Itza people

Hernán Cortés prepares to lead an expedition to Honduras over land, cutting across Acalan in southern Campeche and the Itza kingdom in what is now the northern Petén Department of Guatemala.

His aim is to subdue the rebellious Cristóbal de Olid, whom he had sent to conquer Honduras; Olid has, however, set himself up independently on his arrival in that territory.

Cortés leaves Tenochtitlan on October 12, 1524 with one hundred and forty Spanish soldiers, ninety-three of them mounted, three thousand Mexican warriors, one hundred and fifty horses, a herd of pigs, artillery, munitions and other supplies.

He also has with him the captured Aztec emperor Cuauhtemoc, and Cohuanacox and Tetlepanquetzal, the captive Aztec lords of Texcoco and Tlacopan.

Cortés had marched into Maya territory in Tabasco; the army had crossed the Usumacinta River near Tenosique and crosses into the Chontal Maya province of Acalan, where he recruits six hundred Chontal Maya carriers.

In Acalan, Cortés believes that the captive Aztec lords are plotting against him and he orders Cuauhtemoc and Tetlepanquetzal to be hanged.

Cortés and his army leave Acalan on March 5, 1525.

The Cortés expedition had passed onward through Kejache territory and reports that the Kejache towns are situated in easily defensible locations and are often fortified.

One of these is built on a rocky outcrop near a lake and a river that feeds into it.

The town is fortified with a wooden palisade and is surrounded by a moat.

Cortés reports that the town of Tiac is even larger and is fortified with walls, watchtowers and earthworks; the town itself is divided into three individually fortified districts.

Tiac is said to have been at war with the unnamed smaller town.

The Kejache claim that their towns are fortified against the attacks of their aggressive Itza neighbors.

They arrived at the north shore of Lake Petén Itzá on March 13, 1525.

The Roman Catholic priests accompanying the expedition celebrate mass in the presence of Aj Kan Ek', the king of the Itza, who is said to be so impressed that he pledges to worship the cross and to destroy his idols.

Cortés accepts an invitation from Kan Ek' to visit Nojpetén (also known as Tayasal), and crosses to the Maya city with twenty Spanish soldiers while the rest of his army continues around the lake to meet him on the south shore.

On his departure from Nojpetén, Cortés leaves behind a cross and a lame horse that the Itza treat as a deity, attempting to feed it poultry, meat and flowers, but the animal will soon die.

The Spanish will not officially contact the Itza again until the arrival of Franciscan priests in 1618, when Cortés' cross is said to still be standing at Nojpetén.

From the lake, Cortés continues south along the western slopes of the Maya Mountains, a particularly arduous journey that takes twelve days to cover thirty-two kilometers (twenty miles), during which he loses more than two-thirds of his horses.

When he comes to a river swollen with the constant torrential rains that had been falling during the expedition, Cortés turns upstream to the Gracias a Dios rapids, which take two days to cross and cost him more horses.

The Cortés expedition arrives at the Maya village of Tenciz on April 15, 1525.

With local guides they head into the hills north of Lake Izabal, where their guides abandon them to their fate.

The expedition becomes lost in the hills and comes close to starvation before they capture a Maya boy who leads them to safety.

Cortés finds a village on the shore of Lake Izabal, perhaps Xocolo.

Cortés crosses the Dulce River to the settlement of Nito, somewhere on the Amatique Bay, with about a dozen companions, and waits there for the rest of his army to regroup over the next week.

By this time the remnants of the expedition have been reduced to a few hundred; Cortés succeeds in contacting the Spaniards he is searching for, only to find that Cristóbal de Olid's own officers had already put down his rebellion.

Cortés then returns to Mexico by sea.

The political center of the Mayan province of Dzuluinicob ceases to exist at the time that British colonists are becoming increasingly interested in settling the area at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

The Maya living in the area of Tipu have enjoyed autonomy from Spanish rule, but in 1696, Spanish soldiers use Tipu as a base from which they pacify the area and supporte missionary activities.

The Spanish conquer the Itza 1n 1697, and in 1707, the Spanish forcibly resettle the inhabitants of Tipu to the area near Lago Peten Itza.