1527-1901, Struggle for Freedom in the Yucatán

The subjugation of the Aztecs by the Spanish conquistador or conqueror, Hernan Cortez, took two years with the support of thousands of Tlaxcala and Otomi Indians allies. The conquest of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, however, spanned 125 of the 374 years history of a long and strenuous coexistence. In defiance of defeat upon defeat on the battlefields of the peninsula and beyond, the natives fiercely resisted the foreign foe. Among numerous clashes, Chamberlain states that Aké (1528), was “the epic battle that became by tradition one of the most renowned engagements in the long and bloody conquest of Yucatán” (1). Because it was the first decisive armed confrontation between the Spanish and the indigenous people. Aké, however, was only the beginning of a struggle that will only wane on the doorsteps of the twentieth century.

Pic 1: Spanish Conquistador

Let us briefly read from Montejo’s notes recorded by the chronicler Cárdenas y Valencia (1937:15-16). “…at Aké, the Indians appeared in large numbers…blowing big conch-shells to rally warriors that, together with screams of rage from hundreds of throats magnified the deafening noise; they all had weapons they use in war such as bows and quivers of arrows, stone throwers, poles with their tips hardened by fire, lances with points of sharp flints, two-handed swords of very strong wood inset with obsidian blades, large conch-shells of the sea; naked except for the shameful parts which were covered with a cloth; daubed with earth of colors, they appeared as most ferocious devils” Even though many Maya were killed and wounded during the fight, many more came in to fill the gaps and kept fighting, not allowing the Spaniards any respite.

Pic 3: Merciless Encounters

The second incursion took place from the west, headed by Montejo’s son, also known as Francisco de Montejo (the Younger), from 1529 to 1535, when he barely escaped the wrath of the Mayas from his base at Chichèn Itzá. Of note is that, unlike Aztec centralized power, the notable characteristic of the Maya Early Classic period (250-550AD), saw the emergence of independent states across much of the peninsula. Sharer and Textler point out that “documentary evidence of the Early Classic era is sporadic in the north. No single major center dominated the political and economic arena of the period, but several chiefdoms’ states developed such as Aké, Acanceh, Izamal and Oxtintok” (2006). The major cacicazgos or chiefdoms were those of Cochuah and Ekab, while those yielding the most political power were the Tutul Xiu of Mani and the Nachi Cocom of Sotuta. Both political powerhouses played major roles during the conquest. The Tutul Xiu promptly allied with the Spanish and kept their friendly disposition throughout the invasion as a counterpoint, no doubt, to their enduring antagonism with the hated Nachi Cocom.

Pic 5: Cacicazgos in the Yucatán

The Indians, however, had a flaw in their fighting order as found at Aké and other battles, they did not fight in the dark of night. The Spaniards, aware of that precept, had to leave at night but they needed to keep the Indians believing that they were still in the compound at sunrise. So, they had a dog tied up with a rope linked to a bell, with food and water several feet away, out of reach. Through the night, the Indians heard the bell they associated with Christian rituals and the dog barking. In the dead of night, the Spaniards abandoned Ciudad Real and headed for the coast about seventy miles away, their only salvation route. Early in the morning the Indians realized the ploy and small groups of warriors ran after the fugitives. Short lived battles broke the indigenous scouts’ attempt at stopping the Spanish. Exhausted, Montejo with the remnants of his party, safely reached the port of Dzilam.

Pic 7: A Hard Land

Most cities were on the brink of collapse when Montejo (the Younger), and his captains from Mérida and Campeche regained control of the provinces emptied of Europeans and creoles, albeit through years of conflict interspaced with periods of precarious peace. The burden of occupation was far worse for the Mayas, however, since they had to endure untold hardships from their new masters, who were dedicated to bend them to a new faith and way of life. In 1567, another Maya prophet, the Chilam Cuoh, preached the supremacy of the ancient ways and prophesied a war of religion around the Spanish town of Bacalar (Quintana Roo). The Chilam was captured in 1569 and sent under armed guard to bishop Fray Francisco de Toral in Mérida, for exemplary punishment. It will take another nineteen years of brutal and bloody conflicts for the indigenous people to be somewhat pacified. Hostility and defiance at all times simmered close to the surface.

Pic 9: Relentless Defiance

Through history, the Mayas showed a tenacious resistance to Toltec and Spanish invaders. They overcame the epidemic of smallpox of 1514. The uprising of Bacalar (1639-1641) was followed by the one of 1668-1671 and the rebellion of Jacinto Canek in 1761. The colonial socio-economic system was, among others, the root cause of ceaseless upheavals. The Caste War (1862-1901) was the ultimate rebellion that was rooted in the defense of Santa Cruz, Indian communal lands taken over by upper class landowners that expanded their plantations by encroaching on Maya communal land. The need for more land followed the economic boom in henequen, or agave, that was followed by the second boom in sugar production. In late 1840, alienation of peasants increased sharply forcing tenants to abandon their own lands and work as indebted laborers on large estates.

Pic 11: 19th C. Agave Plantation

The history of wars and insurrections in the Yucatán make plain that the indigenous population at large, after three centuries of conflicts and hardships, still regarded Spanish and creoles alike as a foreign domination. As Farris underlines “The Caste War has received its name precisely because it was not a simple peasant rebellion seeking to redress grievances, one that called merely for “bread and land” for “The Mayas could not escape the reality which the caste barrier enforced and preserved, of belonging to a group distinct from the unassimilated overlords” (2). At the core of this unremitting antagonism was the appropriation of socio-economic and political control by the Spaniards and their efforts at spiritual domination through conversion.

Pic 13: We Will Not Bend