por We explain how Guatemala was discovered, the stages of its conquest, the consequences and the prominent figures of the process
The conquest of Guatemala It took place between 1525 and 1530, after a bloody period of battles and clashes between the Spanish conquistadors and the native peoples. This historical process was part of the period of Spanish conquest and colonization of the American continent.
The Spanish discovery and conquest of Guatemala is attributed to Captain Pedro de Alvarado. His expedition was authorized by the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés and arrived in Guatemalan territory at the beginning of 1524. However, other expeditions carried out a few years before had already explored the coasts of these territories.
Most of the conquered peoples belonged to the Mayan civilization that was based in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica. The discovered and conquered territories included several Mesoamerican kingdoms. The Mayan people were considered by the conquerors as «infidels».
For this reason, for more than 150 years it was subdued by the conquerors to try to convert it to Catholicism, ignoring the achievements of this civilization that was almost extinct. After fighting bloody battles between 1525 and 1530, the native Mesoamerican peoples finally had to surrender to the Spanish army.
War tactics and Spanish technology prevailed, the natives were subdued and their territories conquered. Guatemala City was the third most important in America in the Colony, after Mexico and Lima. Its territories formed the Captaincy General of Guatemala, dependent on the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
discovery of Guatemala
The first contact between the Mayan peoples and European explorers occurred in the early 16th century. It happened in the Yucatan peninsula in 1511, during the sinking 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 Yucatán 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 territories located in the south of Mexico, highly populated and rich in gold.
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 lowlands located to the south of the Pacific coast. 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. The majority of the expeditionary troop was made up of Tlaxcalan indigenous people, who had been promised freedom and other benefits.
The natives were not surprised by the Spanish conquerors, since 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 being divided among themselves. That was one of the reasons for his submission.
Phases of the conquest of Guatemala
First phase
According to Cortés himself, the army left on December 6, 1523. At the beginning of February 1524, the first confrontation between Spaniards and Quichés occurred 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 Spanish headed for the Guatemalan highlands.
The conquistador Pedro de Alvarado and his troops arrived at the city of Xelajú, which was later refounded and called Quetzaltenango. During the journey they encountered resistance from the natives commanded by Prince Azumanché. He was a relative of the Quiché chief and warrior Tecún Umán, who harshly faced the Spanish army in Guatemala.
The Spanish defeated the natives in the battle that took place near the Olintepeque River, where Azumanché lost his life. After the combat, the Spanish rested in Xelajú to prepare the next step of the expedition.
In this phase, two important battles were fought, among other bloody combats: The battle of Pinar and the battle of the Llanos de Urbina.
indigenous subjugation
The Quichés who put up resistance to the Spanish surrendered after the two battles. However, his bosses hatched 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 Quiché chiefs to be burned.
As the expedition progressed, they found resistance among the native tribes that refused to submit. Alvarado’s troops were joined by the Cakchiquels, to whom the conqueror requested support because the Cakchiquels were enemies of the Quichés.
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 Cakchiquels. 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 advancing to conquer the Pipiles. Later the incursion in Cuscatlán (current Salvadoran territory) took place.
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 that of this Cakchiquel territory, which in the Nahuatl language means “place of many trees”.
Due to the indigenous rebellion that followed, on November 22, 1527, the newly founded capital was moved to Ciudad Vieja, a place close to Antigua Guatemala.
Third phase (indigenous resistance)
Shortly after the founding of Guatemala, the alliance between the Spanish and the Cakchiquels was broken. The indigenous people reacted to the mistreatment they were receiving from the Spanish conquerors and rebelled.
The rebellion of the Cakchiquels was about to succeed and defeat the Spanish. The Cakchiquels had a well-organized army from a military point of view. It is considered that this was one of the most important and difficult stages in the conquest of Guatemala for the Spanish.
Finally, however, after a period of five years of battles and fierce resistance, the Cakchiquel people were subdued under arms as well.
Already surrendered, their warriors and chiefs were taken prisoner. Even his king Belejep-Qat was humiliated in front of the people and spent the rest of his days 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 Cakchiquels. In this way the conquest of Guatemala was consummated.
New expeditions and uprisings
In the following years, indigenous uprisings continued, but they were all strongly repressed by Spanish power. The Spanish art of war and weapons offered an advantage to the conquistadors.
In 1543 the city of Cobán was founded and six years later the first reductions of the Chuj and Kanjobal tribes took place.
In 1555, lowland Maya Indians assassinated the Spanish Dominican friar Domingo de Vico, and in 1560 saw the reduction of Topiltepeque and the Chol people into the Lacandón.
In the year 1619 new missionary expeditions were made to the Petén jungle. In 1684 the reduction of the indigenous towns of San Mateo Ixtatán and Santa Eulalia took place.
Two years later, Melchor Rodríguez Mazariegos set out from Huehuetenango on an expedition against the Lacandones. 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 Petén territory surrendered to the Spanish.
death of the conqueror
Having conquered Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado returned to Mexico to support the Spanish combat against the revolting indigenous people.
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 and fell on top of him along with his horse. After several days of agony, Alvarado died in Guadalajara on July 4, 1541.
Consequences of the conquest
– One of the most important negative consequences of the conquest of Guatemala was the decrease in the Maya population, not only during the bloody battles that took place and their subsequent subjugation and enslavement, but also due to diseases.
– The Spanish brought with them new diseases that the indigenous people could not resist, such as smallpox, measles and flu. Other diseases such as typhus and yellow fever also appeared during this period and became epidemic, 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 the 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 booty of war, as it expanded its influence and power in the New World.
– The lands that belonged to the indigenous people were taken from them, so many of them had to flee and take refuge in the jungle and mountains. Others were subdued and enslaved in demeaning jobs.
Notable characters in the conquest
Pedro de Alvarado y 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 headed by Juan de Grijalva.
He had a relevant participation in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. For this…