If you use your imagination, this piece of writing can truly come to life! Imagine you live in the tropical forest. Everyone you have ever known was brown. You have never seen a horse – actually, you have never heard that word before!
Then, behind them a ship the size you have never seen before. Yes, the ancient Maya had huge boats but nothing like the Spanish Galleons that came floating to their front door.
The following are dates that represent the movement of the Spanish upon ancient Maya territory during the conquest.
1502: The first contact with Spanish in Bay of Honduras by Columbus on his 4th voyage:
1511: Valdivia is hit by a hurricane and 16 people make it to land in the Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya captures them but most are sacrificed. Only 6 survive: Francisco de Guerrero and Geronimo Aguilar, the most historically important – are sold or given to the Maya King Nachan Kan
1514: The small pox epidemic hits Yucatan and thousands of people die, even before the conquest
1515: The epidemic continues. The Maya call it the “mayacimil” (“The easy death”)
1517: Cordova leaves Cuba and starts to explore (It must be noted that Cuba is approximately 60 miles from the Northeastern tip of the Yucatan). He circumnavigates the Yucatan Peninsula and lands in Campeche. The Maya attack and kill most of them!
1518: Grijalva’s expedition – he also circumnavigates the river named after him
1519-1521: Cortez ransoms Aguilar (captive of the Maya) but is unsuccessful with Guerrero as he was by then the husband of Nachan kan’s daughter and had children with her so he refused to go back to Spain as he had found his home in America.
1523-1524: Alvarado conducts conquest of highland Guatemala
1524-1525: Cortez leaves people to conquer Honduras but they wanted to make deal with Spanish government; Cortez then marches to Tayasal (Flores, Peten) after he sacrifices Cautemoc – the last ruler of the Aztec. He then meets Kan Ek at Tayasal
1527-1528: Francisco Montejo (the elder) gets the “go ahead” by Cortez to lead conquest of the Yucatan, but dies before that opportunity. His young son then takes over.
1540-1546: Montejo (Junior) only partially conquers Yucatan – only the Western side. Bacalar was his base. Spanish priests, Juan de Orbita and Fuensalida build churches at Lamanai, Zaczus, and Tipu. From Tipu, via the Mopan river (flows through Benque Viejo town and San Jose Succotz, Western Belize) the enter Lakes in the Peten until the arrive to Lake Peten Itza (The second largest lake in Guatemala within which Flores, the island Capital sits).
Cortez goes on to conquer the Aztec.
1697: Tayasal finally falls to the Spanish
After these dramatic occasions above, most Maya kept on with their lives independently. In the 1800’s the Maya eventually gained immunity to small pox and chicken pox.
1847: The Caste war commences (Yucatan). It was led by the Cocom family (Tribe). As history would have it, they stopped the fight due to their cultural planting season, just before they reach Merida. If they had continued, perhaps, the Yucatan would have been an independent country. Who knows!
1869: The Maya attack the Spanish at San Cristobal de Las Casas; they also attacked the City of Tzotzil they were not allowed to be in these cities after dark.
1990: The Maya revolted in Chiapas, Mexico – called the Zapatista revolt
One of the greatest achievements of the Maya is their RESILIENCY!
They are still here with us!!