CONQUEST OF GUATEMALA: HISTORY AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2024

The conquest of Guatemala occurred between 1525 and 1530, after a bloody period of battles and confrontations between the Spanish conquerors and the native peoples. This historical process was part of the period of Spanish conquest and colonization of the American continent.

The discovery and Spanish conquest of Guatemala is attributed to Captain Pedro de Alvarado. His expedition was authorized by the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés and reached Guatemalan territory in early 1524. However, other expeditions carried out a few years earlier had already explored the coasts of these territories.

Most of the conquered peoples belonged to the Mayan civilization that was settled in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica. The discovered and conquered territories comprised several Mesoamerican kingdoms. The Mayan people were considered by the conquerors as "unfaithful."

For this reason, for more than 150 years it was submitted by the conquerors to try to convert it to Catholicism, the achievements of this civilization that was almost extinct being unknown. After fighting bloody battles between 1525 and 1530, the natives of the Mesoamerican peoples finally had to surrender to the Spanish army.

The tactics of war and Spanish technology were imposed, the natives were subdued and their territories conquered. Guatemala City was the third most important in America in the Colony, after Mexico and Lima. Their territories formed the Captaincy General of Guatemala, dependent on the viceroyalty of New Spain.

Discovery of Guatemala

The first contact between Mayan peoples and European explorers occurred in the early 16th century. It happened in the Yucatan peninsula in 1511, during the shipwreck of a Spanish ship that was sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo.

This was followed by other expeditions by sea between 1517 and 1519, which touched the coasts of the Yucatan peninsula at different points but did not enter Mayan territory.

After the fall of Tenochtitlán, the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés and the other conquerors were informed about the existence of highly populated and gold-rich territories located south of Mexico.

These kingdoms were established throughout the Yucatan peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, between the territories of Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador and the low territories located south of the Pacific coast. The Guatemalan territory was inhabited by various indigenous groups.

Then, Cortés decided to send his captain Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras with an expedition made up of 300 men. Most of the expeditionary troop was made up of indigenous Tlaxcalans, who had been promised freedom and other benefits.

The natives were not surprised by the Spanish conquerors, as they had already received news of the expedition.

The Quiché people were one of the most powerful and had tried to unify the other peoples around their culture through the use of force, so that the indigenous people faced the Spanish conquerors while being divided among themselves. That was one of the reasons for their submission.

Phases of the conquest

First phase

According to Cortés himself, the army left on December 6, 1523. At the beginning of February 1524, the first confrontation between the Spaniards and the Quiche took place in Zapotitlán, the capital of Xuchiltepec.

The Spanish army managed to defeat the indigenous people after a bloody battle in which the indigenous people offered fierce resistance. After winning the battle that was fought on the banks of the Tilapa River, the Spaniards headed for the Guatemalan highlands.

The conqueror Pedro de Alvarado and his troops reached the city of Xelajú, which was later re-founded and was called Quetzaltenango. During the crossing they encountered resistance from the natives commanded by Prince Azumanché. This was a relative of the Quiché chief and warrior Tecún Umán, who fought hard against the Spanish army in Guatemala.

The Spanish defeated the natives in the battle that was fought in the vicinity of the Olintepeque River, where Azumanché lost his life. After the combat, the Spaniards rested in Xelajú to prepare the next step of the expedition.

In this phase, two important battles were fought, among other bloody battles: The Battle of the Pinar and the Battle of the Llanos de Urbina.

Indigenous submission

The Quiche who put up resistance to the Spanish surrendered after the two battles. However, their leaders devised a plan to assassinate the conqueror and his troops, so they invited them to spend the night in Gumarcaaj. Pedro de Alvarado discovered the plot and ordered the Quiche chiefs to be burned.

As the expedition progressed, they encountered resistance among the native tribes who refused to be subdued. Alvarado's troops were joined by the Cakchiquels, to whom the conqueror requested support because the Caqchiqueles were enemies of the Quiche.

With two thousand more soldiers added to his army, Pedro de Alvarado continued to conquer territories. Thus ended this first phase of the conquest of Guatemala.

Second stage

On April 11, 1524, after subduing the Quichés and conquering their territories, Alvarado marched towards Iximché, the capital of the Cakchiqueles. While there, he took provisions and planned the second phase of the conquest of Guatemala.

Five days after staying in Iximché, the Spanish troops took the route south of Lake Atitlán to attack the Tzutujil tribe. They wanted to avenge the murder of two Cakchiquel emissaries who were sent to convince them to surrender.

During the confrontation the natives were defeated and subdued, so the expedition continued to advance to conquer the Pipils. Then there was the incursion in Cuscatlán (current Salvadoran territory).

In July 1524 Pedro de Alvarado returned to Iximché to found the Villa de Santiago de Guatemala. The name of Guatemala was the same as this territory of the Cakchiqueles, which in the Nahuatl language means "place of many trees."

Due to the indigenous rebellion that subsequently occurred, on November 22, 1527, the newly founded capital moved to Ciudad Vieja, a place close to Antigua Guatemala.

Third phase (indigenous resistance)

Shortly after the founding of Guatemala, the alliance between Spaniards and Cakchiqueles was broken. The indigenous people reacted to the mistreatment they were receiving from the Spanish conquerors and rebelled.

The Cakchiquel rebellion was about to succeed and defeat the Spanish. The Cakchiquels had a well-organized army from a military point of view. This is considered to be one of the most important and difficult stages in the conquest of Guatemala for the Spanish.

However, finally, after a period of five years of battles and fierce resistance, the Cakchiquel people were also subdued by arms.

Already surrendered, their warriors and leaders were taken prisoner. Even their king Belechep-Qat was humiliated in front of the people and the rest of his days were spent washing gold in the rivers.

With the subjugation of the Cakchiquel people, that culture was subdued and decimated, putting an end to the power of the Cakchiquel. In this way the conquest of Guatemala was consummated.

New expeditions and uprisings

In the following years, indigenous uprisings continued to arise, but all were strongly repressed by the Spanish power. Spanish art of war and weapons offered the conquerors an advantage.

In 1543 the city of Cobán was founded and six years later there were the first reductions of the Chuj and Kanjobal tribes.

In 1555 the indigenous Maya of the lowlands assassinated the Spanish Dominican friar Domingo de Vico, and in 1560 there was the reduction of Topiltepeque and the Chol people in Lacandón.

In 1619 new missionary expeditions were made to the jungle of Petén. In 1684 the reduction of the indigenous peoples of San Mateo Ixtatán and Santa Eulalia took place.

Two years later Melchor Rodríguez Mazariegos undertook an expedition against the Lacandones from Huehuetenango. In 1595 other expeditions also set out to conquer this territory.

Between 1695 and 1697 the Franciscans tried to convert the Itza to the Catholic religion, but they were rejected and had to flee. However, on February 13, 1597, after two years of tenacious resistance from the natives, the indigenous people who inhabited the territory of Petén surrendered to the Spanish.

Conqueror's death

Having conquered Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado returned to Mexico to support the Spanish combat against the rebellious indigenous peoples.

During a journey in which he and his troops were climbing a hill, he was run over by one of his companions who was traveling in front of him. The rider rolled over and fell on him along with his horse. After several days of agony, Alvarado died in Guadalajara on July 4, 1541.

Consequences

- One of the most important negative consequences of the conquest of Guatemala was the decrease in the Mayan population, not only during the bloody battles that took place and their subsequent subjugation and enslavement, but also because of disease.

- The Spanish brought with them new diseases that the natives could not resist, such as smallpox, measles and flu. Other diseases such as typhus and yellow fever also appeared during this period and became epidemics, decimating the indigenous populations.

- The rich Mayan civilization and culture was diminished and truncated during the long period of the conquest, which lasted until the end of the 17th century. The monumental cities built over centuries were abandoned by their inhabitants, who fled from the Spanish.

- After the conquest of Guatemalan territory, during the Colony - which lasted almost 300 years - the Captaincy General of Guatemala was created. Its territory and jurisdiction extended from the Soconusco region in Chiapas to the border with Panama.

- The conquest of Guatemala meant for Spain a new and rich war booty, as it expanded its influence and power in the New World.

- The lands that belonged to the indigenous people were taken away from them, so many of them had to flee and take refuge in the jungle and mountains. Others were subjected and enslaved in degrading jobs.

Prominent figures

Pedro de Alvarado and Contreras

His birth was in Badajoz, in the region of Extremadura, Spain, in 1485; his death was in Guadalajara (New Spain) on July 4, 1541.

This conqueror and advance was part of the conquest of Cuba, as well as the exploration of the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of Yucatan led by Juan de Grijalva.

He had a relevant participation in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. For this reason, the conqueror Hernán Cortés entrusted him with the exploration and conquest of Guatemala. He is considered the conqueror of most of the Central American territory (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).

Members of indigenous tribes referred to him as Tonatiuh, which in the Nahuatl language means "the sun" because of his physical appearance: he was fair-skinned and imposing in appearance.

Hernán Cortés (1485 - 1547)

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano was the conqueror of Mexico between 1504 and 1547, when he died in Spain. He held the title of Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca and Hidalgo.

The conquest of Guatemala and Central America is largely due to him, as he was the one who authorized the expedition of its captain Pedro de Alvarado.

Cortés confronted the governor of Cuba and fought him when he tried to arrest him. His rebellion before the Spanish Crown prevented his victories and conquest of Mexico from being recognized.

He only obtained from King Carlos I of Spain the title of marquis, but not that of viceroy. In his place the nobleman Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco was appointed.

Tecún Uman

He was a Quichén chief and warrior, believed to have been born in 1499. Tecún Umán is considered an indigenous national hero of Guatemala for bravely resisting the Spanish conquering army. He died in battle in Quetzaltenango on February 20, 1524.

Belejep-Qat and Cahi-Imox

They were the last Cakchiquel kings. Upon learning that the Quichés had been defeated by the Spanish, they joined Pedro de Alvarado's troops.

They asked the Spanish conqueror to help them fight their enemies, the Tzutujiles. Some time later they faced the Spanish and were also subjected by them.

References

1. History of the Conquest of Guatemala. Retrieved May 10, 2018 from deguate.com
2. The process of conquest. Consulted of uc.cl
3. Phases conquest of Guatemala. Consulted of mindmeister.com
4. The conquest. Consulted of angelfire.com
5. Discovery and conquest of Guatemala. Consulted of preceden.com
6. Pedro de Alvarado. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org