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| rdfs:label | - Spanish conquest of Petén
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| rdfs:comment | - Sizeable Maya populations existed in Petén prior to the conquest, particularly around the central lakes and along the rivers. Petén was not politically unified and was divided into a number of different Maya polities engaged in a complex web of alliances and enmities. The most important groups around the central lakes were the Itza, the Yalain and the Kowoj. Other groups with territories in Petén included the Kejache, the Acala, the Lakandon Ch'ol, the Xocmo, the Chinamita, the Icaiche and the Manche Ch'ol.
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| abstract | - Sizeable Maya populations existed in Petén prior to the conquest, particularly around the central lakes and along the rivers. Petén was not politically unified and was divided into a number of different Maya polities engaged in a complex web of alliances and enmities. The most important groups around the central lakes were the Itza, the Yalain and the Kowoj. Other groups with territories in Petén included the Kejache, the Acala, the Lakandon Ch'ol, the Xocmo, the Chinamita, the Icaiche and the Manche Ch'ol. Petén was first penetrated by Hernán Cortés with a sizeable expedition that crossed the territory from north to south in 1525. In the first half of the 16th century Spain established neighbouring colonies in Yucatán to the north and Guatemala to the south. Spanish missionaries laid the groundwork for the extension of colonial administration in the extreme south of Petén from 1596 onwards but no further Spanish entry of central Petén took place until 1618 and 1619 when missionaries arrived at the Itza capital, having travelled from the Spanish town of Mérida in Yucatán. In 1628 the Manche Ch'ol of the south were placed under the administration of the colonial governor of Verapaz within the Captaincy General of Guatemala. These rebelled unsuccessfully in 1633. In 1622 a military expedition set out from Yucatán led by Captain Francisco de Mirones and accompanied by Franciscan friar Diego Delgado; this expedition was a disaster and the Spanish were massacred by the Itza. In 1695 a military expedition tried to reach Lake Petén Itzá from Guatemala; this was followed in 1696 by missionaries from Mérida and in 1697 by Martín de Ursúa's expedition from Yucatán that resulted in the final defeat of the independent kingdoms of central Petén and their incorporation into the Spanish Empire.
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