Spanish conquest of Yucatán facts for kids

Satellite view of the Yucatán Peninsula

The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish conquistadores against the Late Postclassic Maya states. This part of the conquest and colonization of the Americas began in the early 16th century, but it took more time than the similar campaigns against the Aztec and Inca Empires. It was about 170 years later before the last Maya stronghold fell, that of the Itza capital of Tayasal on Lake Petén Itzá, in 1697. But except for the Petén region and the Guatemalan highlands, the Spanish had control over Yucatán itself already by 1546.

Unlike the campaigns against the Aztec and Inca states, the Maya had no single political center. Therefore the Spanish had to fight city by city to break resistance by the indigenous peoples. In the beginning the conquistadores were mainly interested to get as much gold and silver as possible. Because the Maya lands were poor in this respect, they were not very interesting for the Spanish at that stage. But when land workers became important for the colonies, the Spanish turned to the Maya region. That was around the 1520s.

Other pages

• Maya civilization
• Hernan Cortes
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• Conquistador

Images for kids

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  Bartholomew Columbus came across a Yucatec Maya canoe in the Gulf of Honduras

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  Francisco Hernández de Córdoba

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  Early 16th century European caravel

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  Governor Diego Velázquez de Cuellar claimed the discovery of wealthy cities and gold in Yucatán

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  Hernán Cortés followed the Yucatán coast on his way to conquer the Aztecs.

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  Monument in Mérida to Montejo the Elder and his son, Montejo the Younger

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  Ruins of a mission church built by the Spanish in Dzibilchaltún ca. 1590–1600 from the stone taken from the nearby Maya temples

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  17th century entry routes to Petén

See also

In Spanish: Conquista de Yucatán para niños