Editing Spanish conquest of Yucatán (section)

====Assault on Nojpetén====
The [[Itza people|Itzas]]' continued resistance had become a major embarrassment for the Spanish colonial authorities, and soldiers were despatched from [[Campeche City|Campeche]] to take [[Nojpetén]] once and for all.<ref name="Jones00p362">Jones 2000, p. 362.</ref> [[Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi]] arrived on the western shore of [[Lake Petén Itzá]] with his soldiers on 26 February 1697, and once there built the heavily armed ''[[Galiot|galeota]]'' attack boat.<ref>Jones 2009, p. 59.<br>Jones 1998, pp. 253, 265–266.</ref> The ''galeota'' carried 114 men and at least five artillery pieces.<ref name="Jones  1998 268 269">Jones 1998, pp. 268–269.</ref> The ''piragua'' longboat used to cross the [[San Pedro River (Guatemala)|San Pedro River]] was also transported to the lake to be used in the attack on the Itza capital.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 252, 268.</ref>
[[File:Murales Rivera - Ausbeutung durch die Spanier 1.jpg|thumb|Exploitation of the indigenous people by the [[Spanish conquistadors]]" mural by [[Diego Rivera]] (1886-1957)]]
On 10 March a number of [[Itza people|Itza]] and [[Yalain]] emissaries arrived at [[Nixtun Chʼichʼ|Chʼichʼ]] to negotiate with Ursúa.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 269–270.</ref> [[Kan Ekʼ]] then sent a canoe with a white flag raised bearing emissaries, who offered peaceful surrender. Ursúa received the embassy in peace and invited Kan Ekʼ to visit his encampment three days later. On the appointed day Kan Ekʼ failed to arrive; instead Maya warriors amassed both along the shore and in canoes upon the lake.<ref name="SharerTraxler06p777">Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 777.</ref>

A waterbourne assault was launched upon Kan Ek's capital on the morning of 13 March.<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 777.<br>Jones 1998, p. 295.</ref> Ursúa boarded the ''galeota'' with 108 soldiers, two secular priests, five personal servants, the baptised Itza emissary AjChan and his brother-in-law and an Itza prisoner from [[Nojpetén]]. The attack boat was rowed east towards the Itza capital; {{not a typo|half way}} across the lake it encountered a large fleet of canoes spread in an arc across the approach to Nojpetén – Ursúa simply gave the order to row through them. A large number of defenders had gathered along the shore of Nojpetén and on the roofs of the city.<ref name="Jones98p297">Jones 1998, p. 297.</ref> Itza archers began to shoot at the invaders from the canoes. Ursúa ordered his men not to return fire but arrows wounded a number of his soldiers; one of the wounded soldiers discharged his musket and at that point the officers lost control of their men. The defending Itza soon fled from the withering Spanish gunfire.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 298–299.</ref>

The city fell after a brief but bloody battle in which many Itza warriors died; the Spanish suffered only minor casualties. The Spanish bombardment caused heavy loss of life on the island;<ref name="Jones09p59" /> the surviving Itza abandoned their capital and swam across to the mainland with many dying in the water.<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 777–778.</ref> After the battle the surviving defenders melted away into the forests, leaving the Spanish to occupy an abandoned Maya town.<ref name="Jones00p362" /> Martín de Ursúa planted his standard upon the highest point of the island and renamed Nojpetén as ''Nuestra Señora de los Remedios y San Pablo, Laguna del Itza'' ("Our Lady of Remedy and Saint Paul, Lake of the Itza").<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 778.<br>Jones 2009, p. 59.</ref> The Itza nobility fled, dispersing to Maya settlements throughout [[Petén Basin|Petén]]; in response the Spanish scoured the region with search parties.<ref>Jones 1998, p. 295.</ref> [[Kan Ekʼ]] was soon captured with help from the [[Yalain|Yalain Maya]] ruler Chamach Xulu;<ref name="Jones 1998, p. 306">Jones 1998, p. 306.</ref> The [[Kowoj]] king (Aj Kowoj) was also soon captured, together with other Maya nobles and their families.<ref name="Jones09p59">Jones 2009, p. 59.</ref> With the defeat of the [[Itza people|Itza]], the last independent and unconquered native kingdom in the Americas fell to the European colonisers.<ref name="Jones98pxix">Jones 1998, p. xix.</ref>