Chan Putum
Chan Putum also Chakán Putum , Chakanputún or Champotón 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 Chakán means savanna in German ; Putum is construed as a reference to or modification of Petén .
The jurisdiction of Chan Putum was located on the Gulf Coast in the southwest of Yucatán on both banks of the Rio Chamoton within what is now the Mexican state of Campeche . The territory was also the most south-westerly settlement area of the Yucatec Maya . In the north it bordered on Chanpech in the south-west and in the south on the settlement areas and principalities of the Chontal , Acalán and Putún Maya , with whom lively trade relations were maintained. The expansion of the area to the east is speculative and not certain.
The history of Chan Putum goes back a long way. The capital Champotón is said to have been founded by the Itzá on their way north as early as the 6th century . In 928 the Xiu are said to have expelled the Itzá from Chan Putum. Chan Putum was only accepted as an independent territory after the fall of Ich Paa or the so-called League of Mayapán in 1441. Another larger city was the centrally located Sihochac (also Tichac). One of the most important revered deities was Kukulcan .
In the 16th century the jurisdiction was ruled centrally and absolutely by a Halach Huinik . When Francisco Hernández de Córdoba landed in Champotón in 1517 , the Maya opposed themselves under their Halach Huinik Moch Couoh . Córdoba was injured in the very bloody conflict. In 1518 Juan de Grijalva landed , who was again confronted with Moch Couoh. This meeting, which was very costly for both sides, also ended with the withdrawal of the Spaniards. Moch Couoh was also fatally wounded. In 1531 Champotón is said to have had 8,000 stone houses and a fleet of around 2,000 boats. Also Montejo had to take difficulties in Chan Putum foot. The nobility, especially the Batab , faced him again and again and involved the Spaniards in costly battles. In 1538 he founded the place San Pedro de Champotón , the place had to be cleared again under the pressure of the Maya. It was only his son of the same name who succeeded in completing the conquest from 1540.
literature
- Ralph L. Roys : The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya. Washington 1957, pp. 167-168
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nikolai Grube : Maya, Gottkönige im Regenwald , hfullmann publishing GmbH, Potsdam 2012, p. 374.