League of Mayapán

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The League of Mayapán is an alliance of several Maya cities under the sovereignty of the city of Mayapán during the post-classical period . The actual existence of such an alliance is doubtful. It was reconstructed in particular by Alfred M. Tozzer on the basis of an uncritical combination of statements from the Chilam Balam texts. The following illustration is largely based on this reconstruction.

history

In the 11th century, the Itzá people migrated from what is now the Mexican state of Tabasco to the northern lowlands of the Yucatán peninsula, where they settled in the city of Chichén Itzá . The Itzá helped the city flourish until around 1185 a war broke out between Chichén Itzá and the city of Izamal , which was instigated by Hunak Ke'el , the prince of the neighboring city of Mayapán . With the help of the Canul ("guards"), mercenaries from central Mexico, Hunak Ke'el succeeded in conquering both cities. Most of the Itzá then left the area and headed south.

Hunak Ke'el built a centralized state. The following rulers from his family, the Kokom , subjugated other cities in the surrounding area and used the Canul to put down any uprising. In order to minimize the risk of such an uprising, all subjugated princes were forced to the court of Mayapán. Mayapán itself was surrounded by a city wall; a copy of the pyramid of Kukulcán was built in Chichén Itzá in the center of the city . At the same time, the individual parts of Mayapán were settled according to rank: princes and priests lived in the city center, while the public free lived on the outskirts.

In the middle of the 15th century, there was finally a revolt led by the King of Maní . The rebels succeeded in killing the entire ruling house of the Kokom with one exception ; then they conquered Mayapán and destroyed the city. The resulting power vacuum was filled in the following years by sixteen rival small states , some of which revived old hostilities and led to a series of wars. This period of wars only came to an end after the Spanish conquests in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Antje Gunsenheimer : En contra del olvido y en pro de la continuidad: las crónicas de los Libros de Chilam Balam en su contexto colonial . In: Hanns J. Prem (ed.): Escondido en la selva, arqueología en el norte de Yucatán . México, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia 2003. ISBN 970-35-0052-8 . Pp. 371-416
  2. ^ Alfred M. Tozzer : Chichen Itza and its Cenote of Sacrifice: a comparative study of contemporaneous Maya and Toltec . Harvard University, Peabody Museum, Cambridge, MA 1957

literature

  • Berthold Riese : The Maya: History - Culture - Religion (from the series "Beck Knowledge"). Publishing house CH Beck, Munich 2006