Chactemal

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Political division of the Yucatán around 1500

Chactemal also Chaktemal or Ch'aak Temal and Chetumal was a principality ( Mayathan : cuchcabal ) of the Maya in Yucatán during the post-classical period , which lasted until the time of the Conquest .

Description and history

The name also refers to Chaac , the Mayan rain god.

The jurisdiction Chactemal was in the southeast of Yucatán. The territory covered about the south of today's Mexican state of Quintana Roo from about the Bay of Chetumal south of the Bacalar lagoon and the north of Belize above the Belize River . In the north Chactemal bordered on the cuchcabal Uaymil, in the south on the principalities of the Ko'woj and Yalin Maya in Petén , which are close to the Itzá , and on the Mopan Maya .

At least since 2000 BC During the entire Classical period , the region was populated by the Maya. Lamanai is one of the oldest and continuously inhabited centers. Trade between the inland and the Caribbean coast has always been an important economic factor .

The emergence of Chactemals as a political unit goes back to the decline of the so-called League of Mayapán in 1441.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Chactemal was ruled by a Halach Uinik Nachan Can . This was loosely allied with the Cocom and thus an important ally of Nachi Cocom against the Spaniards. Gonzalo Guerrero , who was stranded in 1511 as a shipwrecked man in Yucatán and was enslaved to Chactemal, only rose there to become Nacom . As such, he led the local resistance to the conquest . In 1531 a Spanish expedition found the city of Santa Rita Corozal abandoned and set up their garrison there , but had to withdraw a little later with heavy losses because the Maya had adopted a very successful guerrilla tactic. He married the daughter of Nachan Cans and later rose to become a Kaziken himself . The region could not be subjugated until the late 16th century. Most cities, including Ichpaatun , had been abandoned by then.

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