Spanish conquest of Chiapas
The Spanish conquest of Chiapas was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish conquistadores against the Late Postclassic Mesoamerican polities in the territory that is now incorporated into the modern Mexican state of Chiapas. The region is physically diverse, featuring a number of highland areas, including the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Montañas Centrales, a southern littoral plain known as Soconusco and a central depression formed by the drainage of the Grijalva River.
Before the Spanish conquest, Chiapas was inhabited by a variety of indigenous peoples, including the Zoques, various Maya peoples, such as the Lakandon Chʼol and the Tzotzil, and the Chiapanecas. Soconusco had been incorporated into the Aztec Empire, centred in Valley of Mexico, and paid the Aztecs tribute. News of strangers first arrived in the region as the Spanish penetrated and overthrew the Aztec Empire. In the early 1520s, several Spanish expeditions crossed Chiapas by land, and Spanish ships scouted the Pacific coast. The first highland colonial town in Chiapas, San Cristóbal de los Llanos, was established by Pedro de Portocarrero in 1527. Within a year, Spanish dominion extended over the upper drainage basin of the Grijalva River, Comitán, and the Ocosingo valley. Encomienda rights were established, although in the earlier stages of conquest these amounted to little more than slave-raiding rights.
The colonial province of Chiapa was established by Diego Mazariegos in 1528, with the reorganisation of existing encomiendas and colonial jurisdictions, and the renaming of San Cristóbal as Villa Real, and its relocation to Jovel. Excessive Spanish demands for tribute and labour caused a rebellion by the indigenous inhabitants, who attempted to starve out the Spanish. The conquistadores launched punitive raids, but the natives abandoned their towns and fled to inaccessible regions. Internal divisions among the Spanish led to a general instability in the province; eventually the Mazariegos faction gained concessions from the Spanish Crown that allowed for the elevation of Villa Real to the status of city, as Ciudad Real, and the establishment of new laws that promoted stability in the newly conquered region.
Geography
The Mexican state of Chiapas occupies the extreme southeast of Mexico, covering an area of. To the west, it borders with the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, and to the north with Tabasco. It borders on the east with Guatemala; the southern border consists of of Pacific coastline. Chiapas is geographically and culturally diverse. It features two principal highland regions: to the south is the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and in central Chiapas are the Montañas Centrales. They are separated by the Depresión Central, containing the drainage basin of the Grijalva River. The Sierra Madre highlands gain altitude from west to east, with the highest mountains near the Guatemalan border.The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre. Although the entire coastal strip is often referred to as Soconusco, Soconusco proper is the southeastern portion characterised by a humid tropical climate and rich agricultural lands. The northwestern portion of the coastal strip featuring a drier climate was historically referred to as El Despoblado ; it is generally referred to now as the Isthmus Coast Region.
The Depresión Central consists of a drainage basin some long and varying in width from. The Grijalva River is fed by drainage from the Cuchumatanes mountains of Guatemala and from both of the Chiapas highland regions, particularly the Sierra Madre. The wide plains feature a hot climate with moderate rainfall. The Depresión Central is itself divided into two zones, the eastern is the Grijalva Valley stretching from the Guatemalan border to the Sumidero Canyon; the western zone is the Meseta Central, or Central Plateau, in colonial times referred to as the Valle de Jiquipilas y Cintalapa. This region of high plains blocks the passage of the Grijalva River, which has cut its way through towards Tabasco by means of the Sumidero Canyon. Los Chimalapas is another highland region at the northern extreme of the Meseta Central and bordering with Oaxaca; it is considered the first upthrust of the Sierra Madre.
The Central Highlands rise sharply to the north of the Grijalva, to a maximum altitude of, then descend gradually towards the Yucatán Peninsula. They are cut by deep valleys running parallel to the Pacific coast, and feature a complex drainage system that feeds both the Grijalva and the Lacantún River, which feeds into the Usumacinta River. The Central Highlands feature high rainfall and diverse vegetation dependent upon altitude, including high-altitude pine forests, montane tropical rain forests, and lowland tropical rain forests further north and east towards the plains of Tabasco and Petén. At the eastern end of the Central Highlands is the Lacandon Forest, which is largely mountainous with lowland tropical plains at its easternmost extreme.
Chiapas before the conquest
The earliest human inhabitants of Chiapas were foragers living in the northern highlands and along the coastal strip from approximately 6000 BC until about 2000 BC. For approximately the last two millennia BC, the majority of the territory that is now covered by the state of Chiapas was occupied by Zoque-speaking peoples. Gradually, Mayan-speakers began to make inroads from the east and, from about 200 AD, Chiapas was divided roughly equally between the Zoques in the western half and Maya in the eastern half; this distribution continued up to the time of the Spanish conquest.A broad swathe of western Chiapas was held by the Zoques, covering the Depresión Central, the middle Grijalva basin, the Chimalapas and parts of the Pacific coastline. The main Zoque settlements in the Depresión Central were Copainalá, Mezcalapa, Quechula and Tecapatán. Their settlements on the western side of the Grijalva River included Citalapa, Jiquipilas, Ocozocuautla and the Corzos valley. Coyatocmó was a small Zoque settlement that grew into the modern state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez. The Aztecs exacted tribute from the Zoques, and dominated trade routes running through their territory. In pre-Columbian times, the Depresión Central featured two of the largest cities in the region, Chiapa and Copanahuastla. The area around Chiapa de Corzo was occupied by the Chiapanec people, unrelated to either the Zoques or Maya. The Chiapanecas were militarily powerful before the Spanish conquest; they had forced a number of important Zoque settlements to pay them tribute, and had successfully resisted being incorporated into the Aztec Empire. The Chiapaneca territory lay between the territories of the Zoques and the Tzotzil Maya, in the upper and middle Grijalva basin; their main settlements were Acala, Chiapa, Ostuta, Pochutla and Suchiapa.
The central highlands were occupied by a number of Maya peoples, including the Tzotzil, who were divided into a number of provinces; the province of Chamula was said to have five small towns grouped closely together. The Tojolabal were another Maya people, with territory around Comitán. The Coxoh Maya held territory in the upper reaches of the Grijalva drainage, near the Guatemalan border, and were probably a subgroup of the Tojolabal. Soconusco was an important communication route between the central Mexican highlands and Central America. It had been subjugated by the Aztec Triple Alliance at the end of the 15th century, under the emperor Ahuizotl, and paid tribute in cacao. The Cholan Maya-speaking Lakandon controlled territory along the tributaries of the Usumacinta River spanning eastern Chiapas and southwestern Petén in Guatemala. The Lakandon had a fierce reputation amongst the Spanish.
Prelude to conquest
Rumours of strangers on the Atlantic coast reached Chiapas long before the physical presence of Spaniards in the region. This was followed by messengers from the Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II, to the Kʼicheʼ Maya of the Guatemalan Highlands, warning them to prepare for war against the Spanish intruders. This was soon followed by news that the great Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had fallen to the conquistadores. A mixed embassy that included Chiapanecas, Kʼicheʼs and Kaqchikel Maya visited Hernan Cortés in the recently conquered Aztec capital, and were well received.In 1522, Spanish ships explored the Pacific shore of Chiapas when Andrés Niño followed the coast from Panama northwest to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In December that year, Cuzcacuatl, who was lord of the Tzotzil Maya town of Zinacantan, travelled to the Spanish settlement at Villa del Espíritu Santo to pledge an alliance with the newcomers.
Strategies, tactics and weaponry
The Spanish conquest had as its principal aims the physical incorporation of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas into the Spanish Empire, and their spiritual conversion to Christianity. This involved the dismantling of indigenous power structures, the destruction of pagan temples and idols, the concentration of indigenous populations in centralised settlements that could be more easily controlled and evangelised, the incorporation of these new settlements into the Spanish system of tributes and taxes, and the introduction of Christian imagery. One side of this involved armed struggle and the imposition of Spanish colonial administration by force; the religious side of this struggle was the generally peaceful conversion of indigenous populations to Christianity. In Chiapas, such evangelisation efforts were generally carried out by the Dominican Order. The Dominicans became involved in the concentration of Indians into new settlements, the construction of churches and convents, and the religious instruction of the natives.The 16th-century Spanish conquistadores were armed with broadswords, rapiers, crossbows, matchlocks and light artillery. Mounted conquistadores were armed with a lance, that also served as a pike for infantrymen. A variety of halberds and bills were also employed. As well as the one-handed broadsword, a long two-handed version was also used. Crossbows had arms stiffened with hardwoods, horn, bone and cane, and supplied with a stirrup to facilitate drawing the string with a crank and pulley. Crossbows were easier to maintain than matchlocks, especially in a humid tropical climate.
Metal armour was of limited use in the hot, wet tropical climate. It was heavy and had to be constantly cleaned to prevent rusting; in direct sunlight, metal armour became unbearably hot. Conquistadores often went without metal armour, or only donned it immediately prior to battle. They were quick to adopt quilted cotton armour based upon that used by their native opponents, and commonly combined this with the use of a simple metal war hat. Shields were considered essential by both infantry and cavalry; generally this was a circular target shield, convex in form and fashioned from iron or wood. Rings secured it to the arm and hand.
While the encomienda colonial labour-supply system was in the process of being established, slave raids became a part of the cycle of conquest. The Spanish would round up indigenous peoples, brand them as slaves, and trade them at ports on the Gulf of Mexico for horses and weaponry, allowing further conquest and the acquisition of new slaves for trade.
The Tzotzil Maya of highland Chiapas used spears, thrown rocks, bows and arrows, and large flexible cotton shields that protected the warrior from head to foot and could be rolled up for storage. Towns were sometimes defended with walls and barricades, built from packed earth and stone, and reinforced with tree trunks. Defenders would hurl stones down from above, or pour boiling water mixed with lime and ashes upon attackers. As the Spanish became established in Chiapas, indigenous resistance took the form of flight to inaccessible regions.