Tipu rebellion

Prelude

K'atun 1 ahaw, the sixth k'atun of the short round of 15391796, began on 6 June 1638. Maya chilamo'ob prophesied that this k'atun would bring natural disaster and rebellion. During a 1619 mission to Peten Itza, Franciscan friars Juan de Orbita and Bartolomé de Fuensalida found that Tipuans had reverted to pre-Columbian polytheism; the friars punished this by destroying the residents' religious artefacts. The district's encomiendas were reconsolidated in 1622, significantly increasing taxation of Maya residents.

Hispano-Maya hostilities in the 17th century began in 1623 with massacres of Spanish soldiers, friars, and their Maya servants at Nojpeten and Sacalum, a departure from Maya practice not seen on such a scale since 1546. In 1637, Tipu sent an embassy to the defensor de naturales in Mérida reporting mistreatment by their resident secular priest and the vecinos of Bacalar; the governor relieved the priest and reprimanded the cabildo of Bacalar. Also in 1637, nearly all residents of Tipu illicitly deserted their town, fearing an aggressive campaign from Bacalar. Anglo-Dutch raids in the district likely encouraged this desertion to safer inland sites.

Incident

In the third quarter of 1638, Maya authorities at Tipu encouraged or threatened residents of various reducción hamlets in the district of Bacalar to illicitly desert their settlements and join a possibly armed resistance from Tipu. By 20 September 1638, a quarter of the Maya residents in hamlets near Tipu had fled. By 5 November 1638, nearly 200 of the district's circa 300 tributaries were allied with Tipu.

In the third week of September 1638, alcalde Luis Sánchez de Aguilar, with the procurador and 16 vecinos, discovered that the coastal settlements Chinam, Manan, and Zacatan had been deserted; they captured runaways, detained and whipped them at Bacalar, and forcibly resettled them in Tamalcab. By the fourth week of September 1638, the cabildo and vecinos of Bacalar, with Maya residents of San Juan de Extramuros, attempted to resettle Pacha, Yumpeten, Soite, Manan, and Xibun. The governor supplied powder and ammunition but no troops, and requested Franciscan friars to quell the rebellion; the mission did not set out until 1642 and met no success.

Aftermath

Prior to 15 February 1639, Francisco de Cárdenas Valencia reported on the situation. That same year, the governor and ecclesiastical cabildo of Mérida sent secular friar Ambrosio de Figueroa to the district to entice Maya residents to drop their resistance and resettle. Figueroa sent word to Tipu and its allies, but the rebels made fun of his messengers and threatened to kill them if they returned, precluding the friar from reaching the district. Tipu indicated they would meet with Franciscan friars on condition that the secular priest of Bacalar be replaced with a Franciscan one.

On 24 April 1641, the governor and bishop sent Franciscans Bartolomé de Fuensalida, Juan de Estrada, Bartolomé de Becerril, and Martín Tejero with 500 pesos for a six-month peaceful reducción, with instructions to relieve Bacalar's secular priest. Fuensalida and Estrada, with 21 Maya servants, never reached Tipu; on 3 July 1641, a Tipuan–Itzaen war party met them at Hubelna and forcibly escorted them back to Bacalar. Fuensalida advised a militarized reducción, but the governor cited lack of authority from the Crown. Becerril and Tejero resettled four coastal settlements, but piratical raids in 1641 and 1642 convinced residents to again relocate inland.

Legacy

After May 29, 1652, Bacalar and its loyal Maya families were relocated to Pacha, then further inland to Chunhuhub during the 1660s. The original Lake Bacalar site was only reoccupied in the second quarter of 1727. Tipu and its allies did not submit to Spanish rule until the second or third quarter of 1695. The rebellion was first documented by Diego López de Cogolludo in 1688.