Guatemala, Spanish conquest of

The Spanish conquest of Guatemala is a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonzation of the Americas, in which Spanish colonizers gradually incorporate the territory that becomes the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain.

Before the conquest, this territory contains a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which are Maya.

Many conquistadors view the Maya as "infidels" who need to be forcefully converted and pacified, disregarding the achievements of their civilization.

The first contact between the Maya and European explorers comes in the early sisteenth century when a Spanish ship sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo is wrecked on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511.

Several Spanish expeditions follow in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast.

The Spanish conquest of the Maya is a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resist integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat takes almost two centuries.

Pedro de Alvarado arrives in Guatemala from the newly conquered Mexico in early 1524, commanding a mixed force of Spanish conquistadors and native allies, mostly from Tlaxcala and Cholula.

Geographic features across Guatemala now bear Nahuatl placenames owing to the influence of these Mexican allies, who translate for the Spanish.

The Kaqchikel Maya initially ally themselves with the Spanish, but soon rebel against excessive demands for tribute and do not finally surrender until 1530.

In the meantime the other major highland Maya kingdoms have each been defeated in turn by the Spanish and allied warriors from Mexico and already subjugated Maya kingdoms in Guatemala.

The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin Are first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remain independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi finally defeats the last independent Maya kingdom.Spanish and native tactics and technology differ greatly.

The Spanish view the taking of prisoners as a hindrance to outright victory, whereas the Maya prioritize the capture of live prisoners and of booty.

The indigenous peoples of Guatemala lack key elements of Old World technology such as a functional wheel, horses, iron, steel, and gunpowder; they are also extremely susceptible to Old World diseases, against which they have no resistance.

The Maya prefer raiding and ambush to large-scale warfare, using spears, arrows and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades; the Xinca of the southern coastal plain use poison on their arrows.

In response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya take to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes.

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