste War of Yucatán
. The major portion of this conflict lasted over fifty years, during which much of the southeastern portion of the Peninsula was an effectively independent Maya state, Chan Santa Cruz
. Complete suppression of the revolt was difficult to obtain, and skirmishes continued up into the 1930s (Rugeley 1996).
was a product of misfortune, when in 1511 a small vessel bound for the island of Santo Domingo
from Darién, Panama ran aground on some shoals in the Caribbean Sea
, south of the island of Jamaica
. The ship's complement of fifteen men and two women set off in the ship's boat in an attempt to reach Cuba
or one of the other colonies. However, the prevailing currents forced them westwards until, after approximately two weeks of drifting, they reached the eastern shoreline of the Peninsula, possibly in present-day Belize. Captured by the local Maya, they were divided up among several of the chieftains as slaves and a number were sacrificed and killed according to offeratory practices. Over the succeeding years their numbers dwindled further as others were lost to disease or exhaustion, until only two were left– Gerónimo de Aguilar
who had escaped his former captor and found refuge with another Maya ruler, and Gonzalo Guerrero
who had won some prestige among the Maya for his bravery and had now the standing of a ranking warrior and noble. These two would later have notable, but very different, roles to play in future conflicts between the Spanish and the Mesoamerican peoples– Aguilar would become Cortés's translator and advisor, with Guerrero instead electing to remain with the Maya and served as a tactician and warrior fighting with them against the Spanish.
These Spanish castaways had unknowingly brought with them an epidemic disease to the region, smallpox
, which would kill many people over the next few years.
sailed from Cuba
in search of slaves to replace the native Cubans who had been dying off in great numbers. The Spaniards were surprised to see stone cities along the coast of Yucatán. Córdoba landed at several towns; some greeted the Spanish with friendship and offered to trade goods with them (the Spaniards acquired a few pieces of gold ornaments this way). The mauling at Cape Cotoche climaxed when the explorers landed at 'the Coast of the Disastrous Battle.' To Córboda and his men, it was an ambush with some 80 Spaniards being wounded by the first volley of stones, arrows, and darts. The Spanish soon learned that the Mayan arrows, while not attaining any distinct force behind them, tended to shatter on impact leading to a slow and painful death. Despite these shortcomings, the failed attempts to gather water and repair the casks that were issued ultimately caused Córdoba to distribute his remaining sailors and abandon his smallest ship, a brigantine
paid for on credit. The expedition returned to Cuba to report on the discovery of this new land.
Diego Velázquez
, the governor of Cuba, ordered an expedition sent out with four ships supplied with crossbows, muskets, salt pork, and cassava
bread for some 240 men led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva
. The Grijalva expedition had similar, mixed experiences with the native Maya and seemed genuinely anxious to fulfil Velázquez' order to explore rather than settle
. He repeatedly refused the gratification of vengeance as they sailed along the coasts of Yucatán for months. Except for a few cannon shots, the desire to exchange beads and Spanish wine for food
and other necessities were left in readiness. He was disappointed at gathering very little gold, but came back to Cuba
with a tale that a rich empire was further to the west.
This prompted the Hernán Cortés
expedition in 1519. Cortés spent some time at the island of Cozumel
, tried with mixed results to convert the locals to Christianity, and heard stories of other bearded white men living in the area. He sent messengers to these reported castilianos, who turned out to be the survivors of the 1511 shipwreck, Aguilar and Guerrero. Aguilar petitioned his Maya chieftain to be allowed leave to join with his former countrymen, and he was released and made his way to Cortés' ships. According to Bernal Díaz, Aguilar said that before coming he had unsuccessfully attempted to convince Guerrero to leave as well. Guerrero declined on the basis that he was by now well-assimilated with the Maya culture, had a Maya wife and three children, and he was looked upon as a figure of rank within the Maya settlement of Chetumal
where he lived.
Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yucatec Maya as well as some other indigenous languages
, would prove to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator, a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Aztec Empire
which would be the end result of Cortés' expedition.
Although Guerrero's later fate is uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; he quite possibly was killed in a later battle.
(a veteran of the Grijalva and Cortés expeditions) successfully petitioned the King of Spain for the right to conquer Yucatán. He arrived in eastern Yucatán in 1527 and at first was greeted peaceably, and most local chiefs agreed with his demand that they swear loyalty to the King of Spain, for they had heard news of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec
s. However, as the Spanish advanced they found towns already deserted when they reached them, and the Spanish were first harried as they traveled and then openly attacked. The Spanish set up a small fort on the coast at Xamanha in 1528, but had no further success in subduing the country. Montejo went to Mexico to gather a larger army.
, which he declared his Royal capital of Spanish Yucatán, but after a few months the locals rose up against him, the Spaniards were constantly attacked, and the Spanish force fled to Honduras
. It was rumored that Gonzalo Guerrero
, a Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who chose to stay in Yucatán, was among those directing Maya resistance to the Spanish crown. Meanwhile the elder Montejo was frequently besieged in his fort in Campeche, and many of his soldiers were tired of a long fight with little to show for it, and stated that they wished to find easier conquests elsewhere. In 1535, Montejo withdrew his forces to Veracruz, leaving the Yucatán once again completely in the control of the Maya.
. The lord of the Tutal Xiu of Maní
converted to Christianity. The Xiu dominated most of Western Yucatán and became valuable allies of the Spanish, greatly assisting in the conquest of the rest of the peninsula. A number of Maya states at first pledged loyalty to Spain, but revolted after feeling the heavy hand of Spanish rule. Fighting and revolts continued for years. When the Spanish and Xiu defeated an army of the combined forces of the states of Eastern Yucatán in 1546, the conquest was officially complete; however, periodic revolts, which would be violently put down by Spanish troops and Indian auxiliaries
, continued throughout the Spanish colonial era.
of the Petén Basin
region should be mentioned; while that area is now part of Guatemala
, in colonial times it was part of the land under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yucatán. The Itza capital was in Tayasal
, an island city in lake Petén Itza. The Itza land was separated from Spanish Yucatán to the north and Spanish Guatemala to the south by thick jungles with little population. It had been visited by Cortés
on his march to Honduras in 1525, when the lords of the Itza pledged loyalty to Spain, but was thereafter neglected by Spanish authorities. In 1618 two Franciscan friars were sent from Mérida
to teach Christianity to the Itza. They arrived in Tayasal to find the people uninfluenced by European ways and still worshipping the traditional Mesoamerica
n gods. While the Itza king received them politely, they made no progress in converting the people to Christianity. In 1622, the Governor of Yucatán sent a force of 20 Spaniards and 140 Christian Indian allies to march on Tayasal, but the Itza quickly killed them. A second force on their way to the Petén in 1624 was ambushed by the Itza and met a similar fate. The Governor of Yucatán decided his energies were best spent elsewhere, and the Itza continued in independence.
In the 17th century, three maya "provinces" existed in the Lake Petén area. They are Kan Ek' (Canek), Yalain, and Kowoj (Couoh). The Kan Ek' may have been the dominant "province" in the end of the 17th century. The title of the rulers of Kan Ek' was Aj Kan Ek'. Since the late 1690s, the last Aj Kan Ek' started a more open attitude towards the Spaniards, which included receiving and protecting the emissaries from the Spaniards at Noj Peten (also known as Noh Peten or Tayasal).
In 1695, three Franciscan
s headed to Tayasal accompanied by four Christian Maya singers. They were well received, and a number of the Itza consented to be baptized. The Itza King, however, refused to convert to Christianity or pledge loyalty to Spain; he said a time would come when this would be the proper thing to do but that time had not arrived. A force of 60 Spanish soldiers and Maya allies were sent to the Petén the following year, but were beaten back by fierce Itza attacks. The command in Mérida decided that a major force was needed, and in 1697 sent out a force of 235 Spanish soldiers and tens of thousands of Xiu Maya, along with artillery and a large supply train of mules and men to cut a path through the jungle. They set up a fort on the shore of Lake Petén Itza across from Tayasal, and reconstructed a small warship on the lake which had been brought with them in pieces. On March 13, 1697, this force succeeded in conquering the Itza capital of Tayasal. The Spanish burned the Itza library of books "containing lies of the devil", and reported later that the city had so many idols that with almost the entire army set at work, it took from nine in the morning until half past five in the evening to break them all. Mesoamerica
was not to see another independent native state for over a hundred years.
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es against the Late Postclassic
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
states and polities
Polity
Polity is a form of government Aristotle developed in his search for a government that could be most easily incorporated and used by the largest amount of people groups, or states...
, particularly in the northern and central Yucatán Peninsula
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
but also involving the Maya polities of the 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...
n highlands region. This episode in the conquest and colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
began in the early 16th century, but was a more difficult and lengthier exercise in subjugation than the equivalent campaigns against the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
and Inca Empire
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
s. It would take some 170 years and the help of the Xiu Maya before the last recognized Maya stronghold fell, that 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 :...
capital of 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 Lake Petén Itzá
Lake Petén Itzá
Lake Petén Itzá is a lake in the northern department Petén in Guatemala. It is the second largest lake in Guatemala, the Izabal lake being the largest. It is located around . It has an area of 99 km² some 32 km. long and 5 km wide. Its maximum depth is 160 m...
, in 1697. Following the great revolt of the seven Mayan provinces to the east, the authorisation of the Indian auxiliaries
Indian auxiliaries
Auxiliary Indians or indios auxiliares is the term used in old Spanish chronicles and historical texts for the indigenous peoples who were integrated into the armies of the Spanish conquerors with the purpose of supporting their advance and combat operations during the Conquest of America...
to enslave any Mayan rebels they managed to catch helped quell the resistance. Except for the Petén region and the Guatemalan highlands, Spanish control over Yucatán itself was effectively in place by 1547 even though as late as 1550, there were only some 1,550 Spanish in all of the colonial provinces.
Unlike the campaigns against the Aztec and Inca states, the Maya had no single political center whose overthrow would hasten the end of collective resistance by the indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
. Instead, the Maya were organized into a number of independent states, which the conquistador forces needed to subdue almost one by one, and many of these fiercely resisted the Spanish incursions.
Particularly in the early stages, a prime motivating factor for the conquistadores was their interest in seizing great quantities of precious metals, such as gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
. Since the Maya lands were poor in these resources, they held comparatively little initial interest for the Spanish, who were attracted instead to central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
by promising reports of the greater rewards on offer there. However, with the prospects of new land grants and the acquisition of labour forces, it was not long until Spanish intentions turned to the Maya region, with the first concerted efforts to establish a presence commencing from the 1520s.
After Spanish dominion over the region was finally established, the Maya peoples
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...
themselves remained restive against Spanish rule, both under the colonial phase of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
and then under the newly-independent Mexican state
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Maya discontent in Yucatán would later erupt into open revolt in the mid 19th century, in the Caste War of Yucatán
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...
. The major portion of this conflict lasted over fifty years, during which much of the southeastern portion of the Peninsula was an effectively independent Maya state, Chan Santa Cruz
Chan Santa Cruz
Chan Santa Cruz or U Noh Kah Balam Nah Chan Santa Cruz is the Maya town now known as Felipe Carrillo Puerto in what is now the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. This name is often assigned to the Maya free state ruled from Chan Santa Cruz for much of the second half of the 19th century...
. Complete suppression of the revolt was difficult to obtain, and skirmishes continued up into the 1930s (Rugeley 1996).
First encounters (1511)
The first known Spanish landing on the Yucatán PeninsulaYucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
was a product of misfortune, when in 1511 a small vessel bound for the island of Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
from Darién, Panama ran aground on some shoals in the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, south of the island of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. The ship's complement of fifteen men and two women set off in the ship's boat in an attempt to reach Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
or one of the other colonies. However, the prevailing currents forced them westwards until, after approximately two weeks of drifting, they reached the eastern shoreline of the Peninsula, possibly in present-day Belize. Captured by the local Maya, they were divided up among several of the chieftains as slaves and a number were sacrificed and killed according to offeratory practices. Over the succeeding years their numbers dwindled further as others were lost to disease or exhaustion, until only two were left– Gerónimo de Aguilar
Gerónimo de Aguilar
Gerónimo de Aguilar O.F.M. was a Franciscan friar born in Écija, Spain. Aguilar was later involved with the 1519 Spanish conquest of Mexico, and with La Malinche he assisted Hernán Cortés in translating indigenous language to Spanish....
who had escaped his former captor and found refuge with another Maya ruler, and Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, in Spain who shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya Lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico...
who had won some prestige among the Maya for his bravery and had now the standing of a ranking warrior and noble. These two would later have notable, but very different, roles to play in future conflicts between the Spanish and the Mesoamerican peoples– Aguilar would become Cortés's translator and advisor, with Guerrero instead electing to remain with the Maya and served as a tactician and warrior fighting with them against the Spanish.
These Spanish castaways had unknowingly brought with them an epidemic disease to the region, smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, which would kill many people over the next few years.
Early expeditions (1517–19)
The next contact was in 1517 when Francisco Hernández de CórdobaFrancisco Hernández de Córdoba (discoverer of Yucatán)
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba was a Spanish conquistador, known to history mainly for the ill-fated expedition he led in 1517, in the course of which the first European accounts of the Yucatán Peninsula were compiled.-1517 Expedition:...
sailed from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in search of slaves to replace the native Cubans who had been dying off in great numbers. The Spaniards were surprised to see stone cities along the coast of Yucatán. Córdoba landed at several towns; some greeted the Spanish with friendship and offered to trade goods with them (the Spaniards acquired a few pieces of gold ornaments this way). The mauling at Cape Cotoche climaxed when the explorers landed at 'the Coast of the Disastrous Battle.' To Córboda and his men, it was an ambush with some 80 Spaniards being wounded by the first volley of stones, arrows, and darts. The Spanish soon learned that the Mayan arrows, while not attaining any distinct force behind them, tended to shatter on impact leading to a slow and painful death. Despite these shortcomings, the failed attempts to gather water and repair the casks that were issued ultimately caused Córdoba to distribute his remaining sailors and abandon his smallest ship, a brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
paid for on credit. The expedition returned to Cuba to report on the discovery of this new land.
Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was a Spanish conquistador. He conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain.-Early life:...
, the governor of Cuba, ordered an expedition sent out with four ships supplied with crossbows, muskets, salt pork, and cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
bread for some 240 men led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva
Juan de Grijalva was a Spanish conquistador. Some authors said he was from the same family as Diego Velázquez.He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511....
. The Grijalva expedition had similar, mixed experiences with the native Maya and seemed genuinely anxious to fulfil Velázquez' order to explore rather than settle
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
. He repeatedly refused the gratification of vengeance as they sailed along the coasts of Yucatán for months. Except for a few cannon shots, the desire to exchange beads and Spanish wine for food
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and other necessities were left in readiness. He was disappointed at gathering very little gold, but came back to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with a tale that a rich empire was further to the west.
This prompted the 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...
expedition in 1519. Cortés spent some time at the island of Cozumel
Cozumel
Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the ten municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...
, tried with mixed results to convert the locals to Christianity, and heard stories of other bearded white men living in the area. He sent messengers to these reported castilianos, who turned out to be the survivors of the 1511 shipwreck, Aguilar and Guerrero. Aguilar petitioned his Maya chieftain to be allowed leave to join with his former countrymen, and he was released and made his way to Cortés' ships. According to Bernal Díaz, Aguilar said that before coming he had unsuccessfully attempted to convince Guerrero to leave as well. Guerrero declined on the basis that he was by now well-assimilated with the Maya culture, had a Maya wife and three children, and he was looked upon as a figure of rank within the Maya settlement of Chetumal
Chetumal
Chetumal is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco...
where he lived.
Aguilar, now quite fluent in Yucatec Maya as well as some other indigenous languages
Mesoamerican languages
Mesoamerican languages are the languages indigenous to the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers southern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. The area is characterized by extensive linguistic diversity containing several hundred different languages and...
, would prove to be a valuable asset for Cortés as a translator, a skill of particular significance to the later conquest of the Aztec Empire
Spanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
which would be the end result of Cortés' expedition.
Although Guerrero's later fate is uncertain, it appears that for some years he continued to fight alongside the Maya forces against Spanish incursions, providing military counsel and encouraging resistance; he quite possibly was killed in a later battle.
First attempted conquest (1527–28)
The richer lands of Mexico engaged the main attention of the Conquistadors for some years, then in 1526 Francisco de MontejoFrancisco de Montejo
Francisco de Montejo y Alvarez was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.Francisco de Montejo was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479 to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Alvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Grijalva's expedition along the coast of...
(a veteran of the Grijalva and Cortés expeditions) successfully petitioned the King of Spain for the right to conquer Yucatán. He arrived in eastern Yucatán in 1527 and at first was greeted peaceably, and most local chiefs agreed with his demand that they swear loyalty to the King of Spain, for they had heard news of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s. However, as the Spanish advanced they found towns already deserted when they reached them, and the Spanish were first harried as they traveled and then openly attacked. The Spanish set up a small fort on the coast at Xamanha in 1528, but had no further success in subduing the country. Montejo went to Mexico to gather a larger army.
Second attempted conquest (1531–35)
Montejo returned in 1531 with a force that allied with the Maya port city of Campeche. While he set up a fortress at Campeche, he sent his son Francisco Montejo the Younger inland with an army. The leaders of some Maya states pledged that they would be his allies. He continued on to Chichen ItzaChichen Itza
Chichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Municipality of Tinúm, Yucatán state, present-day Mexico....
, which he declared his Royal capital of Spanish Yucatán, but after a few months the locals rose up against him, the Spaniards were constantly attacked, and the Spanish force fled 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...
. It was rumored that Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero
Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, in Spain who shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya Lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico...
, a Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who chose to stay in Yucatán, was among those directing Maya resistance to the Spanish crown. Meanwhile the elder Montejo was frequently besieged in his fort in Campeche, and many of his soldiers were tired of a long fight with little to show for it, and stated that they wished to find easier conquests elsewhere. In 1535, Montejo withdrew his forces to Veracruz, leaving the Yucatán once again completely in the control of the Maya.
Final conquests (1540–46)
Montejo the Elder, who was now in his late 60s, turned his royal rights in Yucatán over to his son, Francisco Montejo the Younger. The younger Montejo invaded Yucatán with a large force in 1540. In 1542, he set up his capital in the Maya city of T'ho, which he renamed MéridaMérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
. The lord of the Tutal Xiu of Maní
Maní, Yucatán
Maní is a small city and surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It is about 100 km to the south south-east of Mérida, Yucatán, some 16 km east of Ticul....
converted to Christianity. The Xiu dominated most of Western Yucatán and became valuable allies of the Spanish, greatly assisting in the conquest of the rest of the peninsula. A number of Maya states at first pledged loyalty to Spain, but revolted after feeling the heavy hand of Spanish rule. Fighting and revolts continued for years. When the Spanish and Xiu defeated an army of the combined forces of the states of Eastern Yucatán in 1546, the conquest was officially complete; however, periodic revolts, which would be violently put down by Spanish troops and Indian auxiliaries
Indian auxiliaries
Auxiliary Indians or indios auxiliares is the term used in old Spanish chronicles and historical texts for the indigenous peoples who were integrated into the armies of the Spanish conquerors with the purpose of supporting their advance and combat operations during the Conquest of America...
, continued throughout the Spanish colonial era.
The Itza of Petén
The Postclassic Itza MayaItza
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 :...
of the Petén Basin
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...
region should be mentioned; while that area is now part of 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...
, in colonial times it was part of the land under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yucatán. The Itza capital was in 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...
, an island city in lake Petén Itza. The Itza land was separated from Spanish Yucatán to the north and Spanish Guatemala to the south by thick jungles with little population. It had been visited by 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...
on his march to Honduras in 1525, when the lords of the Itza pledged loyalty to Spain, but was thereafter neglected by Spanish authorities. In 1618 two Franciscan friars were sent from Mérida
Mérida, Yucatán
Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about from the Gulf of Mexico coast...
to teach Christianity to the Itza. They arrived in Tayasal to find the people uninfluenced by European ways and still worshipping the traditional Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n gods. While the Itza king received them politely, they made no progress in converting the people to Christianity. In 1622, the Governor of Yucatán sent a force of 20 Spaniards and 140 Christian Indian allies to march on Tayasal, but the Itza quickly killed them. A second force on their way to the Petén in 1624 was ambushed by the Itza and met a similar fate. The Governor of Yucatán decided his energies were best spent elsewhere, and the Itza continued in independence.
In the 17th century, three maya "provinces" existed in the Lake Petén area. They are Kan Ek' (Canek), Yalain, and Kowoj (Couoh). The Kan Ek' may have been the dominant "province" in the end of the 17th century. The title of the rulers of Kan Ek' was Aj Kan Ek'. Since the late 1690s, the last Aj Kan Ek' started a more open attitude towards the Spaniards, which included receiving and protecting the emissaries from the Spaniards at Noj Peten (also known as Noh Peten or Tayasal).
In 1695, three Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s headed to Tayasal accompanied by four Christian Maya singers. They were well received, and a number of the Itza consented to be baptized. The Itza King, however, refused to convert to Christianity or pledge loyalty to Spain; he said a time would come when this would be the proper thing to do but that time had not arrived. A force of 60 Spanish soldiers and Maya allies were sent to the Petén the following year, but were beaten back by fierce Itza attacks. The command in Mérida decided that a major force was needed, and in 1697 sent out a force of 235 Spanish soldiers and tens of thousands of Xiu Maya, along with artillery and a large supply train of mules and men to cut a path through the jungle. They set up a fort on the shore of Lake Petén Itza across from Tayasal, and reconstructed a small warship on the lake which had been brought with them in pieces. On March 13, 1697, this force succeeded in conquering the Itza capital of Tayasal. The Spanish burned the Itza library of books "containing lies of the devil", and reported later that the city had so many idols that with almost the entire army set at work, it took from nine in the morning until half past five in the evening to break them all. Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
was not to see another independent native state for over a hundred years.
See also
- YucatánYucatánYucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
- Maya civilizationMaya civilizationThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
- Hernán CortésHernán CortésHernán 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...
- Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
- Spanish colonization of the AmericasSpanish colonization of the AmericasColonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
- ConquistadorConquistadorConquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...