Ancient Chacchoben, "The Place of the Red Maiz"

Chacchoben's largest pyramid is Templo 1, which stands on the Gran Basamento. After our visit to Lago de Bacalar, we continued on to the ancient Maya city of Chacchoben (Chak-cho-ben), located approximately 50 km (31 mi) north of the town of Bacalar. The very scenic route takes you north along the east bank of the lake to the intersection with Highway 293 where you head west. After about 10 km (6 mi), you come to the Chacchoben Archeological Zone. Google maps will sometimes misdirect you to the pueblo of Chacchoben, which is on a different road about 10 km away. Ancient Chacchoben was an important Maya city-state that controlled a substantial region of the southeastern Yucatan Peninsula. Its domain included an important trading center called B'ak Halal. Spanish colonists corrupted the pronunciation into Bacalar. To locate the Chacchoben Archeological Zone on a Google map, click here.


Overview

Site map of the Archeological Zone. You should be able to stroll through all of the site in less than an hour. That is, unless you are a photographer, like me, who is intensely interested in all the architectural details. In that case, I suggest an extra hour or two. Essentials for the trip include good walking shoes, a couple of bottles of water, and some insect repellent. There are plenty of shady spots to stop for a rest and a snack while contemplating the ruined structures.

From the entrance, a trail winds through thick jungle to an impressive pyramid called Templo 24. This pyramid occupies the west side of Plaza B which is surrounded on its north, south and east sides by un-excavated temples and palaces. A low altar, picturesquely overgrown with trees, stands in the center of Plaza B. Further to the east is the Gran Plaza, which spreads out before a huge man-made platform called the Gran Basamento. Standing on the broad level top are Templo 1 and a second pyramid called Templo Las Vasijas. Located at the top of a ceremonial staircase are a pair of large altars called Los Gemelos. To the south of the Gran Plaza are the ruins of a residential area. This section is called Las Vias and was once occupied by the city's elite.

Thick jungle surrounds Chacchoben. Although it looks primordial, it has grown up since the city's abandonment about 1000 AD. Within this jungle, I could just make out mounds of overgrown limestone rubble. These are the remains of buildings which have been mapped by archeologists, but not yet excavated. Some of them may have served administrative or religious purposes, while others are the ancient foundations of the homes of artisans, traders, and other commoners. They lived within the urban area but outside the zone restricted to the elite. Beyond the urban area, farmers grew maiz (corn), frijol (beans) and other crops to feed the city. Archeologists estimate that the city once covered an area of six square kilometers, far larger than the relatively small area that has been excavated.

When we visited, the site was quiet and serene, and almost empty of people. However, cruise ships dock regularly at Mayahual, about an hour away, so there may be times when busloads of noisy tourists swarm the place. The Archeological Zone is open from 8 AM to 5 PM (last access at 4:30). If you get there early, you can probably avoid the crowds. General admission is $60 pesos ($3.14 USD) and parking is free. There are restrooms at the entrance, but no other services are available at the site or in the immediate area.

Broken stela, covered by glyphs too worn and faint to be deciphered. Stelae are upright stone monuments, usually flat and covered on one or both sides with relief carvings or stucco designs. Some ancient sites contain many stelae and, when deciphered, they often reveal details about rulers, dynasties, conquests, and even dates and timelines. However, Chacchoben has only two, and neither contains any intelligible information. This is unfortunate, because very little is known about the ancient history and rulers of this city.

The name of the city, which means "Place of the Red Maiz", comes from the small pueblo a few miles away. No one knows the original name. The first people may have arrived in the area as early as 1000 BC. However, the first settlements weren't constructed until the Late Pre-Classic Era (200 BC). These settlements were gradually incorporated into an urban area which peaked between 300 AD and 700 AD. The Maya abandoned Chacchoben about 1000 AD, except to use its temples and pyramids for ritual purposes. This continued for the following several centuries. Further excavation will, no doubt, result in more information. Unlike other sites I have visited, there are few informational signs at Chacchoben other than one at the entrance. As a result, I had to do a great deal of research to come up with the fairly limited information I present here.


Templo 24 & Plaza B

Templo 24 is the first large structure you encounter at the site. After walking along a jungle path, you enter a broad grassy area. This clearing contains a multi-level pyramid that is 16m (52ft) tall. Broad staircases on all four sides lead up to a temple at the top. Impressed as I was by my first sight of this pyramid, I was astonished to find that this is only the rear (west) side of it.

North side of Templo 24. We proceeded around the pyramid to Plaza B, passing the north side on the way. Above, you can see the north staircase and a bit of the temple at the top. Excavation has revealed that Templo 24 is the last of several phases of construction. Over the centuries, Maya rulers constructed new temples and pyramids over those built by their predecessors, with each new structure larger and more magnificent than the last. The final phase of Templo 24 used the Petén style, typical of cities in the lowlands of northern Guatemala.

The front of Templo 24 faces east. Plaza B can be seen in the foreground. A broad staircase leads up to a terrace below the temple. The stumps of large rectangular pillars line the front of the terrace. On the left side of the staircase you can see the arched entrance of a passageway under the staircase.

In the center of the staircase, part way up to the terrace, you can see an opening which appears to have been made by archeologists looking for a burial. In this part of the Maya world, it is not unusual to find human remains buried under the steps of a pyramid or temple. Usually these are elite individuals and their families. For example, at Oxtankah's Structure VI, the remains of 12 individuals were found in four separate tombs under the stairs. However, I have not been able to determine what, if anything, archeologists found when they dug into these steps.

A large rectangular altar occupies the center of Plaza B. Offerings left here, and sacrificial rituals performed, would have been viewed by the rulers, nobles, and priests standing on Templo 24's staircase and terrace. Other structures surrounding Plaza B would also have accommodated elite audiences. Today, the altar is covered by the spreading roots of large trees. The trained eyes of archeologists were needed to find it in the dense jungle which covered the site in 1972. They would have known to look because such altars are often found near the base of the main staircase of a pyramid or temple.

Un-excavated pyramid beside Plaza B. There are a number of large heaps of rubble around the perimeter of the Plaza B, as well as elsewhere in the site. Those with a conical shape, like this one, are almost certainly un-excavated pyramids. Others are long and rectangular and probably conceal the ruins of administrative or elite residential structures. Like most pre-hispanic sites in Mexico, only a fraction of Chacchoben's ruined structures have been dug. Many of the others have been mapped and some have even been named.


Gran Basamento & Plaza

A magnificent staircase leads up to the top of the Gran Basamento. In the foreground is a broad, flat expanse called the Gran Plaza. The Gran Basamento (Great Platform) forms the western edge of this plaza. The main staircase provides access, along with a smaller one to its left. These are the only ways to enter the platform. The small thatched structure at the bottom of the staircase protects the second of the only two stelae found at Chaccoben.

The rectangular platform rises at least 10m (32ft) above the plaza and measures 99m x 102m  (324ft x 336ft) on the sides. Atop the Gran Basamento are two pyramids and several temples. While these structures are impressive, they are dwarfed by the great platform on which they sit. The number of laborers and amount of man-hours it must have taken to construct the Gran Basamento are mind-boggling. This is particularly so, since the Maya had no metal tools, wheeled vehicles, or draft animals.

The second stairway, seen through the jungle trees. While it is smaller than the other staircase, this one was much more intricately designed and clearly had an important ceremonial function. At the top of the staircase are two large side-by-side altars called Los Gemelos (the twins). The staircase and its ceremonies appear to have been linked to astronomical observations. Part way up the stairs is a stela with a hole in it through which the sun shines at 3 PM on the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year).

The second stairway has multiple landings and platforms. Apparently, multiple ceremonies, or perhaps several parts of the same ceremony, were performed on the various landings and platforms, culminating at the two altars. Passing between the altars, you emerge on the top of the Gran Basamento.

View of the Gemelo on the left side. A stairway on the front leads to the top of each altar. The corner of the right-hand Gemelo can be seen in the lower right of the photo. Also visible is the passage between them, through which processions would proceed onto the Gran Basamento.


Templo de las Vasijas

 
Templo de las Vasijas sits on the northern edge of the Gran Basamento. This is the first pyramid you encounter when you emerge onto the great platform. Templo de las Vasijas (Temple of the Vessels) was named for the ceramic cups, pitchers, bowls, and plates found during its excavation. These vessels once contained offerings left during religious ceremonies. Rising to about 8m (26ft), Templo de las Vasijas is the smaller of the Gran Basamento's two pyramids. The pyramid's single staircase leads up to the remains of a temple on the top level.

View of Templo de las Vasijas from the southeast corner. Similar to Templo 24, the rounded corners show the influence of the Petén architectural style. Elements of the later Chenes and Rio Bec styles can be found in other parts of the ruins. This mix of styles demonstrates how ideas were transmitted along Yucatan's trade routes, along with goods. Archeologists have found evidence of a connection to Dzibanche, another Maya city located to the southwest of Chacchoben.

Carole explores the rear of the pyramid. Templo de las Vasijas sits right on the lip of the Gran Basamento. Note how the terrain drops sharply off to the right. By constructing their main ceremonial center atop a large man-made platform with limited access, Chacchoben's rulers ensured that this area would remain the exclusive domain of the city's elite.


Templo 1

Templo 1, viewed from the base of Templo de las Vasijas. From this point, Templo 1 appears rather small, but that is an illusion because the distance between the two is considerable. This serves to demonstrate the size of the Gran Basamento. The young couple in the middle of the photo were the only other visitors we saw during our visit to Chaccoben.

This view of Templo 1 reveals its true dimensions. Standing 18m (60ft) high, Templo 1 is the tallest of Chacchoben's pyramids. The pyramid's single staircase rises up nine levels from the base to a small temple at the top. The Maya believed that Xibalba (the Underworld) was ruled by nine Lords. At the base of the staircase is a small structure archeologists have dubbed the Adosado (Attached) Temple. It was added to the pyramid in the Post-Classic Era (1000 AD - 1500 AD), when the city had been abandoned as an urban center but its temples were still used for ceremonial purposes.

Front view of Templo 1. Like Los Gemelos, Templo 1 had an astronomical function. During the Summer Solstice, the sun shines through an opening on the top of Templo 1. In the photo above, you can see how the Adosado Temple acts as an antechamber to the great stairway. Directly in front of the Adosado Temple are four small altars.

Interior of the Adosado Temple. The narrow passage on the right leads to the grand staircase. The Adosado Temple creates a threshold between the earthly and the sacred realms and may also have played a role in astronomical observations.


Las Vias, the elite residential area

A long, four-step staircase leads up to the residential area called Las Vias. In Spanish, the name means "the route or road". This probably refers to the layout, which is a long narrow plaza surrounded by low platforms.  In the photo above, the area at the top of the stairs once contained dwellings that were made of perishable materials that have long-since disappeared. In front of the stairs is the narrow plaza. The elite inhabitants of La Vias would have been nobles, priests, and high status warriors. Commoners such as artisans, merchants, and farmers would have lived in humbler structures outside the elite zone.

A low, humped structure stands to the left of the long staircase. The lack of signs at Chaccoben's various structures left me puzzled as to their exact function. I know, in general, that these were residential, but a little more detail would have been helpful. In spite of that, this area was very photogenic because of how the forest has taken over the ruined structures.

Large trees grow atop a residential platform. The forest contains a wide variety of trees, including ramón, cedro, chicozapote, alamo, banyon, guanacaste, and various palms. Local animals include deer, peccary, armadillo, gray fox, spider and howler monkeys, jaguar, ocelot, puma, and tapir.

Chacchoben was initially discovered by a farmer not archeologists. In 1942, a Maya farmer named Servillano Cohuo was looking for farmland when he stumbled across these ancient ruins. He built a house for his family on the Gran Plaza beside the Gran Basamento and grew crops in the area. However, he recognized the value of the ruins and left them untouched and covered by jungle for the next 30 years.

In 1972, an archeologist named Dr. Peter Harrison traveled by helicopter over the usually flat jungle landscape. Looking down, he was surprised to see the tell-tale shapes of temples and pyramids protruding through the thick forest canopy. Harrison returned and, after mapping the ruins, reported his discovery to the Mexican government. Servillano Cohuo was allowed to remain as caretaker of the ruins until he died in 1991, after which the government expropriated the site. However, it wasn't until 1994 that Juan Rique, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), began excavations. In 2002, INAH finally opened Chacchoben to the public. Today, the site is run entirely by workers from the local pueblos, rather than employees of the federal government.

This completes my posting on Chacchoben. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, you will leave any thought or questions in the Comments section below. If you leave a question, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Fort San Felipe, Bacalar's bulwark against pirate attacks

A rusty cannon points toward Lago de Bacalar from one of the fort's four bastions. In my previous posting, I wrote about the piracy that plagued the Caribbean Sea and the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula for 400 years. Between Bacalar's founding in 1544 and the early 18th century, the town's only defense consisted of a primitive earth and wood structure manned by local militia. As a result, Bacalar was subjected to a long series of devastating pirate attacks.

Finally, in 1725, the Spanish Crown bestirred itself and authorized the construction Fuerte (Fort) San Felipe. The fort is located on a bluff along the shore of Lago de Bacalar. In this position, it commands not only the approaches by water but also the trade route that runs north to south along the lakeshore. In this posting, I'll tell you about the history of the fort, its construction, and how it functioned as a military strong point. But first, a bit more about the pirates and those who opposed them.

Pirates attack a merchant ship. New World piracy started in the early16th century, while Cortez was still mopping up resistance to his conquest of the Aztec Empire. It began because the English, French, and Dutch had been excluded from the Americas by a Papal Bull in 1493. This decree gave the New World to the Spanish and Portuguese. The other powers responded by  sponsoring privateers. These were government-licensed business ventures authorized to attack Spanish shipping. In effect, they were legal pirates from whom the sponsoring government got a share of the spoils. Some corrupt officials turned a blind eye to "freebooters" (unlicensed pirates) in return for a personal cut of the spoils. The privateers/pirates not only attacked Spain's merchant ships, but also its coastal towns in the New World. After Bacalar was founded in 1544, the new trading center began to attract pirate attention.

At the beginning of the 17th century, a Dutch pirate named Cornelio Jol--better known as "Peg-leg"--became notorious in the Caribbean. Several times, he dispatched a Cuban, known as Diego the Mulatto, to raid Bacalar. Some of Diego's attacks came overland from the coast, but others arrived by shallow-draft sloops. They traveled from Chetumal Bay on the Caribbean up the Rio Hondo to  the swampy channels that connected the river to Lago de Bacalar.

Other pirates, English this time, nearly destroyed the town in 1628. Later in the century, a pirate named Abraham sacked Bacalar and abducted all of its women, but the Spanish rallied and freed the captives. Abraham had a long memory, however, and in 1652 he returned and thoroughly devastated Bacalar.  This raid, along with later epidemics and Maya uprisings, almost caused the town's abandonment.

However, the Spanish Crown was determined to revive Bacalar as a trading center. In 1725, they decided to build a powerful stone fort and man it with regular Spanish troops. The new structure was intended to replace the wood and earth structure that had proved so ineffective in defending the town. In 1726, colonists from the Canary Islands arrived to resettle and rebuild Bacalar.

Spanish colonial troops, similar to those that manned Fuerte San Felipe. Garrison duty in remote places like Bacalar was not a popular assignment. Regular army units tended to be understaffed and replacements for those felled by disease or wounds were often slow to arrive. So, to supplement the regulars, a local militia was formed from Bacalar's male population. Both the regular troops and the militia were armed with smoothbore flintlock muskets, tipped with long bayonets. Officers carried swords and flintlock pistols. There were also some artillery units, trained to operate the fort's several dozen cannons.

In the 18th century, regular armies were fairly small but highly trained. Men had to learn to maneuver in close order while surrounded by smoke, noise, and horrendous carnage. All the while, they had to perform a complex series of actions to load, aim, and fire their single shot weapons. The accurate range of the smoothbore muskets was fairly short, so coordinated massed-fire was necessary to stop a determined attack. All this required continuous training and drills.

Like the rest of Europe, Spain was a class-stratified society. Military officers were nearly always drawn from the aristocracy. Often they were second or third sons who saw no hope of inheritance and looked to the army for personal advancement. The enlisted men were virtually always commoners. Discipline for them was harsh and included flogging for even fairly minor offenses. This was considered especially necessary in remote outposts that were in constant danger of attack. The motivation among commoners to volunteer for the army would not have been patriotism, a concept foreign to the times. Most men joined simply to make a living or to escape a dull life as a farmworker or laborer. Some, no doubt, joined to evade civilian legal authorities.

In fact, the motivations for entering a life of piracy were nearly identical to those driving the common soldiers. Sometimes, after they were captured at sea or on a shore raid, honest men would join the pirate crews. After all, piracy held the possibility of high adventure and even riches. Another attraction was the amazingly democratic organization of pirate crews. They elected and removed their own officers and shared in the spoils according to the position they occupied in the pirate organization. One man stated that he became a pirate to avoid boredom and that he looked forward to "a short but merry life."

Exterior of Fuerte San Felipe

Fuerte San Felipe viewed from the street below the bluff on which it was built. This side of the fort faces the lake. The fort was first proposed in 1725 by Yucatan's Governor Antonio de Figueroa y Silva. The Crown approved the plan and work continued for eight years, until 1733. Various additions and improvements were added over the next century or so. The builders used wood from local trees and the abundant limestone of the Yucatan Peninsula. In this they followed the example of the pre-hispanic Maya who used the same materials for their palaces, temples, and pyramids.

Plan of the fort from 1772. At the top, you can see a series of profile views of the structure. At the bottom is a bird's eye view. The basic design was a square, with arrow-head-shaped bastions at each corner. Each bastion was named for a different saint, including Santa Ana, San Arturo, Santa Maria, and San Joaquin. The dark rectangular structure in the interior contained the officer's quarters, a storehouse for supplies and ammunition, and a chapel. A deep moat surrounds the fort's whole exterior. The Spanish had long experience in building such defenses and the fort was never successfully assaulted until the Caste War of the mid-19th century.

Carole walks up stone steps leading to the fort's moat and walls. While pirates continued to be a problem until the 19th century, by the time the fort was completed their "Golden Age" had passed. The British in Honduras (now Belize) and local Maya uprisings were now the main threats, with the British viewed as the greatest problem. The British arrived in Belize by accident, through a shipwreck in 1638. The settlement that resulted gradually evolved into many more, although the British refrained from establishing a formal colony until the mid-nineteenth century. The area of the British settlements lies along the coast of the Caribbean immediately to the south of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It was attractive to the British for several reasons: it was almost devoid of Spanish settlements; it provided good bases from which to prey upon Spanish shipping; and--best of all--Belize was the prime source for a type of wood used in the dyeing of textiles.

The high, crenellated, outer walls are surrounded by a deep moat. Sharp stakes were embedded in the bottom of the moat. These were intended to impale attackers attempting to reach the walls. Soldiers fired between the crenellations (open slots) along the top of the wall. The whole fort was constructed so that fire could be brought upon an enemy from multiple directions, leaving no place to hide.


Interior of Fort

View of the entrance of the fort, from the top of the blockhouse tower. Anyone approaching this entrance would first encounter a "V" shaped wall with firing slots on either side of the gate. They would then pass over the moat on a bridge. The one seen above is stone, but it was originally a wooden drawbridge. As you can see above, anyone attacking across the bridge could be brought under fire from multiple directions, including from the top of the blockhouse where I stood when I took this photo. The narrow bridge would force attackers to bunch up, making them easy targets.

View of the battlements from just inside the gate. One arm of the V-shaped wall can be seen on the right. The bridge leads off to the left, while the moat lies between the low wall in the center and the high crenellated wall in the back ground. Anyone standing in this spot could be fired upon from the front, both sides, and above.

The interior courtyard of the fort, including the all-important well. The courtyard is sizable, but troops assembled here could be quickly dispatched to any point that was threatened. The bridge from the gate reaches the courtyard between the two stone pillars in the upper right. In the upper left is one of the four bastions which contained most of the fort's cannons.

A well was an important feature in any fortification that might be brought under siege. Along with ammunition and food, an adequate supply of water was critical. Men could go without food for a considerable time and they could defend themselves with swords and bayonets if the ammunition ran low. However, men can last only about three days without water. A good well was much superior to water stored in casks, which could go stale or be used up.

The wheeled vehicles above are caissons. These were used to haul ammunition and to move cannons from one position to another. A few feet below the bastion's crenellations, you can see a ledge that extends along the walls. The stone ledge once supported a wood structure on which the soldiers could stand or move about while they fought off an attack.

Cannons faced in every direction from which an attack could be launched. In this position, they face inland, toward the town. By 1776, the fort had 24 cannons capable of firing projectiles measuring from one inch to six inches. Additional cannons were added later that had even greater firepower. By the mid-18th century, the threat of piracy had receded somewhat. However, an even greater threat loomed from British Honduras (now Belize). south of the Rio Hondo.

The Spanish had initially claimed that area, but had never settled it. Pirates began to use the bays and islands of northern Belize as supply depots and bases from which to attack Bacalar and other Spanish outposts. Some of these depots and bases eventually became English settlements. To the Spanish, these settlements posed an even greater threat, because they became focused on the exploitation of a valuable wood resource called Palo Tinte ("Dye Stick"). The wood was important in the process of dyeing textiles. There were no gold or silver mines or other high-profit resources in the area, so the wood was coveted by both the Spanish and the English.

View of the courtyard, including the well and the watchtower.  The flat root of this structure is the highest point in the fort. This meant if could function as lookout point, with a good view of a large stretch of the lake, as well as the whole interior of the fort. It would have been a good place from which the fort's commander could direct its defense. In addition, the watchtower could function as a "last ditch" stronghold if attackers managed to scale the outer defenses.

View from atop the lookout point down onto a gun position on the outer wall. This shot provides a sense of the depth of the moat and how difficult it would have been for an attacker to scale the walls. The construction of the original stone fort was not completed until 1733. During the succeeding decade, the attention of the Spanish Crown was focused elsewhere and maintenance was neglected. Finally in 1745, Governor Antonio Benavidez became concerned about the growing English settlements in Belize and the threat they posed to Bacalar. After inspecting Fuerte San Felipe, he persuaded the Crown to strengthen the defenses, including the moat and drawbridge, bastions at each corner, and more cannons.


The Barracks

The Barracks are a single-story, rectangular, stone building. Currently containing the fort's museum, this structure originally served multiple purposes, including that of a defensive position, should the walls be breached. Always deeply religious, the Spanish gave the Barracks the name Jesús Maria and included a small chapel in one of its rooms.

Floor plan showing the multiple functions of Jesús Maria. The chart shows areas for gunpowder storage, supplies, quarters for a small number of troops, the commander's room, the armory, and the chapel. Since the troop quarters are very small, most of the soldiers probably lived in town and only those on duty used this area. Likewise, the commander's room probably served as his office rather than living quarters.

Artifacts recovered in and around the fort. On the lower left are two large iron axes and a couple of iron nails. The long narrow object separating the axes from the cannon balls is a chain, which might have been part of the drawbridge mechanism. The various sizes of the cannon balls attest to the different calibers of the guns mounted on the parapets. At the upper right is an iron pot, possibly for cooking or carrying water.

This completes my posting on Bacalar's Fuerte San Felipe. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, you will leave any comments or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Conquest, Colonization, & Piracy

The Spanish land in the New World. There is a lot going on in this early painting. Three heavily-armed Spaniards stand arrogantly before natives who bring gifts to these strange new people. In the background, other Spaniards raise a cross, symbolic of the Spiritual Conquest that moved in lockstep with the brutal Military Conquest. In the upper right, other natives flee, perhaps exercising more good sense than the ones who brought gifts which only inflamed Spanish greed.

From the 9th to the 12th centuries AD, Yucatan had been dominated by Chichen Itza. In the 12th century, the city of Mayapan surpassed Chichen Itza and become the leader of a great confederation of Maya states. However, in the 15th century a revolt split the confederation into individual city-states. By the time of the Spanish arrival, the Maya world of the Yucatan Peninsula had become politically fragmented into sixteen chieftaincies, constantly warring among themselves. Two of these, Chactemal and Uaymil, occupied most of the present Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The trading center of B'ak Halal (modern Bacalar) belonged to Uaymil, while the chieftaincy of Chactemal included the modern location of Quintana Roo's capital, Chetumal.

Shipwrecked Spanish sailor Gonzalo Guerrero, with his Maya family. The very first Spaniards who arrived in Yucatan were not the arrogant conquerors shown in the previous painting. They were the crew of a ship sailing from Darien (Panama) to Hispanola (Santo Domingo). Their vessel sank near Jamaica and the survivors drifted in a lifeboat to the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. There, they were captured by Maya warriors. Some of the crew were sacrificed and others died of disease. However, Jerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero survived and were kept as slaves.

After two years, the two were separated when Guerrero was given as a gift to the chief of Chactemal. He assimilated into the Maya culture and took a Maya wife. His three children were the very first Mexican mestizos (mixed Spanish and indigenous). Using his Spanish military skills, he proved himself as a leader of warriors and rose to a high level in Maya society. In 1519, Hernán Cortéz arrived on the island of Cozumel, off the Yucatan coast. There, he found and rescued Jerónimo Aguilar, but could not persuade Guerrero to join his expedition. Guerrero clearly recognized that Cortéz represented the coming of the Conquest and decided that his loyalty was now to his Maya community. For several years he led their forces in fierce resistance to the Spanish invaders. Ultimately,  Guerrero was killed battling them in Honduras.

War dogs attack native prisoners while Spanish gentlemen enjoy the spectacle. The Spanish professed horror at the human sacrifice they encountered in the New World, but they practiced a good deal of it themselves. They brought the Inquisition with them from Spain, which resulted in the burning of quite a number of people at the stake. The Inquisition also utilized numerous other forms of Old World torture, refined over the millennia. The victims were often native priests and shamans who refused Christianity and continued to practice the ancient religions. War captives were also brutally treated for the offense of resisting Spanish domination. Sometimes, however, they were just people rounded up to provide amusing spectacles like the one shown above.

The Spanish found the Maya a much more difficult population to conquer than the Aztecs of central Mexico. The hierarchical political structure of the Aztec Empire enabled the Spanish to quickly seize control. It took Hernán Cortéz only two years, from 1519 to 1521 to defeat the Aztecs and capture Tenochtitlán, their capital. On the other hand, Francisco de Montejo received permission in 1526 to conquer and colonize Yucatan. In contrast to the Spanish experience with the Aztecs, this task took 20 years, and was not completed until 1546. B'ak Halal was one of the last cities captured. According to a sign at Fuerte San Felipe, at Bacalar, "In 1544, on top of the corpses and rubble of B'ak Halal, the Spanish founded the Villa de Salamanca de Bacalar."

The primary difference between the Maya and the Aztec conquests was the decentralized Maya political structure. Each chieftaincy had to be conquered, one at a time. Often, they didn't stay conquered and rebellions had to be suppressed. Tayasal, located in northern Guatemala, was the last Maya kingdom to be captured. However, its conquest took until 1697. That was 171 years after Francisco Montejo began his assault on the Maya of Yucatan and 178 years after Hernán Cortéz marched on the Aztecs.


New World wealth flows to Spain

Spanish galleon of the type used from the 16th to the 18th centuries. These ships were armed with numerous cannon and carried rich cargos. As such, they were both the battleships and supertankers of their day. The first galleon was designed in the 1550s by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish admiral and advisor to the king. The raised structures on the bow and stern, called the forecastle and aftercastle, were good for defense but also made the galleon much less nimble than smaller, lighter ships. In the 17th century, the flagship of Spain's Flota de Indias (West Indies fleet) was called the San Martin.

Just as soon as a colony was established, commerce would begin to flow. Silver, gold, and other luxury products were shipped exclusively to either Seville or Cadiz in Spain, so that the king could be sure to receive his Quinta (Royal Fifth) of the treasure. All the products needed by the colonists were carried from Spain to Bacalar and the many other settlements on or near the New World's coasts. The Spanish Crown established strict rules for this commerce. Until the reforms of the 1780s, colonists were forbidden from trading with any other nation, or even with other Spanish colonies. All goods they imported had to be produced in Spain and transported by Spanish ships. As time went on, these rules were difficult to enforce and the result was considerable smuggling.

This octante was one of numerous navigational instruments used on Spanish ships. An octante measured the height of the stars in order to find the longitude of the ship at a given point in time. The arc at the base represents an octavo (1/8) of the circumference of a complete circle, hence the name of the instrument. The octante was the predecessor of the sextant, a navigational instrument still used today. Other navigational aids included a brújula marina (marine compass), reloj de arena (hourglass), astrolabio planisférico (measures the altitude of the sun over the horizon), and nocturlabio (determines the hour at night).

Two other types of Spanish ships used in the Caribbean. The ship of the line (top) was a style of warship developed by Spain in the 17th century. The "line" refers to the battle line formed during naval warfare. Such ships continued in use into the second half of the 19th century. A ship of the line had three decks armed with cannon, making it a formidable instrument of battle. It had a lower aftercastle than a galleon, and no forcastle, so was quicker and more maneuverable.

The brig (bottom) was a fast and very maneuverable ship developed in the second half of the 17th century. It had two masts with large square sails as well as a jib sail on the mainmast. Because it was smaller and quicker than a ship of the line or a galleon, it was better suited to chase the pirates that began to plague the Caribbean as early as the 16th century.


African slavery follows native population crash

A Spaniard whips a hapless native with a cat 'o nine tails. Whipping recalcitrant natives was a popular method of keeping them in line. Even the evangelizing friars utilized this form of punishment, sometimes because an indigenous person failed to show up for mass or some other religious occasion. Spanish abuse and massacres killed off substantial number of natives, but imported European diseases were the main cause of the drastic decline of the indigenous population. These diseases arrived with Cortéz's expedition, as well as with later Spanish immigrants. Wave after wave of epidemics afflicted the natives with diseases for which they had no resistance. Between 1650 and 1750,  in many areas as much as 90% of the indigenous population died.

It was one thing for the Spanish to kill off some natives through massacres or abuse. It was disastrous to lose 90% of the workforce, since the Spanish depended on the native population for nearly all forms of manual labor. Every Spaniard, after all, wanted to consider him/herself part of the gentry and above all that. Burgeoning industries such as mining, textiles, and sugar production were very labor intensive and required a workforce that could survive long hours of work and periodic epidemics. The solution chosen by the Spanish (and later by the English and French) was African slavery.

Slave ships were typically packed tight and many people died during the journey. Even a substantial loss of life during transit would not inhibit great profits at the end. In 1501, the first African slaves in the Americas were brought to the Spanish Caribbean colony of Hispanola. This was 118 years before they were imported to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Interestingly, the first African slaves to arrive in mainland North America came in 1519 with the Cortéz expedition. One of them was infected with smallpox, leading to the first great epidemic among the native people. Smallpox caused the death of Cuitláhuac, Emperor Moctezuma's immediate successor, which weakened the Aztec defense against the Spanish invaders.

In 2006, the remains of four African slaves were unearthed at a colonial-era graveyard in Campeche, an early Spanish seaport on the Gulf Coast of Yucatan. The bones are those of young-to-middle aged men and date from about 1550 to the late 1600s. This period matches the time of the indigenous population crash. The Spanish bought their slaves through the Portuguese, who controlled the African slave trade from West African posts they had established in the late 1400s. In addition to working in mining, textiles, and sugar production, African slaves were employed as household servants by wealthy Spaniards living the colonial cities.

Spanish soldiers brand the face of a newly arrived African slave, while others wait their turn. One grinning soldier wields the brand while another stands on the slave's ankle restraints and grips his neck so that he can't avoid the hot iron. Faces were branded so that someone who was a slave could be immediately identified as such.

Since these horrific events occurred many centuries ago, there is sometimes a tendency to view them as just the way things were done in those days. We should not forget that the Nazis, Japanese, and Soviets all employed large-scale slave labor as recently as the mid-20th century. In fact, slavery continues to be a problem in many parts of the world. It is estimated that there are between 21 million and 70 million enslaved people worldwide, depending upon the the definition of slavery and the method of counting them.

The rise of piracy

A small boat packed with pirates maneuvers around a lumbering galleon. Piracy in the New World started early. One of the first documented attacks occurred in 1523, when a French corsario (privateer) named Jean Fleury captured two Spanish galleons packed with Aztec treasure. Hernán Cortéz had overthrown the Aztec Empire only the year before and was sending the booty back to Spain.

Jean Fleury was a privateer, or state-sponsored pirate, who operated out of Dieppe on the coast of Normandy. The treasure he captured was intended for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whose domain included Spain. Instead, it ended up in the hands of the French King Francis I, a rival of Charles V. Fleury's haul included gold bullion, enameled gold and jade, emeralds, pearls, works of art such as mosaic masks covered with fine stones, as well as exotic animals. On the same voyage, he also captured a Spanish ship out of Hispanola carrying gold, pearls, sugar and cowhides valued at 20,000 pesos.

Before these spectacular seizures, the other nations of Europe were unaware of the wealth to be had on the mainland of the Americas. Soon, however, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico swarmed with ships sent by the other European powers. Some were privateers, while others were outright pirates. A couple of years after his seizure of Cortéz' treasure ships, Fleury was captured by the Spanish while on another privateering voyage. Despite his legal status as a privateer, Charles V declared him a pirate and hanged him to set an example.

Sloops like this were among the favorite vessels of pirates, particularly in the 18th century. Although much smaller than a galleon, ship of the line, or a brig, the sloop was fast and agile. It could easily catch a slow-moving galleon or other merchant ship. If a more powerful ship suddenly appeared, the pirate sloop could slip away into the maze of reefs and islands along the New World coasts. The bigger pursuer would think twice about following for fear of running aground.

In the 16th century, the main sources of wealth flowing from the New World to the Old were precious minerals such as gold and silver, cotton, and wood from Campeche on the coast of Yucatan. As previously discussed, the lucrative African slave trade flowed in the opposite direction.

A Papal Bull, promulgated in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, had divided the New World between Spain and Portugal. This document excluded the other European powers, who were eager to gain markets and new sources of wealth. For almost a century, their attempts to set up their own colonies were blocked by the Papal Bull, backed up by Spanish military power. In response, the French, English, and Dutch governments licensed privateers to seize what they could of the Spanish largesse.

Pirate weapons of the 17th and 18th centuries. At the top is an 18th century flintlock "blunderbuss". This was a smoothbore weapon that could be loaded with a large lead ball or used as a shotgun for fighting at close quarters. The two 17th century boarding swords (also known as cutlasses) were used when pirates clambered aboard a merchant ship to assault its crew. The long, heavy blades of the cutlasses made them fearsome weapons, while the metal guards surrounding the hilts protected the hands of the men wielding them. The two 17th century pistols are smoothbore flintlocks. The top pistol is of German manufacture while the bottom is English.

Pirates sack and burn Havana. Galleons were not the only targets of pirates and privateers. They also attacked ports like Havana and inland towns like Bacalar, where treasure was gathered for shipment to Spain. Bacalar, although set back a few miles from the Caribbean coast, was repeatedly captured and plundered in a manner similar to what you see above. Sometimes the attacks occurred with the connivance of the local colonists. The Spanish Crown set a policy that towns like Bacalar could not trade with foreigners, or even with other Spanish colonies. In addition, all goods arriving in New World ports had to originate in Spain and be transported by Spanish ships. To get around these onerous rules, colonists engaged in smuggling and some connived with pirates if the price was right.

Plano, or map, of Bacalar in 1746, showing Fuerte San Felipe. Because of incessant pirate attacks, the Spanish Crown began to fortify its colonial ports and towns. Fuerte (Fort) San Felipe was constructed in 1729, after a particularly brutal pirate attack on Bacalar in the late 17th century. The plano shows the fort situated on a bluff overlooking Lago de Balacar. The fort is square, with diamond-shaped bastions on each corner. All approaches to the fort could be covered by the cannons mounted within the bastions. The rectangular structure inside the fort housed troops, store supplies, and served as an administrative center. Fuerte San Felipe is an excellent example of colonial-era Spanish military architecture. In my next posting, I'll give you a detailed look at the fort, as well as outlining some of its interesting history.

This completes my posting on the Conquest, Colonization, and Piracy that marked the colonial era in the Southern Yucatan Peninsula. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, that you will please leave any thoughts or comments in the Comments section below, or email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim