1638 Tipu rebellion

Prophecy for k'atun 1 ahaw by chilam Balam of Chumayel (via Princeton)

K'atun 1 ahaw, the sixth k'atun of the short round of 1539‍–‍1796 (spanning thirteen k'atuno'ob), began on 6 June 1638.[1] Maya chilamo'ob (priests) prophesied the k'atun would usher in natural disaster and rebellion.[2][note 3]

The prophecy included–

During a 1619 misión to Peten Itza, Franciscan friars Juan de Orbita and Bartolomé de Fuensalida found Tipuans had reverted to pre-Columbian polytheism, which they swiftly punished, destroying the residents' religious artefacts.[5]

The district's encomiendas were reconsolidated in 1622, leading to significantly heavier taxation of its Maya residents.[6]

Hispano-Maya hostilities in the 17th century began in 1623, with massacres of Spanish soldiers, friars, and their Maya servants and guides, at Nojpeten and Sacalum.This has been characterised as a sharp departure from Maya practice, as '[n]ot since 1546 had execution as a tool of [Maya] rebellion on such a large scale been seen in Yucatan.'[7]

In 1637, Tipu sent an embassy to the defensor de naturales in Mérida to report their 'mistreatment' by their resident secular priest (Gregorio Marín de Aguilar) and the vecinos of Bacalar. The defensor informed the governor, who relieved Tipu's resident priest, and reprimanded the cabildo of Bacalar.[8][note 6]

Sometime during 17 May 1636 – 10 July 1638 (1636-05-17 – 1638-07-10), Diego Zapata de Cárdenas, governor of colonial Yucatan, on the request of the defensor de naturales, sent two investigadores to Bacalar to investigate allegations of extortion (brought against the villa's vecinos of by the district's Maya residents) and to punish offenders. The investigadores were unable to proceed, however, as the vecinos seized and attempted to hang them in impromptu gallows set up in the villa's plaza. The investigadores fled before they could be hanged, bringing to an end any possible investigación of the villa by the provincial governor.[8]

In 1637, nearly all residents of Tipu, the largest reducción settlement in the district, (illicitly) deserted their town, (purportedly) fearing an oncoming aggressive campaign from Bacalar.[9][note 7]

It has been suggested that Anglo-Dutch raids in the district of Bacalar likely encouraged the (illicit) desertion of coastal reducción settlements in favour of safer sites inland.[10][note 8]

Pirates are first thought to have entered the district in 1617, when an English crew raided Bacalar, abducting or impressing four vecinos.[11] In the 1630s, residents of colonial Honduras began (illicitly) trading with Dutch and English ships in earnest, and pirates began impressing or enslaving Amerindian residents of the Yucatan peninsula and the Bay of Honduras.[12][13][14][15][16][17] In 1637 and 1638, various Anglo-Dutch pirates were sighted cruising the Bay of Honduras, possibly reaching the district's waters.[18][19][20]

In the third quarter of 1638, Maya authorities at Tipu encouraged (or threatened) residents of various reducción or encomienda hamlets in the district of Bacalar to (illicitly) desert their settlements to join a (possibly armed) resistance to Bacalar-based from Tipu.[21][note 9] Tipu's advise (or threats) proved effective, as a quarter of the Maya residents in hamlets near Tipu had (illicitly) fled by 20 September 1638.[22] By 5 November 1638, a little under 200 of the district's circa 300 tributaries were allied with Tipu (having likewise fled there).[23]

In the third week of September 1638, Luis Sánchez de Aguilar, alcalde, with the procurador, and 16 vecinos, discovered that Chinam, Manan, and Zacatan, coastal reducción settlements, had been deserted. They captured four runaways from Chinam, and all runaways from Manan. These were detained (and whipped, despite promises to the contrary) at Bacalar. All were (forcibly) resettled in Tamalcab, a reducción settlement (nearer to Bacalar than Manan).[24]

By the fourth week of September 1638, the cabildo and vecinos of Bacalar, with the help of Maya residents of San Juan de Extramuros, were attempting to resettle Pacha, Yumpeten, Soite, Manan, and Xibun, all of which had likewise been deserted.[25]

In the fourth quarter of 1638, the governor supplied Bacalar with powder and ammunition, but not with troops, despite the cabildo's request for these. In addition, he requested Franciscan officials send three or four friars to the district to (peaceably) quell the rebellion. However, the Franciscan misión did not set out until 1642, and met with no success.[22][note 10]

On 5 November 1638, Luis Sánchez de Aguilar reported that their efforts had not met with much success, adding that 'right now the Indians are very bellicose.'[25]

Prior to 15 February 1639, Francisco de Cárdenas Valencia, a secular friar, bishop's vicar, and benefice in Sotuta, reported–

[N]ews has come from Bacalar that those few towns which we have described [reducción settlements in the villa's district] had been going to the forests, encouraged and deceived by those barbarous infidels of the Tah Itzeas, becoming one with them, as a result of which [the district of] Bacalar will become more deserted and short of people.

— Cárdenas Valencia, translated by G. D. Jones.[26][27][28][note 11]

That same year, the governor and the ecclesiastical cabildo of Mérida sent Ambrosio de Figueroa, a secular friar, to the district of Bacalar, to entice Maya residents to drop their resistance and resettle in their allotted reducción towns. Figueroa sent word to Tipu and its allies regarding his upcoming visit (and peaceful intentions), 'but the rebels made fun of [Figueroa's messengers] and threatened to kill them if they came back,' precluding the friar from reaching the district. However, Tipu indicated that they would meet with Franciscan friars, on the condition that the secular priest of Bacalar be replaced with a Franciscan one.[29]

On 24 April 1641, the governor and bishop sent Bartolomé de Fuensalida, Juan de Estrada, Bartolomé de Becerril, and Martín Tejero (all Franciscans), with 500 pesos for a six-month (peaceful) reducción, and instructions to relieve Bacalar's secular priest of his post. At Bacalar, it was determined that Fuensalida and Estrada continue on to Tipu, that Becerril focus on coastal settlements, and that Tejero remain in the villa.[29]

Fuensalida and Estrada, with 21 Maya servants and guides, never made it to Tipu, despite their earnest endeavours. In May or June 1641, the friars reached the former site of Zaczuz (a reducción settlement near Tipu, which had been deserted), where they (unsuccessfully) negotiated for their reception at Tipu. On 2 July 1641, they were led to Hubelna (an unauthorised hamlet of former Zaczuz residents). On 3 July 1641, the friars were met by a Tipuan–Itzaen war party, who made it clear that the friars were not welcome in Tipu, whereupon the friars were (forcibly) escorted back towards Bacalar.[30][note 12] Fuensalida promptly reported their failure, advising the governor that a militarised reducción was the only viable option to quell the revolt. The governor recalled the friars, however, citing his lack of authority from the Spanish Crown for a military campaign.[31][note 13]

Bartolomé de Becerril had better luck in the coastal reducción settlements of the district, as he and Martín Tejero resettled four settlements on the Sittee River, the Monkey River, and a caye called Zula. Their luck proved fleeting, however, as piratical raids of the resettled hamlets in 1641 and 1642 convinced residents to, again, (illicitly) relocate further inland.[32][note 14][note 15]

On 5 March 1643, the bishop reported that eight reducción settlements (totalling some 300 Maya families) had resettled in Tipu, leaving only six reducción settlements (totalling under 150 families) loyal to the Spanish Crown.[33][note 16]

Shortly after 29 May 1652, Bacalar and the Maya families still loyal to the villa were removed to Pacha, and in the 1660s still further inland to Chunhuhub.[34][35] The villa's original site (on Lake Bacalar) was not resettled until the second quarter of 1727.[36][37][38] Tipu and its allies did not assent to Spanish authority until the second or third quarter of 1695.[39][40][41]

Detail of page 640 of Historia de Yucathàn (1688 by D. López d Cogolludo via Google)

Diego López de Cogolludo first brought the rebellion to light in 1688.[42][43]

It was noted in the 1639 manuscript by Francisco de Cárdenas Valencia, first published in 1937, and rigorously explored by Grant D. Jones's archival work, published in 1989.[45][46]