Spanish conquest of Yucatán

The first encounter with the Yucatec Maya may have occurred in 1502, when the fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus came across a large trading canoe off Honduras. In 1511, Spanish survivors of the shipwrecked caravel called Santa María de la Barca sought refuge among native groups along the eastern coast of the peninsula. Hernán Cortés made contact with two survivors, Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, eight years later. In 1517, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba made landfall on the tip of the peninsula. His expedition continued along the coast and suffered heavy losses in a pitched battle at Champotón, forcing a retreat to Cuba. Juan de Grijalva explored the coast in 1518, and heard tales of the wealthy Aztec Empire further west. As a result of these rumours, Hernán Cortés set sail with another fleet. From Cozumel he continued around the peninsula to Tabasco where he fought a battle at Potonchán; from there Cortés continued onward to conquer the Aztec Empire. In 1524, Cortés led a sizeable expedition to Honduras, cutting across southern Campeche, and through Petén in what is now northern Guatemala. In 1527 Francisco de Montejo set sail from Spain with a small fleet. He left garrisons on the east coast, and subjugated the northeast of the peninsula. Montejo then returned to the east to find his garrisons had almost been eliminated; he used a supply ship to explore southwards before looping back around the entire peninsula to central Mexico. Montejo pacified Tabasco with the aid of his son, also named Francisco de Montejo.


In 1531 the Spanish moved their base of operations to Campeche, where they repulsed a significant Maya attack. After this battle, the Spanish founded a town at Chichen Itza in the north. Montejo carved up the province amongst his soldiers. In mid-1533 the local Maya rebelled and laid siege to the small Spanish garrison, which was forced to flee. Towards the end of 1534, or the beginning of 1535, the Spanish retreated from Campeche to Veracruz. In 1535, peaceful attempts by the Franciscan Order to incorporate Yucatán into the Spanish Empire failed after a renewed Spanish military presence at Champotón forced the friars out. Champotón was by now the last Spanish outpost in Yucatán, isolated among a hostile population. In 1541–42 the first permanent Spanish town councils in the entire peninsula were founded at Campeche and Mérida. When the powerful lord of Tutul-Xiu Maya in Maní converted to the Roman Catholic religion, his submission to Spain and conversion to Christianity encouraged the lords of the western provinces to accept Spanish rule. In late 1546 an alliance of eastern provinces launched an unsuccessful uprising against the Spanish. The eastern Maya were defeated in a single battle, which marked the final conquest of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula.


The polities of Petén in the south remained independent and received many refugees fleeing from Spanish jurisdiction. In 1618 and in 1619 two unsuccessful Franciscan missions attempted the peaceful conversion of the still pagan Itza. In 1622 the Itza slaughtered two Spanish parties trying to reach their capital Nojpetén. These events ended all Spanish attempts to contact the Itza until 1695. Over the course of 1695 and 1696 a number of Spanish expeditions attempted to reach Nojpetén from the mutually independent Spanish colonies in Yucatán and Guatemala. In early 1695 the Spanish began to build a road from Campeche south towards Petén and activity intensified, sometimes with significant losses on the part of the Spanish. Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi, governor of Yucatán, launched an assault upon Nojpetén in March 1697; the city fell after a brief battle. With the defeat of the Itza, the last independent and unconquered native kingdom in the Americas fell to the Spanish.

Yucatán before the conquest[edit]

The first large Maya cities developed in the Petén Basin in the far south of the Yucatán Peninsula as far back as the Middle Preclassic (c. 600–350 BC),^[17] and Petén formed the heartland of the ancient Maya civilization during the Classic period (c. AD 250–900).^[18] The 16th century Maya provinces of northern Yucatán are likely to have evolved out of polities of the Maya Classic period. From the mid-13th century AD through to the mid-15th century, the League of Mayapán united several of the northern provinces; for a time they shared a joint form of government.^[19] The great cities that dominated Petén had fallen into ruin by the beginning of the 10th century AD with the onset of the Classic Maya collapse.^[20] A significant Maya presence remained in Petén into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources.^[21]


In the early 16th century, when the Spanish discovered the Yucatán Peninsula, the region was still dominated by the Maya civilization. It was divided into a number of independent provinces referred to as kuchkabal (plural kuchkabaloob) in the Yucatec Maya language. The various provinces shared a common culture but the internal sociopolitical organisation varied from one province to the next, as did access to important resources. These differences in political and economic makeup often led to hostilities between the provinces. The politically fragmented state of the Yucatán Peninsula at the time of conquest hindered the Spanish invasion, since there was no central political authority to be overthrown. However, the Spanish were also able to exploit this fragmentation by taking advantage of pre-existing rivalries between polities. Estimates of the number of kuchkabal in the northern Yucatán vary from sixteen to twenty-four.^[19] The boundaries between polities were not stable, being subject to the effects of alliances and wars; those kuchkabaloob with more centralised forms of government were likely to have had more stable boundaries than those of loose confederations of provinces.^[22] When the Spanish discovered Yucatán, the provinces of Maní and Sotuta were two of the most important polities in the region. They were mutually hostile; the Xiu Maya of Maní allied themselves with the Spanish, while the Cocom Maya of Sotuta became the implacable enemies of the European colonisers.^[23]


At the time of conquest, polities in the north included Maní, Chakan, and Cehpech.^[19] Chakan was largely landlocked with a small stretch of coast on the north of the peninsula. Cehpech was a coastal province to its east; further east along the north coast were Ah Kin Chel, Cupul, and Chikinchel.^[24] The modern city of Valladolid is situated upon the site of the former capital of Cupul.^[25] Cupul and Chinkinchel are known to have been mutually hostile, and to have engaged in wars to control the salt beds of the north coast.^[26] Tazes was a small landlocked province south of Chikinchel. Ecab was a large province in the east. Uaymil was in the southeast, and Chetumal was to the south of it; all three bordered on the Caribbean Sea. Cochuah was also in the eastern half of the peninsula; it was southwest of Ecab and northwest of Uaymil. Its borders are poorly understood and it may have been landlocked, or have extended to occupy a portion of the Caribbean coast between the latter two kuchkabaloob. The capital of Cochuah was Tihosuco. Hocabá and Sotuta were landlocked provinces north of Maní and southwest of Ah Kin Chel and Cupul. Ah Canul was the northernmost province on the Gulf of Mexico coast of the peninsula. Canpech (modern Campeche) was to the south of it, followed by Chanputun (modern Champotón). South of Chanputun, and extending west along the Gulf coast was Acalan.^[24] This Chontal Maya-speaking province extended east of the Usumacinta River in Tabasco,^[27] as far as what is now the southern portion of Campeche state, where their capital was located.^[28] In the southern portion of the peninsula, a number of polities occupied the Petén Basin.^[17] The Kejache occupied a territory to the north of the Itza and east of Acalan, between the Petén lakes and what is now Campeche,^[28] and to the west of Chetumal.^[24] The Cholan Maya-speaking Lakandon (not to be confused with the modern inhabitants of Chiapas by that name) controlled territory along the tributaries of the Usumacinta River spanning southwestern Petén in Guatemala and eastern Chiapas.^[28] The Lakandon had a fierce reputation amongst the Spanish.^[29]


Although there is insufficient data to accurately estimate population sizes at the time of contact with the Spanish, early Spanish reports suggest that sizeable Maya populations existed in Petén, particularly around the central lakes and along the rivers.^[30] Before their defeat in 1697 the Itza controlled or influenced much of Petén and parts of Belize. The Itza were warlike, and their martial prowess impressed both neighbouring Maya kingdoms and their Spanish enemies. Their capital was Nojpetén, an island city upon Lake Petén Itzá; it has developed into the modern town of Flores, which is the capital of the Petén department of Guatemala.^[28] The Itza spoke a variety of Yucatecan Maya.^[31] The Kowoj were the second in importance; they were hostile towards their Itza neighbours. The Kowoj were located to the east of the Itza, around the eastern Petén lakes: Lake Salpetén, Lake Macanché, Lake Yaxhá and Lake Sacnab.^[32] The Yalain appear to have been one of the three dominant polities in Postclassic central Petén, alongside the Itza and the Kowoj. The Yalain territory had its maximum extension from the east shore of Lake Petén Itzá eastwards to Tipuj in Belize.^[33] In the 17th century the Yalain capital was located at the site of that name on the north shore of Lake Macanché.^[34] At the time of Spanish contact the Yalain were allied with the Itza, an alliance cemented by intermarriage between the elites of both groups.^[33] In the late 17th century, Spanish colonial records document hostilities between Maya groups in the lakes region, with the incursion of the Kowoj into former Yalain sites including Zacpeten on Lake Macanché and Ixlu on Lake Salpetén.^[35] Other groups in Petén are less well known, and their precise territorial extent and political makeup remains obscure; among them were the Chinamita, the Icaiche, the Kejache, the Lakandon Chʼol, the Manche Chʼol, and the Mopan.^[36]

Hernán Cortés in the Maya lowlands, 1524–25[edit]

In 1524,^[82] after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés led an expedition to Honduras over land, cutting across Acalan in southern Campeche and the Itza kingdom in what is now the northern Petén Department of Guatemala.^[87] His aim was to subdue the rebellious Cristóbal de Olid, whom he had sent to conquer Honduras; Olid had, however, set himself up independently on his arrival in that territory.^[82] Cortés left Tenochtitlan on 12 October 1524 with 140 Spanish soldiers, 93 of them mounted, 3,000 Mexican warriors, 150 horses, a herd of pigs, artillery, munitions and other supplies. He also had with him the captured Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc, and Cohuanacox and Tetlepanquetzal, the captive Aztec lords of Texcoco and Tlacopan. Cortés marched into Maya territory in Tabasco; the army crossed the Usumacinta River near Tenosique and crossed into the Chontal Maya province of Acalan, where he recruited 600 Chontal Maya carriers. In Acalan, Cortés believed that the captive Aztec lords were plotting against him and he ordered Cuauhtemoc and Tetlepanquetzal to be hanged. Cortés and his army left Acalan on 5 March 1525.^[27]


The expedition passed onwards through Kejache territory and reported that the Kejache towns were situated in easily defensible locations and were often fortified.^[88] One of these was built on a rocky outcrop near a lake and a river that fed into it. The town was fortified with a wooden palisade and was surrounded by a moat. Cortés reported that the town of Tiac was even larger and was fortified with walls, watchtowers and earthworks; the town itself was divided into three individually fortified districts. Tiac was said to have been at war with the unnamed smaller town.^[89] The Kejache claimed that their towns were fortified against the attacks of their aggressive Itza neighbours.^[90]


They arrived at the north shore of Lake Petén Itzá on 13 March 1525.^[27] The Roman Catholic priests accompanying the expedition celebrated mass in the presence of Aj Kan Ekʼ, the king of the Itza, who was said to be so impressed that he pledged to worship the cross and to destroy his idols.^[91] Cortés accepted an invitation from Kan Ekʼ to visit Nojpetén (also known as Tayasal), and crossed to the Maya city with 20 Spanish soldiers while the rest of his army continued around the lake to meet him on the south shore.^[92] On his departure from Nojpetén, Cortés left behind a cross and a lame horse that the Itza treated as a deity, attempting to feed it poultry, meat and flowers, but the animal soon died.^[93] The Spanish did not officially contact the Itza again until the arrival of Franciscan priests in 1618, when Cortés' cross was said to still be standing at Nojpetén.^[87]


From the lake, Cortés continued south along the western slopes of the Maya Mountains, a particularly arduous journey that took 12 days to cover 32 kilometres (20 mi), during which he lost more than two-thirds of his horses. When he came to a river swollen with the constant torrential rains that had been falling during the expedition, Cortés turned upstream to the Gracias a Dios rapids, which took two days to cross and cost him more horses.^[91]


On 15 April 1525 the expedition arrived at the Maya village of Tenciz. With local guides they headed into the hills north of Lake Izabal, where their guides abandoned them to their fate. The expedition became lost in the hills and came close to starvation before they captured a Maya boy who led them to safety.^[91] Cortés found a village on the shore of Lake Izabal, perhaps Xocolo. He crossed the Dulce River to the settlement of Nito, somewhere on the Amatique Bay,^[94] with about a dozen companions, and waited there for the rest of his army to regroup over the next week.^[91] By this time the remnants of the expedition had been reduced to a few hundred; Cortés succeeded in contacting the Spaniards he was searching for, only to find that Cristóbal de Olid's own officers had already put down his rebellion. Cortés then returned to Mexico by sea.^[95]