Editing Spanish conquest of Yucatán (section)

==Yucatán before the conquest==
The first large [[Maya city|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),<ref name="EstradaBelli11p52">Estrada-Belli 2011, p. 52.</ref> and Petén formed the heartland of the ancient Maya civilization during the [[Classic period]] (c. AD 250–900).<ref>Coe 1999, p. 31.<br>Webster 2002, p. 45.</ref> The 16th century Maya provinces of northern Yucatán are likely to have evolved out of polities of the [[Maya Classic Era|Maya Classic]] period. From the mid-13th century AD through to the mid-15th century, the [[League of Mayapan|League of Mayapán]] united several of the northern provinces; for a time they shared a joint form of government.<ref name="Andrew84p589"/> 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]].<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 499–500.</ref> 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.<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 613, 616.</ref>

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.<ref name="Andrew84p589">Andrews 1984, p. 589.</ref> 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.<ref name="Andrew84p590">Andrews 1984, p. 590.</ref> When the Spanish discovered Yucatán, the provinces of [[Maní, Yucatán|Maní]] and [[Sotuta]] were two of the most important polities in the region. They were mutually hostile; the [[Tutul-Xiu|Xiu Maya]] of Maní allied themselves with the Spanish, while the [[Cocom|Cocom Maya]] of Sotuta became the implacable enemies of the European colonisers.<ref name="CasoBarrera02p17">Caso Barrera 2002, p. 17.</ref>

At the time of conquest, polities in the north included [[Maní, Yucatán|Maní]], [[Chakan (Maya province)|Chakan]], and [[Cehpech]].<ref name="Andrew84p589" /> 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]].<ref name="Andrew84p591" /> The modern city of [[Valladolid, Yucatán|Valladolid]] is situated upon the site of the former capital of Cupul.<ref name="Andrew84p593">Andrews 1984, p. 593.</ref> 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.<ref name="Andrew84p592">Andrews 1984, p. 592.</ref> [[Tases|Tazes]] was a small landlocked province south of Chikinchel. [[Ekab|Ecab]] was a large province in the east. [[Uaymil]] was in the southeast, and [[Chetumal Province|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-Homún|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. [[Can Pech|Canpech]] (modern [[Campeche]]) was to the south of it, followed by [[Champotón, Campeche|Chanputun]] (modern [[Champotón, Campeche|Champotón]]). South of Chanputun, and extending west along the Gulf coast was [[Acalan]].<ref name="Andrew84p591">Andrews 1984, p. 591.</ref> This [[Chontal Maya language|Chontal Maya]]-speaking province extended east of the [[Usumacinta River]] in [[Tabasco]],<ref name="SharerTraxler06p761762"/> as far as what is now the southern portion of [[Campeche|Campeche state]], where their capital was located.<ref name="Jones00p353"/> In the southern portion of the peninsula, a number of polities occupied the [[Petén Basin]].<ref name="EstradaBelli11p52"/> The [[Kejache]] occupied a territory to the north of the [[Itza people|Itza]] and east of Acalan, between the Petén lakes and what is now Campeche,<ref name="Jones00p353" /> and to the west of [[Chetumal Province|Chetumal]].<ref name="Andrew84p591" /> The [[Chʼolan languages|Cholan Maya]]-speaking [[Lakandon Chʼol|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.<ref name="Jones00p353"/> The Lakandon had a fierce reputation amongst the Spanish.<ref name="Houwald84p257">Houwald 1984, p. 257.</ref>

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 peoples|Maya]] populations existed in [[Petén Basin|Petén]], particularly around the central lakes and along the rivers.<ref>Jones 2000, p. 351.</ref> Before their defeat in 1697 the [[Itza people|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, Petén|Flores]], which is the capital of the [[Petén Department|Petén department]] of [[Guatemala]].<ref name="Jones00p353">Jones 2000, p. 353.</ref> The Itza spoke a variety of [[Yucatecan languages|Yucatecan Maya]].<ref name="Jones00p352">Jones 2000, p. 352.</ref> 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, [[Laguna Yaxhá|Lake Yaxhá]] and Lake Sacnab.<ref name="RiceRice09p10Rice09p17">Rice and Rice 2009, p. 10.<br>Rice 2009, p. 17.</ref> The [[Yalain]] appear to have been one of the three dominant polities in [[PostClassic|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 [[Tipu, Belize|Tipuj]] in Belize.<ref name="Cecil99p788">Cecil et al. 1999, p. 788.</ref> In the 17th century the Yalain capital was located at the site of that name on the north shore of Lake Macanché.<ref name="SharerTraxler2006p617">Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 617.</ref> At the time of Spanish contact the Yalain were allied with the Itza, an alliance cemented by intermarriage between the elites of both groups.<ref name="Cecil99p788"/> 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.<ref name="RiceRice05p149">Rice and Rice 2005, p. 149.</ref> 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 [[Chʼol people|Lakandon Chʼol]], the [[Manche Chʼol]], and the [[Mopan Territory|Mopan]].<ref name="Rice09p17Feldman00pxxi">Rice 2009, p. 17.<br>Feldman 2000, p. xxi.</ref>