Along the shores of the Yucatan
Ashley Nobles
The Mayan Empire: Rise &
Fall
August 7, 2012
The Yucatan peninsula, located in southeastern
Mexico, was a warm home for the Mayan people. It is known for its beautiful
landscapes and scenery, as well as ancient landmarks created by the Mayans. The
turquoise blue water is warmed by the afternoon sun, inhabiting coastal
dolphins and octupi as well as coral reef on the soft ocean floor. Cieba trees
provide a large home to colorful parrots and macaws along the coast and within
the rain forest. Jaguars – the Mayan praised cat – peer through the orchids and
flowers of the Bromelaid in hopes of finding prey.
In 1511, a small, raft-like Spanish boat filled
with only fifteen men and two women who were blindly trying to find their way to
Cuba when they stumbled upon misfortune and drifted ashore the vast peninsula.
After landing on unknown territory, they were captured by the Mayans. They were
then divided up by a strange looking people with piercings who spoke a language
they could not understand. Frightened by the unknown, the Spanish captives had
yet to find out what the Mayan people practiced. Some were taken as slaves,
while others were sacrificed and killed as part of the Mayan religious
offertory practices. This was the first Spanish encounter that would lead up to
a conquest by the Spanish, and the fall of the Mayan empire.
Among the captive Spaniards were two
men who managed to manipulate the Mayan people into almost equal rights and
privileges. Geronimo de Aguilar managed to escape his captor and seek refuge
with a Maya ruler and later became a leader of a Mayan tribe. Gonzalo Guerrero
earned his freedom by proving his bravery and earned the standing ranks of a
Noble Warrior. These men would later
help and hurt the Spaniards in their conquest for Maya land.
The first Spanish conquest took place during
1527 and 1528 where Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo petitioned the
King of Spain and was successful in gaining the right to conquer Yucatan. After
the first given attempt, the Spanish conquistadors were unable to conquer the
Yucatan, so Francisco lead them to Mexico, where they would attempt to gather a
larger army in hopes of gaining control of the Mayan cities.
The second conquest took place a few
years later in 1531 when Montejo had a larger army and more allies within the
Mayan empire. His forces allied with the port city of Campeche with the help of
Geronimo de Aguilar. After becoming allies with the city, he set up a fortress
and sent his son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger inland with an army to
attack Chichen Itza, which Monejo declared would be the Royal capital of
Spanish Yucatan. The locals of Chichen Itza rose up and contained control of
Chichen Itza, the army withdrew, and they fled to Honduras. In 1535, Montejo
withdrew the conquest to Veracruz, which left the Mayans in control once more.
The Mayan civilization started in
early 250-900 A.D. They had a large population numbered in the millions, filled
with talented and skilled people. With a high population came the requirement
to create a sizable amount of food in order to keep Maya’s kingdom strong. The
Mayans became skilled farmers in the rainy forests of Yucatan. They cropped and
maintained their food supply with simplicity. They were very knowledgeable in agriculture,
growing corn and squash, but also making sure to not overuse the soil they had
already used. The diet then, as it is now, was stapled by maize. The Mayans
were not only good at growing sources of food, but also at hunting and herding
wild animals as a source of meat and protein.
They were able to build large
buildings such as temples and palaces, and were known for their detailed
designs and exquisite detail in their architecture. The Mayans began going
crazy with architecture and had many monumental buildings. Not only were they
creative with their artwork, but they were also inventive. They were known for
the things they brought to the surface. The Mayans invented the calendar. They
did this using their astronomical observations and studies. They made a year
consisting of 365 days and even brought to leap-year the surface as the
astronomy changed. The Mayans believed as part of their religion, there were
“bad luck weeks”. During these weeks, the Mayans would do their best to do
nothing. They would only perform sacred rituals, including human sacrifice and
bloodletting.
Human sacrifice was a central role
of the Maya religion. The Maya people worshipped many gods and they believed in
order to have contact or receive revelation from these gods, human sacrifice
and the spilling of blood was in order. To do this, the Mayans would take
victims who were being held captive and lay them across an alter where they
were held down and a priest would cut just below the ribs. The heart was then
ripped out and burned as a gift to the gods. Another priest called the serpent
was used as a direct way for communication from the gods. During many
ceremonies, the blood of many victims was spilled until the serpent made it
known the gods were satisfied.
The Maya people would sacrifice as
many as it would take to provide whatever they needed. For example, if they
needed moisture and they were in a drought, they would sacrifice and draw more
of their own blood until it started to rain. The same if they needed an excess
in food, they would sacrifice many until their needs were satisfied as believed
by the gods.
Bloodletting was another form of
sacrifice and all the Maya people were expected to do it. The higher the rank
was of the person, the more blood was expected per week. Blood came mostly from
the genitalia of the people and thorns were used to draw the blood. They would
tie thorns to a string and thread it through the chosen body part and the
remaining string would lead the blood into a bowl or onto a piece of paper. After
the bloodletting, the Mayans would either pour their blood over an open flame
or burn the paper that was soaked in their blood. Many Mayans have countless
piercings all over their bodies and bloodletting was the initial reason for
this. Today, blood sacrifice is still a part of Mayan religion; however, they
no longer use humans as a live sacrifice. They most commonly use chickens or
other animals as sacrifices.
Though the Mayan empire was highly
populated, they were essentially unstable as a nation. The government was
constantly being overturned and cities were being destroyed and restored in
various Mayan monuments. Though this seemed to be an advantage to the
Spaniards, they could not outnumber the Mayans at war. After many years of
changes in government and destruction, city-states were established and there were
lesser versions of hierarchy within the Mayan nation. This was another obstacle
for the Spanish because without a central government to overthrow, there was a
less strategic way of taking over the Mayan empire.
In 1540, Montejo handed down his authority to
his son Montejo the Younger and he set out conquest of Yucatan again. Geronimo
de Aguilar – a captive from the first Spanish encounter – was helpful to the
Spanish as he translated for them and helped build allies. Montejo invaded
Yucatan and claimed the capital of T’ho, which was renamed Merida. After
gaining control of Yucatan and Merida, the rest of the city-states agreed to
abide by Spanish rule; however, there were many who revolted against the
Spanish government for many years.
The dark and fateful day of the
Spaniard’s first encounter with the Mayans marks an unforgettable time in
history where Spanish and Mayan came to know one another. One hundred and
seventy years later, the Spanish overtook the Yucatan and forced the Mayan people
into subjugation. The amount of blood that was spilled in human sacrifice and
bloodletting from the Mayan people did not protect the Mayans from what was to
come.
Works Cited:
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Castillo, Bernal (1963) [1632]. The
Conquest of New Spain. Penguin
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Cohen (trans.) (6th printing (1973) ed.).
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Romero, Rolando J. (1992) (pdf). Texts,
Pre-Texts, Con-Texts: Gonzalo Guerrero in the Chronicles of Indies. Retrieved 2006-07-26.
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Origins of the Caste War. Austin: University
of Texas Press.
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