The Province of Yucatán, or the Captaincy General, Governorate, Intendancy, or Kingdom of Yucatán, was a first order administrative subdivision of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in the Yucatán Peninsula.

Geography

Physical

The Yucatán Peninsula is a low-lying, tropical, karstic platform of circa 300000 km2, bound by the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Bay of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea to the southeast.

Human

At the dawn of the sixteenth century, the Peninsula encompassed various kuchkabalo'ob or Postclassic Mayan states. At least some of these are believed to have previously been administrative districts of Chichen Itza and Mayapan.

History

Sixteenth century

Before conquest

Peninsular residents are thought to have first learnt of the Spanish in late 1502, upon Christopher Columbus's landing at Guanaja in late July or early August 1502. Spaniards are thought to have first reached the Yucatán Peninsula in the latter half of 1508, during the Pinzón–Solís voyage. The first Spanish residents of Yucatán were Gonzalo Guerrero, Jerónimo de Aguilar, and their stranded colleagues, who in 1511 had been swept towards the Peninsula from their shipwreck at the Pedro Bank, southwest of Jamaica, and thereafter impressed or enslaved by a batab or mayor of the Ekab Province. Hispano-Mayan hostilities broke out on 5 March 1517, when the Hernández de Córdoba expedition were ambushed by the military or militia of the Ekab Province near that state's eponymous capital. The expeditionaries' reports of grand Mayan cities lead to further Cuban expeditions to the Gulf coast of the Peninsula, notably leading up to the 1519–1521 conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Spanish conquest

On 8 December 1526, Charles I of Spain granted Francisco de Montejo a capitulación de conquista or letters patent for the conquest of the Mayan states in the Peninsula. The Salamancan conquistador was thereby granted the titles and offices of adelantado, governor, captain general, and alguacil mayor of Yucatán. Montejo, with four ships and over 250 men, embarked from Seville in late June 1527, reaching Cozumel, in the Ekab Province, in late September 1527. The Spanish conquest began in 1527, upon the founding of Salamanca de Xelha, in the Ekab Province, and protracted itself to 1544, ending with the founding of Salamanca de Bacalar in the Waymil Province.

After conquest

In 1546, state and local officers, and priests, of the (recently defeated) pre-Columbian province of Kupul began organising a coalition force for a swift military strike on Mérida, Valladolid, and Bacalar. Six neighbouring (former) provinces joined Kupul in the operation, which was scheduled for the full moon night of 8–9 November 1546. On said night, circa 500–600 non-allied Mayans, and fifteen to twenty encomenderos were massacred. The planned offensive on Mérida faltered, while that on Valladolid devolved into a siege, broken circa two weeks afterwards by a military detachment from Mérida. The strike on Bacalar likewise devolved into a blockade, broken in early 1547. The defeated coalition forces nonetheless determined on guerrilla warfare. By March 1547, most coalition troops had been defeated, exhausted by attrition, or otherwise convinced to lay down their arms. Afterwards, five or six of the principal instigators were tried and killed, circa 2,000 prisoners of war were (illegally) enslaved, a number of Spanish military captains were charged with and convicted of war crimes.

Seventeenth century

The Captaincy General of Yucatán was created in 1617 to provide more autonomy for the Peninsula, previously ruled directly by a simple governor under the jurisdiction of Audiencia of Mexico. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by foreign powers, which also involved the establishment of Captaincies General in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and neighboring Guatemala. With the addition of the title of captain general to the governor of Yucatán, the province gained greater autonomy in administration and military matters. Unlike in most areas of Spanish America, no formal corregidores were used in Yucatán, and instead the governor-captain general relied on other subordinate officials to handle the oversight of local districts. The Captaincy General remained part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with the viceroy retaining the right to oversee the province's governance, when it was deemed necessary, and the Audiencia of Mexico taking judicial cases in appeal. The province and captaincy general covered the territory that today are the States of Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Yucatán, and nominally the northern areas of Petén and Belize. Law IV ("Que el Governador de Yucatan guarde las ordenes del Virrey de Nueva España") of Title I ("De los Terminos, Division, y Agregación de las Governaciones") of Book V of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias of 1680 reproduces the 2 November 1627 royal decree (real cédula) of Philip V, which established the nature of the relationship between the Governor of Yucatán and the Viceroy of New Spain: "It is convenient that the governors and captain generals of the Province of Yucatán, precisely and in a timely manner fulfill the orders that the viceroys of New Spain give them. And we order that the governors obey them and fulfill them."

Eighteenth century

In 1786, as part of the Bourbon Reforms the Spanish Crown established an Intendancy of Yucatán covering the same area as the Province. The intendancy took control of government and military finances and had broad powers to promote the local economy.

Nineteenth century

On 15 September 1821, in the Hall of Councils of the City of Mérida, Yucatán declared its independence from Spain. Almost immediately, Governor Juan María Echeverri sent two representatives to negotiate the incorporation of Yucatán into the Mexican Empire. The incorporation into the Mexican Empire took place on 2 November 1821.

Society

Religion

The letters patent of 8 December 1526, granted to Francisco de Montejo for the conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula, incorporated various provisions designed to ensure the successful conversion of Mayan residents to (Roman Catholic) Christianity. Christian proselytising efforts in the Peninsula were begun in late September 1527 by secular friars Juan Rodríguez de Caraveo, Pedro Fernández, and Carmelite friar Gregorio de San Martín, who accompanied the Montejo entrada of 1527–1528. The first known Christian baptisms in the peninsula occurred in Ekab, capital of the eponymous Postclassic Mayan province, during or shortly after an assembly of the province's mayors, held at some point during December 1527 and March 1528. Franciscans began missionary work in Chak'anputun, capital of a Postclassic Mayan province of the same name, sometime during 1535 and 1537.

Education

Hispano–Christian schooling or indoctrination of Mayan children and adults was begun by Franciscan friars at the Provincial Convent of St. Francis, Mérida, in 1547. Instruction included Roman Catholic doctrine for all Mayan children and adults, (Latin) reading and writing for children of pre-eminent Mayan families, and choral music for Mayan adults. At least some chilamo'ob or priests (of Mayan polytheism), and members of ch'ibalo'ob or noble houses, are known to have vigorously opposed Franciscan indoctrination.

Government

The capitulaciones de conquista or letters patent for the conquest of Yucatán, granted on 8 December 1526 by Charles I of Spain to Francisco de Montejo in Granada, set out the first constitution of Spanish Yucatán. Absolute authority was vested in the Spanish sovereign, advised and assisted by the Casa de Contratación and the Council of the Indies. Directly subordinate was the adelantado, governor, captain general, and alguacil mayor of Yucatán, who was afforded executive, legislative and judicial authority over the province. Spanish Yucatán was partitioned into municipios or municipalities, each administered by a designated cabildo or municipal-and-town council. Said municipalities were further subdivided into Mayan or encomienda settlements, administered by an encomendero and a resident cacique, and Spanish or non-encomienda settlements, administered by a cabildo. The Real Audiencia of Mexico, established by real cédula or royal decree on 13 December 1527, was thereby set up as a superior court of judicature for Spanish Yucatán. The province was made an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain upon or shortly after the latter's formation on 17 April 1535. The New Laws of 20 November 1542 rendered null and void some parts of the adelantado's letters patent. The latter were further derogated from on 13 May 1549, upon the adelantado's suspension from the offices of governor, captain general, and alguacil mayor of Spanish Yucatán.

Economy

Francisco de Montejo's letters patent of 8 December 1526 incorporated a number of provisions designed to attract Spanish settlers to the Yucatán peninsula, including– Conquistadors had initially hoped to find significant deposits of gold and precious metals in the Yucatán peninsula. As the conquest wore on, it became increasingly apparent that none such were to be had. Consequently, agriculture was settled on as the primary economic activity of Spanish Yucatán. Some commerce, especially in dye woods, similarly developed. Mayan cotton mantas were made legal tender in late 1542.

Legacy

Notes and references

Explanatory footnotes

Short citations

Full citations