title: Espresso machine

text: A steam-driven unit operates by forcing water through the coffee by using steam or steam pressure. The first espresso machines were steam types, produced when a common boiler was piped to four group heads so that multiple types of coffee could be made at the same time. This design is still used today in lower-cost consumer machines, as it does not need to contain moving parts. Also, steam-driven machines do not produce as high a pressure for extraction compared with pump-driven. This results in the crema, a hallmark of an espresso, being of lower quality.


title: Espresso machine

text: A refinement of the piston machine is the pump-driven machine, which was introduced in the Faema E61 in 1961, and has become the most popular design in commercial espresso bars. Instead of using manual force, a motor-driven pump provides the force necessary for espresso brewing. Espresso machines are made to accept water directly from a cold water line supply, common in commercial installations, or from a separate tank that must be filled with water by hand. The latter is more common with lower-volume commercial installations and domestic espresso machines. Due to the required high pumping pressure and precision flow control needed, the particular type of electric pumps typically used are known as "solenoid-piston" pumps. These pumps are classified as a positive displacement type (general category) of pump.


title: Espresso machine

text: Four variants exist in home machines, depending on how brew water and steam are boiled; in discussion these are generally known by acronyms.


title: Espresso machine

text: In recent years air-pump-driven espresso machines have emerged. These machines use compressed air to force the hot water through the coffee grounds. The hot water is typically added from a kettle or a thermo flask. The compressed air comes from either a hand-pump, N or cartridges or an electric compressor. One of the advantages of the air-pump-driven machines is that they are much smaller and lighter than electric machines. They are often handheld and portable. Handpresso Wild, invented by Nielsen Innovation SARL, a French innovation house, was introduced in 2007.


title: Espresso machine

text: A grouphead (or group head) is the receiver for the removable portafilter (or group handle). A typical consumer espresso machine normally has only one grouphead, while popular professional machines, such as those used at commercial coffee shops, can contain anywhere from one to seven. During the process of extracting a shot of espresso, hot water is forced through the grouphead under pressure. The grouphead contains many holes (the shower) that attempt to distribute the pressurised water evenly over the surface of the grinds in the portafilter basket and thereby achieve an even cross sectional flow.


title: Espresso machine

text: A portafilter (or group handle) attaches to the grouphead of semi-automatic and piston-driven espresso machines, and carries a tamped puck of coffee grounds within its basket. It is usually made of brass for better heat retention, and is attached by a plastic or wooden handle. The portafilter forms a seal with the espresso machine's gasket, and directs high-pressure hot water through the coffee puck. After-market retailers also sell bottomless portafilters that minimize the espresso's contact with any metal. A bottomless portafilter is one tool baristas use to analyze the quality of the coffee grind and the evenness of the extraction and allows for a visual check of "channeling" or the condition in which water is able to pierce a hole in the espresso puck during the brew process leading to poor extraction. Often, baristas use knockboxes to store their spent espresso grounds after they have pulled a shot.


title: Espresso machine

text: Machines that have pumps, sensors, valves, and grinders to automate the brewing process are generally referred to as "automatic".


title: Espresso machine

text: Commercial establishments generally use semi-automatic machines with several group heads. These are much larger than consumer models and able to produce espresso shots more quickly. Many commercial machines can function in an automatic mode.


title: Espresso machine

text: Manual or semi-automatic machines offer more control of shot quality. Because when to cut the shot (brew time) is a critical variable, which is often adjusted shot-by-shot, semi-automatic machines are often preferred over automatics, though some machines are automatic. Manual machines are more popular in Europe, where it is more common to drink straight espresso.


title: Espresso machine

text: Moka pots, also known as stove top espresso makers, are similar to espresso machines in that they brew under pressure and the resulting brew shares some similarities, but in other respects differ. As such, their characterization as "espresso" machines is at times contentious, but due to their use of pressure and steam for brewing, comparable to all espresso prior to the 1948 Gaggia, they are accepted within broader uses of the term, but distinguished from standard modern espresso machines.


title: Espresso machine

text: Moka pots are similar to espresso machines in that they brew under pressure, produce coffee with an extraction ratio similar to that of a conventional espresso machine, and, depending on bean variety and grind selection, moka pots can create the same foam emulsion known as crema that conventional espresso machines can.


title: Espresso machine

text: Moka pots differ from espresso machines in that they brew under substantially lower pressure – 1.5 bars (21 psi) rather than 9 bars (130 psi) – and use hotter water – a mix of boiling water and steam at above , rather than of espresso machines, similar to early steam brewing machines.


title: Espresso machine

text: The bottom chamber contains the water. The middle chamber is a filter-basket holding the ground coffee and sits within the bottom chamber. The top chamber, with a metal filter, screws onto the bottom chamber. When the pot is heated on a stove, the pressure from the steam in the bottom chamber forces the water through a tube into the filter-basket, through the ground coffee, the metal filter, and it then funnels into the top chamber where the coffee is then ready to serve. They are commonly found in Italy, Spain and Portugal. They are also known as a "macchinetta", Italian for "little machine" or "caffettiera", Italian for coffee maker.


title: Bugger

text: Bugger or buggar can at times be considered as a mild swear word. In the United Kingdom the term has been used commonly to imply dissatisfaction, refer to someone or something whose behaviour is in some way inconvenient or perhaps as an expression of surprise. In the United States, particularly in the Midwest and South, it is an inoffensive slang term meaning "small animal".


title: Bugger

text: The term is used in the vernacular of British English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Indian English, Pakistani English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Malaysian English and in Sri Lankan English.


title: Bugger

text: It is derived from Anglo-Norman , from Latin , in reference to Bulgaria, from which the Bogomils, a sect of heretics, were thought to have come in the 11th century, after other "heretics" to whom abominable practices were imputed in an abusively disparaging manner. (The word "Bogomil" itself is not etymologically related.)


title: Bugger

text: The term is thought to have emerged around the early 13th century, after Pope Innocent III and the northern French kingdom engaged in the Albigensian Crusade in southern France. This led to the slaughter of about 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike and brought the region firmly under the control of the King of France. The crusade was directed against heretical Christians and the nobility of Toulouse and vassals of the Crown of Aragon. The populace of Provence and Northern Italy sympathized with the victims of the crusade because of their moral purity. It was then that the Catholic clergy launched a vilifying campaign against them, associating them with unorthodox sexual practices and sodomy.


title: Bugger

text: In some English speaking communities the word has been in use traditionally without any profane connotations. For instance, within the Anglo-Indian community in India the word "bugger" has been in use, in an affectionate manner, to address or refer to a close friend or fellow schoolmate. In the United States it can be a rough synonym to whippersnapper as in calling a young boy a "little bugger".


title: Bugger

text: In 1978, Mr Justice Sir Melford Stevenson, QC, called the British Sexual Offences Act 1967 a "buggers' charter".


title: Bugger

text: As a verb, the word is used by the British to denote sodomy. In Great Britain, the phrase "Bugger me sideways" (or a variation of this) can be used as an expression of surprise. It can also be used as a synonym for "broken", as in "This PC's buggered"; "Oh no! I've buggered it up"; or "It's gone to buggery". In Anglophone Southern Africa, also in Australia and GB, "buggered" is colloquially used to describe something, usually a machine or vehicle, as broken.


title: Bugger

text: The phrase "bugger off" ("bug off" in American English) means to go, or run, away; when used as a command it means "go away" ("get lost" or "leave me alone") and can also be used in much the same type of relatively offensive manner.


title: Bugger

text: "I'm buggered", "I'll be buggered" and "bugger me" are used colloquially in Great Britain (and often in New Zealand and Australia as well) to denote or feign surprise at an unexpected (or possibly unwanted) occurrence. "I'm buggered" can also be used to indicate a state of fatigue. In this latter form it found fame in New Zealand in 1956 through rugby player Peter Jones, who—in a live post-match radio interview—declared himself "absolutely buggered", a turn of phrase considered shocking at the time.


title: Bugger

text: It is famously alleged that the last words of King George V were "Bugger Bognor", in response to a suggestion that he might recover from his illness and visit Bognor Regis. Variations on the phrase "bugger it" are commonly used to imply frustration, admission of defeat or the sense that something is not worth doing, as in "bugger this for a lark" or "bugger this for a game of soldiers".


title: Bugger

text: As an interjection, "bugger" is sometimes used as a single-word expletive. "Buggeration" is a derivation occasionally found in British English.


title: Bugger

text: As with many expletives, its continued use has reduced its shock value and offensiveness. Thus the Toyota car company in Australia and New Zealand ran a popular series of advertisements where "Bugger!" was the only spoken word (with exception of an utterance of "bugger me!") (frequently repeated); they then ran a censored version of the ad in which "Bugger!" was bleeped out, as a joke against those who spoke out against the ad claiming it was offensive. The term is generally not used in the United States, but it is recognised, although inoffensive there. It is also used in Canada more frequently than in the United States but with less stigma than in other parts of the world. In the pre-watershed television version of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" the opening sequence is modified from repeated exclamations of "Fuck!" by Hugh Grant and Charlotte Coleman when they are late for the first wedding to repeated exclamations of "Bugger!".


title: Bugger

text: "Bagarap" (from "buggered up") is a common word in Pacific pidgins such as Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea, Brokan (Torres Strait Creole) of Australia and Papua and others, meaning "broken", "hurt", "ruined", "destroyed", "tired", and so on, as in Tok Pisin "kanu i bagarap", Brokan "kenu i bagarap", "the canoe is broken" or Tok Pisin/Brokan "kaikai i bagarap", "the food is spoiled". Tok Pisin "mi bagarap pinis" ("me bugger-up finish") means, "I am very tired", or "I am very ill", while the Brokan equivalent, "ai pinis bagarap", is more "I'm done in", "I'm finished/I've had it". The term was put to use in the album "Bagarap Empires" by Fred Smith, which was made to capture the peace process in Bougainville, an island province of Papua New Guinea; in a number of the songs he uses Melanesian pidgin, the language used in Bougainville and elsewhere.


title: Bugger

text: "Little buggers" means children, a term so familiar in the United Kingdom that there is a series of professional teaching manuals with titles that start "Getting the buggers to ..."


title: Bugger

text: "Bugger all" means "nothing", as in "You may not like paying taxes, but there's bugger all you can do about it" and "The police are doing bugger all about all this aggro that's going on". See also "fuck all", "sweet FA", and "Llareggub" ("bugger all" spelled backwards, a fictional Welsh town in Dylan Thomas' radio play "Under Milk Wood").


title: Bugger

text: The phrase "bugger me" is a slang term used for a situation that has yielded an unexpected or undesirable result.


title: Bugger

text: Colloquial military term for a disorderly group—either assembled without formation or in a formation that does not meet the standards of the commentator: "just form a bugger's muddle", "there's a bugger's muddle of civvies hanging around the gate", "Get that bugger's muddle of yours fallen in properly".


title: Bugger

text: The word "buggery" today also serves as a general expletive (mild, moderate or severe depending on the context and company), and can be used to replace the word "bugger" as a simple expletive or as a simile in phrases which do not actually refer literally in any sense to buggery itself, but just use the word for its informal strength of impact, e.g., "Run like buggery", which is equivalent to "Run like hell" but would be regarded by most listeners as more obscene.


title: Bugger

text: Eric Partridge defined "embuggerance factor" as "a natural or artificial hazard that complicates any proposed course of action". It was reportedly British military slang in the 1950s. Terry Pratchett used the word in this sense when he referred to his Alzheimer's disease, which had prevented him from attending conventions, as "the Embuggerance".


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: Saeculum obscurum (, "the dark age/century"), also known as the Pornocracy or the Rule of the Harlots, was a period in the history of the Papacy during the first two-thirds of the 10th century, following the chaos after the death of Formosus in 896 which saw seven or eight papal elections in as many years. It began with the installation of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasted for sixty years until the death of Pope John XII in 964. During this period, the popes were influenced strongly by a powerful and allegedly corrupt aristocratic family, the Theophylacti, and their relatives and allies. The era is seen as one of the lowest points of the history of the Papal office.


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: The "saeculum obscurum" was first named and identified as a period of papal immorality by the Italian cardinal and historian Caesar Baronius in his "Annales Ecclesiastici" in the sixteenth century. Baronius's primary source for his history of this period was a contemporaneous writer, Bishop Liutprand of Cremona. Baronius himself was writing during the Counter-Reformation, a period of heightened sensitivity to clerical corruption. His characterisation of the early 10th-century papacy was perpetuated by Protestant authors. The terms "pornocracy" (, from Greek "pornokratiā", "rule of prostitutes"), hetaerocracy ("government of mistresses") and the Rule of the Harlots () were coined by Protestant German theologians in the nineteenth century.


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: The Theophylacti family sprung from Theophylactus. They held positions of increased importance in the Roman nobility, such as "iudex" ("judge"), vestararius, "gloriosissimus dux" ("most-glorious duke"), consul, senator, and "magister militum". Theophylact's wife Theodora and daughter Marozia held a great influence over the papal selection and religious affairs in Rome through conspiracies, affairs, and marriages.


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: Marozia became the concubine of 45-year-old Pope Sergius III when she was 15 and later took other lovers and husbands. She ensured that her son John (who was rumoured to have been fathered by Sergius III) was seated as Pope John XI according to "Antapodosis sive Res per Europam gestae" (958–962), by Liutprand of Cremona (c. 920–972). Liutprand affirms that Marozia arranged the murder of her former lover Pope John X (who had originally been nominated for office by Theodora) through her then husband Guy of Tuscany possibly to secure the elevation of her current favourite as Pope Leo VI. There is no record substantiating that Pope John X had definitely died before Leo VI was elected since John X was already imprisoned by Marozia and was out of public view.


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: Theodora and Marozia held great sway over the popes during this time. In particular, as political rulers of Rome they had effective control over the election of new popes. Much that is alleged about the "saeculum obscurum" comes from the histories of Liutprand, Bishop of Cremona. Liutprand took part in the "Assembly of Bishops" which deposed Pope John XII and was a political enemy of the Roman aristocracy and its control over papal elections. Lindsay Brook writes:


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: After several Crescentii family popes up to 1012, the Theophylacti still occasionally nominated sons as popes:


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: Pope Benedict IX went so far as to sell the Papacy to his religious godfather, Pope Gregory VI (1045–46). He then changed his mind, seized the Lateran Palace, and became Pope for the third time in 1047–48.


title: Saeculum obscurum

text: The Tusculan Papacy was finally ended by the election of Pope Nicholas II five years after the Great Schism of 1054 who was assisted by Hildebrand of Sovana against Antipope Benedict X. Hildebrand was elected Pope Gregory VII in 1073 and introduced the Gregorian Reforms, increasing the power and independence of the papacy that would lead to help ignite the First Crusade in about 20 years.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus Julius Caesar (14 BC – 14 September AD 23), was the son of Emperor Tiberius, and heir to the Roman Empire following the death of his adoptive brother Germanicus in AD 19.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: He was born at Rome to a prominent branch of the "gens Claudia", the son of Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina. His name at birth was Nero Claudius Drusus after his paternal uncle, Drusus the Elder. In AD 4, he assumed the name "Julius Caesar" following his father's adoption into the Julii by Augustus, and became Drusus Julius Caesar.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus first entered politics with the office of quaestor in AD 10. His political career mirrored that of Germanicus, and he assumed all his offices at the same age as him. Following the model of Augustus, it was intended that the two would rule together. They were both popular, and many dedications have been found in their honor across Roman Italy. Cassius Dio calls him "Castor" in his "Roman History", likening Drusus and Germanicus to the twins, Castor and Pollux, of Roman mythology.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus died suddenly 14 September 23, seemingly from natural causes. Ancient historians, such as Tacitus and Suetonius, claim he died amid a feud with the powerful Sejanus, Praetorian prefect of Rome. They allege that he had been murdered. In their account, Sejanus had seduced his wife Livilla, and with the help of a doctor she had poisoned Drusus. Despite the rumors, Tiberius did not suspect Sejanus and the two remained friends until Sejanus's fall from grace in 31.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: He was born in 14 BC in Rome with the name Nero Claudius Drusus, and is often referred to by historians as Drusus II, Drusus the Younger and Drusus Minor to distinguish him from his paternal uncle, Nero Claudius Drusus, the younger brother of Tiberius after whom Drusus was named. Drusus was the maternal grandson of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close friend of Augustus, and his first wife Caecilia Attica.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: As a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was a close relative of all five Julio-Claudian emperors. His father was emperor, and his adoptive grandfather was the founder of the Roman Empire, Augustus. On his mother's side, he was the cousin of Caligula, a paternal cousin of Claudius, and a first cousin once removed of Nero - all future emperors of Rome.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Before Tiberius, the heirs of Augustus were the sons of Marcus Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, whom he adopted and made heir. They advanced through their careers at the same pace and were going to rule together; however, they died young, forcing Augustus to draw another line of succession. In AD 4, Augustus adopted Tiberius on condition that Tiberius adopt Germanicus. This made Tiberius the heir of Augustus, and Germanicus the heir of Tiberius. Like the sons of Agrippa, it was the intention of Augustus that Germanicus and Drusus would rule together.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Later that year, Drusus was married to his paternal cousin, Livilla, to bring him closer to the Julians. Tacitus says she was unattractive as a child, but grew up to be beautiful. Their daughter Julia was born not long after the marriage, and they had twin sons: Tiberius Gemellus and Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus II Gemellus in 19, the latter of whom died while still an infant in 23. The birth of his sons was commemorated on coins.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Just as Agrippa's sons were, Drusus was about the same age as Germanicus, and both of them also followed parallel careers. Drusus and Germanicus held all their offices at the same age, and progressed through the "cursus honorum" at the same pace. Both held the office of quaestor at the same age, both were exempted from holding the praetorship, they held their first and second consulships at the same age, and both were given proconsular "imperium maius" when they were sent to govern Germania and Illyricum respectively.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus' first office was that of quaestor in AD 10. Being politically inclined, he was made a permanent member of the Senate committee Augustus had founded in AD 13 to draw up the Senate's daily business.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: In August of 14 his adoptive grandfather Augustus died. In his honor, Drusus read a eulogy before the rostra at his funeral. The next month, on 17 September, the senate met to confirm his father as "princeps". Among his first acts as emperor, Tiberius instituted the "Sodales Augustales", a priesthood of the cult of Augustus which members of the imperial family, such as Drusus, joined. This wasn't his first religious post though, as he had been a "pontifex" since AD 7/8 - an important step to the prestigious "pontifex maximus". Since 14 May AD 14, he was a member of the "Fratres Arvales" as well.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus had little time to mourn the death of Augustus or celebrate the ascendance of his father Tiberius: the legions in the Rhine and Illyricum were in mutiny. They had not received the bonuses promised to them by Augustus, and when it became clear a response from Tiberius was not forthcoming, they revolted. On 17 or 18 September, Drusus was sent to deal with the troops in Illyricum, and a delegation was sent to confer proconsular "imperium maius" upon Germanicus, who dealt with the situation on the Rhine. Drusus did not require proconsular powers because he was consul designate.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: The three legions in Pannonia (VIII Augusta, XIX Hispana, and XV Apollinaris) were under the command of Junius Blaesus, who allowed his men a rest from military duties to mourn the death of Augustus. There was a breakdown in discipline, and the soldiers stopped obeying orders as a result. They soon became restless and lashed out against their officers, including Blaesus and a prefect named Aufidienus Rufus. Having been dispatched with two Praetorian cohorts, Drusus and Praetorian prefect Sejanus reached the Pannonian legions at Emona on 26 September.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: The soldiers met with him upon his arrival and let Drusus into their entrenchments. The soldiers were rowdy, but as Tacitus says:


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Their demands were: a discharge from military service after only sixteen years (down from twenty), a reward for service, an increase of pay to one denarius a day, and that the veterans not be detained under a standard. However, negotiations broke down and the soldiers began stoning members of Drusus' party. Next morning, a lunar eclipse before dawn convinced the soldiery that their mutiny was doomed, and order was restored by daybreak as a result. Drusus was allowed into the camp by Blaesus before an assembly of the troops in which Drusus commended the controlled behavior of the soldiery and promised to write a letter to his father addressing their demands. If Drusus' letter was dispatched on 28 September, it should have reached Rome by 3 or 4 October.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Having gained control of the soldiers, his next move, according to Tacitus, was executing the leaders of the mutiny. He sent out a search party into the surrounding forest to kill those leaders not present for the assembly. Having settled these matters, Drusus returned to Rome.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: In AD 15 he held the consulship alongside Gaius Norbanus Flaccus. It was this year that he hosted the gladiatorial games in his and Germanicus' name, which he enjoyed in such excess that it disturbed the other spectators. He reportedly carried out his duties as consul well, although he was prone to violence and earned the nickname "Castor" from fighting an equestrian. There was also an incident at a theater between the Praetorians and "claqueurs" ("actors") in which Drusus reportedly sided with the actors, preventing the Praetorian Guard from punishing unruly actors. In "Annals" 1.77, Tacitus says the unruly behavior of actors and the crowds were later addressed by the Senate which passed measures allowing the praetors to punish riotous spectators. Such were his excesses that Tiberius decided to make him governor of Illyricum the following year, both to give him experience in war and bolster his popularity with the troops - perhaps also to keep him away from the indulgences of city life.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: For those reasons, Drusus was sent to Illyricum with proconsular "imperium maius", and would be governor there from AD 17 to 20. Since Germanicus had left the Rhine in AD 16, the German tribes that formerly fought alongside each other against the Romans had turned on each other. The two major forces in the region, the Marcomanni under king Maroboduus and the Cherusci under Arminius clashed and, after an indecisive battle, Maroboduus withdrew to the heart of his kingdom in the forests of Bohemia. Before that, two tribes (the Semnones and Langobardi) had defected to Arminius.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Realizing his situation, Maroboduus requested Roman aid. It had been two years since the Marcommani refused to help the Romans against the forces of Arminius, and so Tiberius refused to send aid. Instead, Tiberius sent Drusus to further Roman interests at Maroboduus' expense as he knew the Marcomanni were vulnerable. During the summer of 18, Drusus received intelligence from a former captive of Maroboduus, Catualda, that Maroboduus was weak and that it was a good time to attack. Hence, Drusus led a powerful force into the heart of the Marcomanni, and stormed their royal stronghold. Maroboduus fled, but was forced to seek asylum in Rome, which Tiberius granted. Later, Catualda lost a battle against the Hermunduri, and he too was granted asylum. The Senate decreed that Drusus be given an ovation for his success, which he received on his return to Rome on 28 May 20.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: While Drusus was in Illyricum, his adoptive brother Germanicus had died in Syria of illness or poison on 10 October 19. The death of Germanicus made Drusus the new heir, for which Germanicus' wife Agrippina suspected murder. She believed Tiberius had her husband murdered to allow Drusus to become his heir. Historian Levick says this is unlikely given the advancement of her son Nero's career the following year.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Also on 10 October 19, his wife Livilla had given birth to twin sons, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus, whom he named after his adoptive brother. Their birth was celebrated by his father who claimed that never before in the history of Rome had twins been born to a man as high in rank as Drusus, and the event was commemorated on the reverse of coins. Tiberius had hoped that Drusus would keep the imperial family together and entrusted him with the guardianship of Germanicus' sons, Nero and Drusus.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: He returned to Rome in December, and was present in 20 March when Agrippina arrived with Germanicus' ashes. He was also present for the trial of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, who was posthumously found guilty for the crime of "maiestas" (treason). On 16 December, his father gave a eulogy for Germanicus during a Senate meeting, and he gave a eulogy the next meeting. It was decided that their eulogies would both be inscribed in bronze: that of Tiberius for future generations, but the "libellus" (eulogy) of Drusus to demonstrate the devotion of Drusus for his adoptive brother in a show of "pietas" (piety).


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Several changes affected his father's reign following the death of Germanicus. In addition to losing his adoptive son and heir, Tiberius lost a friend: Gnaeus Piso, whose family had been close supporters of the principate since the early days of Augustus. The loss of Germanicus and the trial of Piso dealt a significant blow to Tiberius' popularity, and he came to resent the role of princeps.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Maintaining the same interval of three years between Germanicus' and Drusus' first and second term as consul, Drusus was given the consulship again in AD 21, which he held with his father. The hardship of the last two years on his father had made him reclusive. For Tiberius, Drusus holding the consulship was a welcome sight, and with the state of his health, he retreated to Campania, leaving Drusus alone in carrying out the obligations of the consulship. Tiberius' retreat lasted about twenty months.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: As consul he took part in a number of Senate debates. His first chance to shine in the Senate came in the dispute between ex-praetor Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Cornelius failed to give his seat to Corbulo at a gladiatorial show, and the incident sparked a debate between the rights of age and the defenders of tradition, in which Drusus argued a rapprochement. In another, it was proposed by Caecina Severus that the wives of governors be banned from joining their husbands in the provinces. Caecina delivered a speech in support of the bill, followed with speeches by both Valerius Messalinus and Drusus in opposition to it. The proposal was then abandoned, not because of the arguments made, but because of the intervention of an external force (the "auctoritas" of Drusus)--the same reason for the later repeal of the Oppian law ("lex Oppia").


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Drusus then settled an incident involving the abuse of the protection afforded by icons of the princeps, in which the emperor's images were being used to shield the guilty. Gaius Cestius Gallus brought a complaint into the Senate, and claimed he was being abused under this safeguard by Annia Rufilla. Drusus was soon brought in to weigh on the matter, for the Senate felt only a member of the imperial family could speak on such a delicate issue. At the request of many senators, Drusus had Rufilla arrested and imprisoned. Later, he was given credit for the condemnation of two Roman "equites", Considius Aequus and Coelius Cursor, who had attacked the praetor, Magius Caecilianus, with false charges of "maiestas". It is unlikely that he himself was responsible, for every verdict was given by the Senate with Tiberius' authority, but this did not prevent his popularity.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Meanwhile, there had been a rebellion in Gaul led by Sacrovir and Florus, Gauls with Roman citizenship, but the rebellion was settled by Gaius Silius (commander of the legions of the Lower Rhine) without the intervention of Tiberius or Drusus. After praising the loyalty of the legions in Gaul, Tiberius defended the statement he had made in 14, that neither he nor Drusus should have to "quit the capital" in response to every minor revolt in the empire.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Thus the consulship of Drusus was successful, but at the end of the year he fell ill. His illness prompted the equestrian, Clutorius Priscus, believing his life to be in jeopardy, to write his elegy. Priscus had previously written an elegy for Germanicus for which he was paid. He thought that he would be rewarded again, and so recited his elegy before an audience in preparation for Drusus' death. An unamused informer brought the matter before the Senate, and it was voted that he be executed. His execution was decreed and carried out without first consulting the emperor. This induced Tiberius to introduce a law where the Senate must wait 10 days after such condemnations before making such decrees public as to allow him to learn of their decisions first.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: The following year, Tiberius asked the Senate of Rome to grant Drusus "tribunicia potestas" (tribunician power), which they responded to elatedly. The Senate decreed statues, shrines, temples, an arch, and other "customary honors" upon the princeps and his son. Thus in the spring of AD 22 Drusus received "tribunicia potestas", a distinction no senator could then aspire to, as the honor was reserved exclusively for the emperor and his immediate successors. Only two men had been honored this way by Augustus—first Marcus Agrippa and then Tiberius himself—but Tiberius had never bestowed the power on Germanicus. It was then that Drusus shared the symbol of supreme power with his father.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: While it was officially Drusus who was the heir to Tiberius, in practice, it was the Praetorian prefect Sejanus who was the second man in the empire. As early as AD 20, Sejanus had sought to strengthen his ties to the imperial family by betrothing his daughter Junilla to the son of Claudius, Claudius Drusus. At the time the girl was only 4 years old but the marriage was prevented when the boy accidentally died a few days later of asphyxiation. Regardless, his ambition to further expand his power was clear.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: By AD 23, Sejanus had come to exert considerable influence over the emperor. Such was his relationship with the emperor that he was referred to by Tiberius as "Socius Laborum" ("my partner in my toils"). Sejanus' influence and position allowed him to be elevated to the rank of praetor, a position typically confined to members of the equestrian order. His supporters in the Senate were given advancement in their offices, and statues were being erected in his honor, such as the one in the Theatre of Pompey.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: By this time the enmity between Drusus and Sejanus had reached a critical point: Drusus had struck the prefect with his fist, and openly lamented that "a stranger was invited to assist in the government while the emperor's son was alive". According to Levick, there is nothing to suggest bad relations between the two before this point, especially not as far back as 14, during their expedition to Pannonia. She says, however, it may have been the clash between theatrical "claqueurs" and the Praetorian Guard in 15 that began the quarrel, but not enough is known to say for certain. Of more concern to Drusus was, perhaps, that in 20 his father mentioned Sejanus to the Senate in terms that treated him as his partner in power. For Drusus, the heir of that exact position, this was a legitimate cause for concern. At the time, Tiberius was in his sixties, so there was a realistic possibility of Drusus succeeding his father in the near future. In the account of Tacitus, Sejanus began plotting against Drusus in secrecy to secure his position.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: After seducing Drusus' wife Livilla, Sejanus convinced her that he loved her and went as far as to divorce his own wife, Apicata. They involved Livilla's physician, Eudemus, whom they met in secret for some time. With the help of Livilla, Drusus was poisoned and died of what passed as natural causes on 14 September 23. Cassius Dio says the actions of Sejanus were revealed in a letter by Apicata following his death in October 31.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Unlike Germanicus, Drusus was given a full funeral, and his body was interred in the Mausoleum of Augustus, alongside other deceased members of the imperial family. Like Germanicus, stories of poison abounded, with Sejanus as the murderer. Modern historians like Ronald Syme believe that he may simply have died of illness.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: but also challenged the future of the principate. Tiberius still trusted Sejanus and had no suspicion. Since Drusus' son was too young, Tiberius adopted his grandchildren by Germanicus, Nero and Drusus, and recommended them to the Senate. Nero was given the office of quaestor five years in advance and was married to Julia Livia, the daughter of Drusus, to combine the families of both possible successors. However, neither would live to succeed Tiberius.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: By 26, the emperor had withdrawn from politics altogether and moved to Capri, leaving the management of the empire to Sejanus who then began eliminating other members of the imperial family. In 28/29, Nero was exiled to the island of Ponza as an enemy of the state. Germanicus' son Drusus was imprisoned within the dungeon under the Imperial palace on the Palatine Hill, where he starved to death not long after. Nero died in exile in 33.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: Sejanus remained powerful until his sudden downfall and summary execution in October 31, the exact reasons for which remain unclear. On 26 October 31, just eight days after his death, his wife Apicata committed suicide. According to Cassius Dio, she left a message for the emperor: his son had been murdered by his wife Livilla and her lover, Sejanus. The story should be read with caution. Levick says that Sejanus must have murdered Drusus in self-defense because only Tiberius stood between the Praetorian Prefect and the end of his career at the hands of Drusus. Furthermore, he says it is even less likely that Livilla would have been complicit in the destruction of her family, the key to her children's future. Levick dismisses the accusation of Apicata as the revenge of a woman whose husband left her for another.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: The deaths of Germanicus' oldest sons elevated his third son, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), to successor and he became "princeps" when Tiberius died in AD 37. Drusus' son Tiberius Gemellus was summoned to Capri by his father Tiberius, where he and Gaius Caligula were made joint heirs. When Caligula assumed power, he made Gemellus his adopted son, but Caligula soon had Gemellus killed for plotting against him.


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: He features under the name Castor in the novel "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves, and in its BBC adaptation (in which he was played by Kevin McNally).


title: Drusus Julius Caesar

text: He is associated with the gourmand Apicius. Under Apicius' influence he disdained a certain vegetable of the cabbage family, earning a reprimand from Tiberius. Drusus is also recorded as using bitter almonds (five or six at a time) as a prophylactic against drunkenness.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Hero – Gayab Mode On is an Indian Hindi-language science fiction television series that has been produced under Peninsula Pictures by Alind Srivastava and Nissar Parvez. It stars Abhishek Nigam as the titular character.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: The show revolves around a man who finds a ring which gives him supernatural powers. He must fight alien forces who are after the ring and save the world, aided by his friends and family. It premiered on 7 December 2020 and is broadcast from Monday to Friday on Sony SAB. A second season of the series premiered on 23 August 2021 that ran till 30 October 2021.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: In an ancient era of gods and asuras (demons, actually aliens from Venus), a mystic invisibility ring is lost in an epic battle. The ring becomes a myth, believed only by scientist Amal who is arrested in a scam and disappears.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Amal's son Veer, a movie stuntman, finds the ring of invisibility. The asura guru Shukracharya sends minions to retrieve it, and in a series of battles Veer unlocks successive powers of the ring and is known as "Hero". Among his adversaries is a brainwashed Amal now known as Dansh who returns to the family to get the ring. This is revealed to Veer in a fight with Rocky who obtained electrical powers and joined with the aliens. Veer surrenders the ring to save Mumbai from destruction. Amal instinctively saves Veer; confused by this action, he undertakes a quest to learn his identity. Rocky pretends to execute Amal and is made the aliens' commander of Earth.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Meanwhile, injured Veer is rescued by Shivaay, who trains him. Veer saves his family from an alien infiltrator and again saves Mumbai. Veer assembles an ancient weapon but hesitates to use it on Amal, and recognizes Amal as his father. Veer and Shivaay become conflicted over Amal's fate. Rocky pretends to be an ally to Hero so that he can gain possession of the ring, but Veer tricks him and Rocky loses control of his powers and dies. Protecting Shivaay, Amal is redeemed but killed. Shivaay and Veer undertake a quest to resurrect Amal, which costs Shivaay his asura powers.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Shukracharya develops a doomsday weapon to destroy the ring but it is destroyed by Veer and his long-lost mother; meanwhile, his girlfriend Zara sacrifices herself in an attempt to stop the weapon by obtaining an object called Amrit and Shukracharya kidnapped Shivaay, after that no one knows about him. Afterwards, Veer experiences behavioural changes and suspects the ring is making him evil but he can no longer remove it. The poisoning of the ring by the doomsday weapon can only be neutralized with the use of Amrit, but the asuras have already secured it.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Three months have passed, and Veer has become an anti-Hero, who saves citizens but is cruel toward his adversaries. He reveals his identity to the world. Mad scientist The Professor kidnaps the chief minister of Maharashtra and demands a biological weapon from CM. The hero arrives and saves the hostages, though The Professor gets away and police officer Aditi's assistance goes unrecognized. Veer challenges Aditi to identify The Professor before he does. Shukracharya and his goons infiltrate Earth, posing as Veer's new neighbours. Veer finds out about the same and soon fights off them.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: Veer and Aditi are adversarial initially but join forces to save the city and their alliance slowly blossoms into friendship and then love. At last, the duo gets married.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: The series was announced by Peninsula Pictures in April 2020 and was confirmed in September 2020 by Sony SAB. The teaser of the series was released on 23 April 2020 and first look of the series was released on 24 November. On 19 August 2021, it was announced that the series would have a second season named "New Mode On", premiering on 23 August 2021.


title: Hero – Gayab Mode On

text: The series went on a brief hiatus from 21 April 2021 due to COVID-19 lockdown in Maharashtra, during which the shooting base was moved from Mumbai to Surat. The series resumed broadcast of new episodes on 26 April 2021. From June onwards, as government permissions were given, the shooting returned to Mumbai.


title: Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia

text: Konstantin Pavlovich (; ) was a grand duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. He was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother Alexander I's reign, but had secretly renounced his claim to the throne in 1823. For 25 days after the death of Alexander I, from 19 November (O.S.)/1 December 1825 to 14 December (O.S.)/26 December 1825 he was known as "His Imperial Majesty Konstantin I Emperor and Sovereign of Russia", although he never reigned and never acceded to the throne. His younger brother Nicholas became Tsar in 1825. The succession controversy became the pretext of the Decembrist revolt.


text: Konstantin was known to eschew court etiquette and to take frequent stands against the wishes of his brother Alexander I, for which he is remembered fondly in Russia, but in his capacity as the governor of Poland he is remembered as a hated ruler.


text: Konstantin was born in Tsarskoye Selo on 27 April 1779, the second son of the Tsesarevich Paul Petrovich and his wife Maria Fyodorovna, daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg. Of all Paul's children, Konstantin most closely resembled his father both physically and mentally.


text: His paternal grandmother Catherine the Great named him after Constantine the Great, the founder of the Eastern Roman Empire. A medal with antique figures was struck to commemorate his birth; it bears the inscription "Back to Byzantium" which clearly alludes to Catherine's Greek Plan. According to the British ambassador James Harris,


text: The direction of the boy's upbringing was entirely in the hands of his grandmother, the empress Catherine II. As in the case of her eldest grandson (afterwards the emperor Alexander I), she regulated every detail of his physical and mental education; but in accordance with her usual custom, she left the carrying out of her views to the men who were in her confidence. Count Nikolai Saltykov was supposed to be the actual tutor, but he too in his turn transferred the burden to another, interfering personally only on exceptional occasions, and exercised no influence upon the character of the passionate, restless and headstrong boy. The only person who exerted a responsible influence was Cesar La Harpe, who was tutor-in-chief from 1783 to May 1795 and educated both the empress's grandsons.


text: Catherine arranged Konstantin's marriage as she had Alexander's; Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 14, and Konstantin, 16, were married on 26 February 1796. As Caroline Bauer recorded in her memoirs, "The brutal Constantine treated his consort like a slave. So far did he forget all good manners and decency that, in the presence of his rough officers, he made demands on her, as his property, which will hardly bear being hinted of." Due to his violent treatment and suffering health problems as a result, Juliane separated from Konstantin in 1799; she eventually settled in Switzerland. An attempt by Konstantin in 1814 to convince her to return broke down in the face of her firm opposition.


text: During this time, Konstantin's first campaign took place under the leadership of Suvorov. The battle of Bassignana was lost by Konstantin's fault; but at Novi he distinguished himself by personal bravery, so that the emperor Paul bestowed on him the title of tsesarevich, which according to the fundamental law of the constitution belonged only to the heir to the throne. Though it cannot be proved that this action of the tsar denoted any far-reaching plan, it yet shows that Paul already distrusted the grand-duke Alexander.


text: Konstantin never tried to secure the throne. After his father's death in 1801, he led a disorderly bachelor life. He abstained from politics, but remained faithful to his military inclinations, without manifesting anything more than a preference for the externalities of the service. In command of the Imperial Guards during the campaign of 1805, he had a share of the responsibility for the Russian defeat at the battle of Austerlitz; while in 1807 neither his skill nor his fortune in war showed any improvement.


text: After the peace of Tilsit he became an ardent admirer of Napoleon and an upholder of the Russo-French alliance. He therefore lost the confidence of his brother Alexander; to the latter, the French alliance was merely a means to an end. This view was not held by Konstantin; even in 1812, after the fall of Moscow, he pressed for a speedy conclusion of peace with Napoleon, and, like field marshal Kutuzov, he too opposed the policy which carried the war across the Russian frontier to victorious conclusion upon French soil. His personal behaviour towards both his own men and French prisoners was eccentric and cruel.


text: During the campaign, Barclay de Tolly was twice obliged to send him away from the army due to his disorderly conduct. His share in the battles in Germany and France was insignificant. At Dresden, on 26 August, his military knowledge failed him at the decisive moment, but at La Fère-Champenoise he distinguished himself by personal bravery. In Paris the grand duke excited public ridicule by the manifestation of his petty military fads. His first visit was to the stables, and it was said that he had been marching and drilling even in his private rooms.


text: Konstantin's importance in political history dates from when his brother, Tsar Alexander, installed him in Congress Poland as "de facto" viceroy (however, he was not the "official viceroy", namestnik of the Kingdom of Poland), with a task of the militarization and discipline of Poland. In Congress Poland, he received the post of commander-in-chief of the forces of the kingdom to which was added in 1819 the command of the Lithuanian troops and of those of the Russian provinces that had belonged to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (so called Western Krai).


text: Alexander's policies were liberal by the standards of Restoration Europe. Classical liberals lapped up the freedoms of education, scholarship and economic development, but key deficiencies in Poland's autonomy like lack of control over the budget, military, and trade left them hungry for more. The Kalisz Opposition, led by the brothers Bonawentura and Wincenty Niemojowski, pressed for reforms including more independence for the judiciary. Alexander, calling their actions an "abuse" of liberty, suspended the Polish parliament (Sejm) for five years and authorised Konstantin to maintain order in the kingdom by any means necessary.


text: Konstantin, attempting to execute his brother's mandate to silence dissent, strengthened the secret police (Ochrana) and suppressed the Polish patriotic movements, leading to further popular discontent. Konstantin also harassed the liberal opposition, replaced Poles with Russians on important posts in local administration and the army and often insulted and assaulted his subordinates, which led to conflicts in the officer corps. The Sejm, until then mostly dominated by supporters of the personal union with Russia, saw his actions as disobedience of the very constitution of which he felt personally proud. That also led to him being mocked, which he did not help by sending his adjutants with threats to those "guilty" of it like Wirydianna Fiszerowa. Nevertheless, Konstantin was an ardent supporter of Polish musicians, such as Maria Agata Szymanowska and Frédéric Chopin.


text: After 19 years of separation, the marriage of Konstantin and Juliane was formally annulled on 20 March 1820. Two months later, on 27 May, Konstantin married the Polish Countess Joanna Grudzińska, who was given the title of "Her Serenity Princess of Lowicz." Connected with that, he renounced any claim to the Russian succession, which was formally completed in 1822. After the marriage, he became increasingly attached to his new home of Poland.


text: When Alexander I died on 1 December 1825, Grand Duke Nicholas had Konstantin proclaimed emperor in Saint Petersburg. In Warsaw meanwhile, Konstantin abdicated the throne. When that became public knowledge, the Northern Society scrambled in secret meetings to convince regimental leaders not to swear allegiance to Nicholas. The efforts would culminate in the Decembrist revolt.


text: Under Nicholas I, Konstantin maintained his position in Poland. Differences soon arose between him and his brother because of the part taken by the Poles in the Decembrist conspiracy. Konstantin hindered the unveiling of the organized plotting for independence, which had been going on in Poland for many years, and held obstinately to the belief that the army and the bureaucracy were loyally devoted to the Russian Empire. The eastern policy of the Tsar and the Turkish War in 1828 to 1829 caused a fresh breach between them. The opposition of Konstantin made the Polish army take no part in the war.


text: An assassination attempt was made on the life of Grand Duke Konstantin, which precipitated the November 1830 insurrection in Warsaw (the November Uprising). After the attempt on Konstantin’s life, a secret court was set up to prosecute those who were responsible. "It was learned that Nicholas had ordered the Grand Duke Konstantin ... to start an energetic investigation and court-martial the culprits ... the committee at its session of 27 November decided irrevocably to start the revolution on the evening of the 29th, at 6pm." Like the assassination, the recruitment of army units by the rebels failed; only two units joined them, and only the capture of the armory and the subsequent arming of the populace kept the revolt alive. Konstantin saw the revolt as a strictly Polish affair and refused to use troops, as he could have, because it was foolish politically. He could trust his Russian troops, but to use them might be considered a violation of the kingdom's independence and even an act of war.


text: Because of that setback, he was limited to the resources around him. If he decided to intervene, it would require a different source of manpower. He was limited to the handful of Polish troops he could gather together. Constantin thus refused to send his troops against the revolutionaries: "The Poles have started this disturbance, and it's Poles that must stop it", and he left the suppression of the revolt in the hands of the Polish government.


text: Polish Prince Ksawery Lubecki, realizing that the insurgents had formed no government by midnight, assembled some members of the council and other prominent personalities on his own initiative. They sent a delegation to the grand duke, but when he stated again that he did not wish to intervene in any way, the committees decided to take matters into their own hands. Konstantin’s involvement remained minimal, showing considerable restraint in not wanting to use Russian troops to help put down the rebellion. The timid response that he did give was that he would not attack the city of Warsaw without giving it 48 hours' notice, that he would intercede between the emperor and the Polish Kingdom, and would not order Lithuanian troops to enter Poland. What he was trying to accomplish was to remain neutral at all costs, which led to a belief among his fellow Russians that he was more sensitive towards the Polish independence than to Russian dominance. The securing of neutrality from Konstantin gave the Polish government the feeling that Russia would not attack Poland and gave it the chance effectively to quash the uprising.


text: After ensuring Russian neutrality, Konstantin retreated behind Russian lines. That further confused the Polish government regarding its status with Russia because of a previous Russian promise to help put down the rebellion. The patriotic Poles could not have been more pleased. Konstantin, on 3 December, retreated toward Russia. Following the failure of the uprising, Konstantin expressed admiration for the valor of the Polish insurgents. The policy of neutrality at all costs has led to Konstantin being viewed two ways through the scope of history. Either he would be viewed by the Russian royal family as weak and sympathetic to the Poles, or he would be seen as a seed for the idea of a soon to be independent Poland, but he was effectively only trying to avoid a wider war.


text: Konstantin died of cholera in Vitebsk (now in Belarus) on 27 June 1831 and did not live to see the suppression of the revolution. His frequent stands against the wishes of the Imperial Family were perceived in Russia as brave, even gallant. In Poland, he was viewed as a tyrant, hated by the military and civilian population alike, and in Polish literature, Konstantin is portrayed as a cruel despot.


text: Konstantin's letters to his grandfather, Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, (together with letters from his siblings) written between 1795 and 1797, are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonisation of the Americas, in which the Spanish "conquistadores" and their allies gradually incorporated the territory of the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. The Maya occupied the Maya Region, a territory that is now incorporated into the modern countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador; the conquest began in the early 16th century and is generally considered to have ended in 1697.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Before the conquest, Maya territory contained a number of competing kingdoms. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as infidels who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, despite the achievements of their civilization. The first contact between the Maya and European explorers came in 1502, during the fourth voyage of Christopher Columbus, when his brother Bartholomew encountered a canoe. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast. The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries. The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The conquest of the Maya was hindered by their politically fragmented state. Spanish and native tactics and technology differed greatly. The Spanish engaged in a strategy of concentrating native populations in newly founded colonial towns; they viewed the taking of prisoners as a hindrance to outright victory, whereas the Maya prioritised the capture of live prisoners and of booty. Among the Maya, ambush was a favoured tactic; in response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes. Native resistance to the new nucleated settlements took the form of the flight into inaccessible regions such as the forest or joining neighbouring Maya groups that had not yet submitted to the European conquerors. Spanish weaponry included crossbows, firearms (including muskets, arquebuses and cannon), and war horses. Maya warriors fought with flint-tipped spears, bows and arrows, stones, and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades, and wore padded cotton armour to protect themselves. The Maya lacked key elements of Old World technology such as a functional wheel, horses, iron, steel, and gunpowder; they were also extremely susceptible to Old World diseases, against which they had no resistance.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Maya civilization occupied the Maya Region, a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America; this area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula, and all of the territory now incorporated into the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. In Mexico, the Maya occupied territory now incorporated into the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Yucatán Peninsula is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the east and by the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west. It incorporates the modern Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Campeche, the eastern portion of the state of Tabasco, most of the of Petén in Guatemala, and all of Belize. Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline. The northwestern and northern portions of the Yucatán Peninsula experience lower rainfall than the rest of the peninsula; these regions feature highly porous limestone bedrock resulting in less surface water. In contrast, the northeastern portion of the peninsula is characterised by forested swamplands. The northern portion of the peninsula lacks rivers, except for the Champotón River – all other rivers are located in the south.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain, crossed by low east–west oriented ridges and is characterised by a variety of forest and soil types; water sources include generally small rivers and low-lying seasonal swamps known as "bajos". A chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén. The largest lake is Lake Petén Itza; it measures . A broad savannah extends south of the central lakes. To the north of the lakes region "bajos" become more frequent, interspersed with forest. To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands. Dense forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Further north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Chiapas occupies the extreme southeast of Mexico; it possesses of Pacific coastline. Chiapas features two principal highland regions; to the south is the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and in central Chiapas are the Montañas Centrales (Central Highlands). They are separated by the Depresion Central, containing the drainage basin of the Grijalva River, featuring a hot climate with moderate rainfall. The Sierra Madre highlands gain altitude from west to east, with the highest mountains near the Guatemalan border. The Central Highlands of Chiapas rise sharply to the north of the Grijalva, to a maximum altitude of , then descend gradually towards the Yucatán Peninsula. They are cut by deep valleys running parallel to the Pacific coast, and feature a complex drainage system that feeds both the Grijalva and the Lacantún River. At the eastern end of the Central Highlands is the Lacandon Forest, this region is largely mountainous with lowland tropical plains at its easternmost extreme. The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Maya had never been unified as a single empire, but by the time the Spanish arrived Maya civilization was thousands of years old and had already seen the rise and fall of great cities.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The first large Maya cities developed in the Petén Basin in the far south of the Yucatán Peninsula as far back as the Middle Preclassic (c. 600–350 BC), and Petén formed the heartland of the ancient Maya civilization during the Classic period (c. AD 250–900). The 16th-century Maya provinces of northern Yucatán are likely to have evolved out of polities of the Maya Classic period. The great cities that dominated Petén had fallen into ruin by the beginning of the 10th century with the onset of the Classic Maya collapse. A significant Maya presence remained in Petén into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In the early 16th century, the Yucatán Peninsula was still dominated by the Maya civilization. It was divided into a number of independent provinces that shared a common culture but varied in their internal sociopolitical organisation. When the Spanish discovered Yucatán, the provinces of Mani and Sotuta were two of the most important polities in the region. They were mutually hostile; the Xiu Maya of Mani allied themselves with the Spanish, while the Cocom Maya of Sotuta became the implacable enemies of the European colonisers.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: At the time of conquest, polities in the northern Yucatán peninsula included Mani, Cehpech and Chakan; further east along the north coast were Ah Kin Chel, Cupul, and Chikinchel. Ecab, Uaymil, Chetumal all bordered on the Caribbean Sea. Cochuah was also in the eastern half of the peninsula. Tases, Hocaba and Sotuta were all landlocked provinces. Chanputun (modern Champotón) was on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, as was Acalan. In the southern portion of the peninsula, a number of polities occupied the Petén Basin. The Kejache occupied a territory between the Petén lakes and what is now Campeche. The Cholan Maya-speaking Lakandon (not to be confused with the modern inhabitants of Chiapas by that name) controlled territory along the tributaries of the Usumacinta River spanning eastern Chiapas and southwestern Petén. The Lakandon had a fierce reputation amongst the Spanish.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Before their defeat in 1697 the Itza controlled or influenced much of Petén and parts of Belize. The Itza were warlike, and their capital was Nojpetén, an island city upon Lake Petén Itzá. The Kowoj were the second in importance; they were hostile towards their Itza neighbours. The Kowoj were located around the eastern Petén lakes. The Yalain occupied a territory that extended eastwards to Tipuj in Belize. Other groups in Petén are less well known, and their precise territorial extent and political makeup remains obscure; among them were the Chinamita, the Icaiche, the Kejache, the Lakandon Chʼol, the Manche Chʼol, and the Mopan.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: What is now the Mexican state of Chiapas was divided roughly equally between the non-Maya Zoque in the western half and Maya in the eastern half; this distribution continued up to the time of the Spanish conquest. On the eve of the conquest the highlands of Guatemala were dominated by several powerful Maya states. In the centuries preceding the arrival of the Spanish the Kʼicheʼ had carved out a small empire covering a large part of the western Guatemalan Highlands and the neighbouring Pacific coastal plain. However, in the late 15th century the Kaqchikel rebelled against their former Kʼicheʼ allies and founded a new kingdom to the southeast with Iximche as its capital. In the decades before the Spanish invasion the Kaqchikel kingdom had been steadily eroding the kingdom of the Kʼicheʼ. Other highland groups included the Tzʼutujil around Lake Atitlán, the Mam in the western highlands and the Poqomam in the eastern highlands. The central highlands of Chiapas were occupied by a number of Maya peoples, including the Tzotzil, who were divided into a number of provinces; the province of Chamula was said to have five small towns grouped closely together. The Tojolabal held territory around Comitán. The Coxoh Maya held territory in the upper reaches of the Grijalva drainage, near the Guatemalan border, and were probably a subgroup of the Tojolabal.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Soconusco was an important communication route between the central Mexican highlands and Central America. It had been subjugated by the Aztec Triple Alliance at the end of the 15th century, under the emperor Ahuizotl, and paid tribute in cacao. The highland Kʼicheʼ dominated the Pacific coastal plain of western Guatemala. The eastern portion of the Pacific plain was occupied by the non-Maya Pipil and Xinca.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for the Kingdom of Castile and Leon in 1492. Private adventurers thereafter entered into contracts with the Spanish Crown to conquer the newly discovered lands in return for tax revenues and the power to rule. In the first decades after the discovery of the new lands, the Spanish colonised the Caribbean and established a centre of operations on the island of Cuba. By August 1521 the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had fallen to the Spanish. Within three years of the fall of Tenochtitlan the Spanish had conquered a large part of Mexico, extending as far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The newly conquered territory became New Spain, headed by a viceroy who answered to the king of Spain via the Council of the Indies.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The conquistadors were all volunteers, the majority of whom did not receive a fixed salary but instead a portion of the spoils of victory, in the form of precious metals, land grants and provision of native labour. Many of the Spanish were already experienced soldiers who had previously campaigned in Europe. In addition to Spaniards, the invasion force probably included dozens of armed African slaves and freemen. The politically fragmented state of the Yucatán Peninsula at the time of conquest hindered the Spanish invasion, since there was no central political authority to be overthrown. However, the Spanish exploited this fragmentation by taking advantage of pre-existing rivalries between polities. Among Mesoamerican peoples the capture of prisoners was a priority, while to the Spanish such taking of prisoners was a hindrance to outright victory. The Spanish engaged in a strategy of concentrating native populations in newly founded colonial towns, or "reducciones" (also known as "congregaciones"). Native resistance to the new nucleated settlements took the form of the flight of the indigenous inhabitants into inaccessible regions such as the forest or joining neighbouring Maya groups that had not yet submitted to the Spanish. Those that remained behind in the "reducciones" often fell victim to contagious diseases; coastal "reducciones", while convenient for Spanish administration, were also vulnerable to pirate attacks.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Spanish weaponry and tactics differed greatly from that of the indigenous peoples. This included the Spanish use of crossbows, firearms (including muskets, arquebuses and cannon), war dogs and war horses. Horses had never been encountered by the Maya before, and their use gave the mounted conquistador an overwhelming advantage over his unmounted opponent, allowing the rider to strike with greater force while simultaneously making him less vulnerable to attack. The mounted conquistador was highly manoeuvrable and this allowed groups of combatants to quickly displace themselves across the battlefield. The horse itself was not passive, and could buffet the enemy combatant.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The crossbows and early firearms were unwieldy and deteriorated rapidly in the field, often becoming unusable after a few weeks of campaigning due to the effects of the climate. The Maya lacked key elements of Old World technology, such as the use of iron and steel and functional wheels. The use of steel swords was perhaps the greatest technological advantage held by the Spanish, although the deployment of cavalry helped them to rout indigenous armies on occasion. The Spanish were sufficiently impressed by the quilted cotton armour of their Maya enemies that they adopted it in preference to their own steel armour. The conquistadors applied a more effective military organisation and strategic awareness than their opponents, allowing them to deploy troops and supplies in a way that increased the Spanish advantage.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The 16th-century Spanish conquistadors were armed with one- and two-handed broadswords, lances, pikes, rapiers, halberds, crossbows, matchlocks and light artillery. Crossbows were easier to maintain than matchlocks, especially in the humid tropical climate of the Caribbean region that included much of the Yucatán Peninsula.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In Guatemala the Spanish routinely fielded indigenous allies; at first these were Nahua brought from the recently conquered Mexico, later they also included Maya. It is estimated that for every Spaniard on the field of battle, there were at least 10 native auxiliaries. Sometimes there were as many as 30 indigenous warriors for every Spaniard, and the participation of these Mesoamerican allies was decisive.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Maya armies were highly disciplined, and warriors participated in regular training exercises and drills; every able-bodied adult male was available for military service. Maya states did not maintain standing armies; warriors were mustered by local officials who reported back to appointed warleaders. There were also units of full-time mercenaries who followed permanent leaders. Most warriors were not full-time, however, and were primarily farmers; the needs of their crops usually came before warfare. Maya warfare was not so much aimed at destruction of the enemy as the seizure of captives and plunder. Maya warriors entered battle against the Spanish with flint-tipped spears, bows and arrows and stones. They wore padded cotton armour to protect themselves. The Spanish described the weapons of war of the Petén Maya as bows and arrows, fire-sharpened poles, flint-headed spears and two-handed swords crafted from strong wood with the blade fashioned from inset obsidian, similar to the Aztec "macuahuitl". Maya warriors wore body armour in the form of quilted cotton that had been soaked in salt water to toughen it; the resulting armour compared favourably to the steel armour worn by the Spanish. Warriors bore wooden or animal hide shields decorated with feathers and animal skins. The Maya had historically employed ambush and raiding as their preferred tactic, and its employment against the Spanish proved troublesome for the Europeans. In response to the use of cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits on the roads, lining them with fire-hardened stakes and camouflaging them with grass and weeds, a tactic that according to the Kaqchikel killed many horses.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Epidemics incidentally introduced by the Spanish included smallpox, measles and influenza. These diseases, together with typhus and yellow fever, had a major impact on Maya populations. The Old World diseases brought with the Spanish and against which the indigenous New World peoples had no resistance were a deciding factor in the conquest; they decimated populations before battles were even fought. It is estimated that 90% of the indigenous population had been eliminated by disease within the first century of European contact.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: A single soldier arriving in Mexico in 1520 was carrying smallpox and initiated the devastating plagues that swept through the native populations of the Americas. Modern estimates of native population decline vary from 75% to 90% mortality. Maya written histories suggest that smallpox was rapidly transmitted throughout the Maya area the same year that it arrived in central Mexico. Among the most deadly diseases were the aforementioned smallpox, influenza, measles and a number of pulmonary diseases, including tuberculosis. Modern knowledge of the impact of these diseases on populations with no prior exposure suggests that 33–50% of the population of the Maya highlands perished.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: These diseases swept through Yucatán in the 1520s and 1530s, with periodic recurrences throughout the 16th century. By the late 16th century, malaria had arrived in the region, and yellow fever was first reported in the mid-17th century. Mortality was high, with approximately 50% of the population of some Yucatec Maya settlements being wiped out. Those areas of the peninsula that experience damper conditions became rapidly depopulated after the conquest with the introduction of malaria and other waterborne parasites. The native population of the northeastern portion of the peninsula was almost eliminated within fifty years of the conquest. Soconusco also suffered catastrophic population collapse, with an estimated 90–95% drop.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In the south, conditions conducive to the spread of malaria existed throughout Petén and Belize. In Tabasco the population of approximately 30,000 was reduced by an estimated 90%, with measles, smallpox, catarrhs, dysentery and fevers being the main culprits. At the time of the fall of Nojpetén in 1697, there are estimated to have been 60,000 Maya living around Lake Petén Itzá, including a large number of refugees from other areas. It is estimated that 88% of them died during the first ten years of colonial rule owing to a combination of disease and war.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: On 30 July 1502, during his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus arrived at Guanaja, one of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. He sent his brother Bartholomew to scout the island. As Bartholomew explored, a large trading canoe approached. Bartholomew Columbus boarded the canoe, and found it was a Maya trading vessel from Yucatán, carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo. The Europeans looted whatever took their interest from amongst the cargo and seized the elderly captain to serve as an interpreter; the canoe was then allowed to continue on its way. This was the first recorded contact between Europeans and the Maya. It is likely that news of the piratical strangers in the Caribbean passed along the Maya trade routes – the first prophecies of bearded invaders sent by Kukulkan, the northern Maya feathered serpent god, were probably recorded around this time, and in due course passed into the books of Chilam Balam.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1511 the Spanish caravel "Santa María de la Barca" sailed along the Central American coast under the command of Pedro de Valdivia. The ship foundered upon a reef somewhere off Jamaica. There were just twenty survivors from the wreck, including Captain Valdivia, Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero. They set themselves adrift in one of the ship's boats and after thirteen days, during which half of the survivors died, they made landfall upon the coast of Yucatán. There they were seized by a Halach Uinik, a Maya lord. Captain Vildivia was sacrificed with four of his companions, and their flesh was served at a feast. Aguilar and Guerrero were held prisoner and fattened for killing, together with five or six of their shipmates. Aguilar and Guerrero managed to escape their captors and fled to a neighbouring lord, who took them prisoner and kept them as slaves. After a time, Gonzalo Guerrero was passed as a slave to the lord Nachan Can of Chetumal. Guerrero became completely Mayanised and by 1514 Guerrero had achieved the rank of "nacom", a war leader who served against Nachan Can's enemies.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1517, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba set sail from Cuba with a small fleet. The expedition sailed west from Cuba for three weeks before sighting the northeastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula. The ships could not put in close to the shore due to the coastal shallows. However, they could see a Maya city some two leagues inland. The following morning, ten large canoes rowed out to meet the Spanish ships, and over thirty Maya boarded the vessels and mixed freely with the Spaniards. The following day the conquistadors put ashore. As the Spanish party advanced along a path towards the city, they were ambushed by Maya warriors. Thirteen Spaniards were injured by arrows in the first assault, but the conquistadors regrouped and repulsed the Maya attack. They advanced to a small plaza upon the outskirts of the city. When the Spaniards ransacked nearby temples they found a number of low-grade gold items, which filled them with enthusiasm. The expedition captured two Mayas to be used as interpreters and retreated to the ships. The Spanish discovered that the Maya arrowheads were fashioned from flint and tended to shatter on impact, causing infected wounds and a slow death; two of the wounded Spaniards died from the arrow-wounds inflicted in the ambush.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Over the next fifteen days the fleet followed the coastline west, and then south. The expedition was now perilously short of fresh water, and shore parties searching for water were left dangerously exposed because the ships could not pull close to the shore due to the shallows. On 23 February 1517, the Spanish spotted the Maya city of Campeche. A large contingent put ashore to fill their water casks. They were approached by about fifty finely dressed and unarmed Indians while the water was being loaded into the boats; they questioned the Spaniards as to their purpose by means of signs. The Spanish party then accepted an invitation to enter the city. Once inside the city, the Maya leaders made it clear that the Spanish would be killed if they did not withdraw immediately. The Spanish party retreated in defensive formation to the safety of the ships.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: After ten more days, the ships spotted an inlet close to Champotón, and a landing party discovered fresh water. Armed Maya warriors approached from the city, and communication was attempted with signs. Night fell by the time the water casks had been filled and the attempts at communication concluded. By sunrise the Spanish had been surrounded by a sizeable army. The massed Maya warriors launched an assault and all of the Spanish party received wounds in the frantic melee that followed, including Hernández de Córdoba. The Spanish regrouped and forced passage to the shore, where their discipline collapsed and a frantic scramble for the boats ensued, leaving the Spanish vulnerable to the pursuing Maya warriors who waded into the sea behind them. By the end of the battle, the Spanish had lost over fifty men, more than half their number, and five more men died from their wounds in the following days. The battle had lasted only an hour. They were now far from help and low on supplies; too many men had been lost and injured to sail all three ships back to Cuba, so one was abandoned. The ship's pilot then steered a course for Cuba via Florida, and Hernández de Cordóba wrote a report to Governor Diego Velázquez describing the voyage and, most importantly, the discovery of gold. Hernández died soon after from his wounds.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, was enthused by Hernández de Córdoba's report of gold in Yucatán. He organised a new expedition and placed his nephew Juan de Grijalva in command over his four ships. The small fleet left Cuba in April 1518, and made its first landfall upon the island of Cozumel, off the east coast of Yucatán. The Maya inhabitants of Cozumel fled the Spanish and would not respond to Grijalva's friendly overtures. The fleet then sailed south along the east coast of the peninsula. The Spanish spotted three large Maya cities along the coast, but Grijalva did not land at any of these and turned back north to loop around the north of the peninsula and sail down the west coast. At Campeche the Spanish tried to barter for water but the Maya refused, so Grijalva opened fire against the city with small cannon; the inhabitants fled, allowing the Spanish to take the abandoned city. Messages were sent with a few Maya who had been too slow to escape but the Maya remained hidden in the forest; the Spanish boarded their ships and continued along the coast.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: At Champotón, the fleet was approached by a small number of large war canoes, but the ships' cannon soon put them to flight. At the mouth of the Tabasco River the Spanish sighted massed warriors and canoes but the natives did not approach. By means of interpreters, Grijalva indicated that he wished to trade and bartered wine and beads in exchange for food and other supplies. From the natives they received a few gold trinkets and news of the riches of the Aztec Empire to the west. The expedition continued far enough to confirm the reality of the gold-rich empire, sailing as far north as Pánuco River. As the fleet returned to Cuba, the Spanish attacked Champotón to avenge the previous year's defeat of the Spanish expedition led by Hernández. One Spaniard was killed and fifty were wounded in the ensuing battle, including Grijalva. Grijalva put into Havana five months after he had left.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Grijalva's return aroused great interest in Cuba, and Yucatán was believed to be a land of riches waiting to be plundered. A new expedition was organised, with a fleet of eleven ships carrying 500 men and some horses. Hernán Cortés was placed in command, and his crew included officers that would become famous conquistadors, including Pedro de Alvarado, Cristóbal de Olid, Gonzalo de Sandoval and Diego de Ordaz. Also aboard were Francisco de Montejo and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, veterans of the Grijalva expedition.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The fleet made its first landfall at Cozumel; Maya temples were cast down and a Christian cross was put up on one of them. At Cozumel Cortés heard rumours of bearded men on the Yucatán mainland, who he presumed were Europeans. Cortés sent out messengers to them and was able to rescue the shipwrecked Gerónimo de Aguilar, who had been enslaved by a Maya lord. Aguilar had learnt the Yucatec Maya language and became Cortés' interpreter.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: From Cozumel, the fleet looped around the north of the Yucatán Peninsula and followed the coast to the Grijalva River, which Cortés named in honour of the Spanish captain who had discovered it. In Tabasco, Cortés anchored his ships at Potonchán, a Chontal Maya town. The Maya prepared for battle but the Spanish horses and firearms quickly decided the outcome. The defeated Chontal Maya lords offered gold, food, clothing and a group of young women in tribute to the victors. Among these women was a young Maya noblewoman called Malintzin, who was given the Spanish name Marina. She spoke Maya and Nahuatl and became the means by which Cortés was able to communicate with the Aztecs. From Tabasco, Cortés continued along the coast, and went on to conquer the Aztecs.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish in 1521, the Kaqchikel Maya of Iximche sent envoys to Hernán Cortés to declare their allegiance to the new ruler of Mexico, and the Kʼicheʼ Maya of Qʼumarkaj may also have sent a delegation. In 1522 Cortés sent Mexican allies to scout the Soconusco region of lowland Chiapas, where they met new delegations from Iximche and Qʼumarkaj at Tuxpán; both of the powerful highland Maya kingdoms declared their loyalty to the King of Spain. But Cortés' allies in Soconusco soon informed him that the Kʼicheʼ and the Kaqchikel were not loyal, and were harassing Spain's allies in the region. Cortés despatched Pedro de Alvarado with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, 4 cannons, and thousands of allied warriors from central Mexico; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Pedro de Alvarado passed through Soconusco with a sizeable force in 1523, en route to conquer Guatemala. Alvarado's army included hardened veterans of the conquest of the Aztecs, and included cavalry and artillery; he was accompanied by a great many indigenous allies. Alvarado was received in peace in Soconusco, and the inhabitants swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown. They reported that neighbouring groups in Guatemala were attacking them because of their friendly outlook towards the Spanish. By 1524, Soconusco had been completely pacified by Alvarado and his forces. Due to the economic importance of cacao to the new colony, the Spanish were reluctant to move the indigenous inhabitants far from their established cacao orchards. As a result, the inhabitants of Soconusco were less likely to be rounded up into new "reducción" settlements than elsewhere in Chiapas, since the planting of a new cacao crop would have required five years to mature.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1524, after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés led an expedition to Honduras over land, cutting across Acalan in southern Campeche and the Itza kingdom in what is now the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. His aim was to subdue the rebellious Cristóbal de Olid, whom he had sent to conquer Honduras, and who had set himself up independently in that territory. Cortés left Tenochtitlan on 12 October 1524 with 140 Spanish soldiers, 93 of them mounted, 3,000 Mexican warriors, 150 horses, artillery, munitions and other supplies. Cortés marched into Maya territory in Tabasco; the army crossed the Usumacinta River near Tenosique and crossed into the Chontal Maya province of Acalan, where he recruited 600 Chontal Maya carriers. Cortés and his army left Acalan on 5 March 1525.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The expedition passed onwards through Kejache territory, and arrived at the north shore of Lake Petén Itzá on 13 March 1525. The Roman Catholic priests accompanying the expedition celebrated mass in the presence of the king of the Itza, who was said to be so impressed that he pledged to worship the cross and to destroy his idols. Cortés accepted an invitation from Kan Ekʼ to visit Nojpetén. On his departure, Cortés left behind a cross and a lame horse that the Itza treated as a deity, but the animal soon died.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: From the lake, Cortés continued on the arduous journey south along the western slopes of the Maya Mountains, during which he lost most of his horses. The expedition became lost in the hills north of Lake Izabal and came close to starvation before they captured a Maya boy who led them to safety. Cortés found a village on the shore of Lake Izabal, and crossed the Dulce River to the settlement of Nito, somewhere on the Amatique Bay, with about a dozen companions, and waited there for the rest of his army to regroup over the next week. By this time the remnants of the expedition had been reduced to a few hundred; Cortés succeeded in contacting the Spaniards he was searching for, only to find that Cristóbal de Olid's own officers had already put down his rebellion. Cortés then returned to Mexico by sea.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: No Spanish military expeditions were launched against the Maya of Belize, although both Dominican and Franciscan friars penetrated the region in attempts at evangelising the natives. The only Spanish settlement in the territory was established by Alonso d'Avila in 1531 and lasted less than two years. In 1574, fifty households of Manche Chʼol were relocated from Campin and Yaxal, in southern Belize, to the shore of Lake Izabal, but they soon fled back into the forest. In order to counter Spanish encroachment into their territory, the local Maya maintained a tense alliance with English loggers operating in central Belize. In 1641, the Franciscans established two "reducciones" among the Muzul Maya of central Belize, at Zoite and Cehake; both settlements were sacked by Dutch corsairs within a year.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Pedro de Alvarado and his army advanced along the Pacific coast unopposed until they reached the Samalá River in western Guatemala. This region formed a part of the Kʼicheʼ kingdom, and a Kʼicheʼ army tried unsuccessfully to prevent the Spanish from crossing the river. Once across, the conquistadors ransacked nearby settlements. On 8 February 1524 Alvarado's army fought a battle at Xetulul, (modern San Francisco Zapotitlán). The Spanish and their allies stormed the town and set up camp in the marketplace. Alvarado then headed upriver into the Sierra Madre mountains towards the Kʼicheʼ heartlands, crossing the pass into the valley of Quetzaltenango. On 12 February 1524 Alvarado's Mexican allies were ambushed in the pass and driven back by Kʼicheʼ warriors but a Spanish cavalry charge scattered the Kʼicheʼ and the army crossed to the city of Xelaju (modern Quetzaltenango) to find it deserted. The Spanish accounts relate that at least one and possibly two of the ruling lords of Qʼumarkaj died in the fierce battles upon the initial approach to Quetzaltenango. Almost a week later, on 18 February 1524, a 30,000-strong Kʼicheʼ army confronted the Spanish army in the Quetzaltenango valley and was comprehensively defeated; many Kʼicheʼ nobles were among the dead. This battle exhausted the Kʼicheʼ militarily and they asked for peace, and invited Pedro de Alvarado into their capital Qʼumarkaj. Alvarado was deeply suspicious of Kʼicheʼ intentions but accepted the offer and marched to Qʼumarkaj with his army. At Tzakahá the Spanish conducted a Roman Catholic mass under a makeshift roof; this site was chosen to build the first church in Guatemala. The first Easter mass held in Guatemala was celebrated in the new church, during which high-ranking natives were baptised.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In March 1524 Pedro de Alvarado camped outside Qʼumarkaj. He invited the Kʼicheʼ lords Oxib-Keh (the "ajpop", or king) and Beleheb-Tzy (the "ajpop kʼamha", or king elect) to visit him in his camp. As soon as they did so, he seized them as prisoners. In response to a furious Kʼicheʼ counterattack, Alvarado had the captured Kʼicheʼ lords burnt to death, and then proceeded to burn the entire city. After the destruction of Qʼumarkaj, Pedro de Alvarado sent messages to Iximche, capital of the Kaqchikel, proposing an alliance against the remaining Kʼicheʼ resistance. Alvarado wrote that they sent 4000 warriors to assist him, although the Kaqchikel recorded that they sent only 400. With the capitulation of the Kʼicheʼ kingdom, various non-Kʼicheʼ peoples under Kʼicheʼ dominion also submitted to the Spanish. This included the Mam inhabitants of the area now within the modern department of San Marcos.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: On 14 April 1524, the Spanish were invited into Iximche and were well received by the lords Belehe Qat and Cahi Imox. The Kaqchikel kings provided native soldiers to assist the conquistadors against continuing Kʼicheʼ resistance and to help with the defeat of the neighbouring Tzʼutujil kingdom. The Spanish only stayed briefly before continuing to Atitlan and the Pacific coast. The Spanish returned to the Kaqchikel capital on 23 July 1524 and on 27 July Pedro de Alvarado declared Iximche as the first capital of Guatemala, Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala ("St. James of the Knights of Guatemala").


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: After two Kaqchikel messengers sent by Pedro de Alvarado were killed by the Tzʼutujil, the conquistadors and their Kaqchikel allies marched against the Tzʼutujil. Pedro de Alvarado led 60 cavalry, 150 Spanish infantry and an unspecified number of Kaqchikel warriors. The Spanish and their allies arrived at the lakeshore after a day's march, and Alvarado rode ahead with 30 cavalry along the lake shore until he engaged a hostile Tzʼutujil force, which was broken by the Spanish charge. The survivors were pursued across a causeway to an island on foot before the inhabitants could break the bridges. The rest of Alvarado's army soon arrived and they successfully stormed the island. The surviving Tzʼutujil fled into the lake and swam to safety. The Spanish could not pursue them because 300 canoes sent by the Kaqchikels had not yet arrived. This battle took place on 18 April.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The following day the Spanish entered Tecpan Atitlan, the Tzʼutujil capital, but found it deserted. The Tzʼutujil leaders responded to Alvarado's messengers by surrendering to Pedro de Alvarado and swearing loyalty to Spain, at which point Alvarado considered them pacified and returned to Iximche; three days later, the lords of the Tzʼutujil arrived there to pledge their loyalty and offer tribute to the conquistadors.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1524 Luis Marín led a small party on a reconnaissance expedition into Chiapas. He set out from Coatzacoalcos (renamed Espíritu Santo by the Spanish), on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. His party followed the Grijalva upriver; near modern Chiapa de Corzo the Spanish party fought and defeated the Chiapanecos. Following this battle, Marín headed into the central highlands of Chiapas; around Easter he passed through the Tzotzil Maya town Zinacantan without opposition from the inhabitants. The Zinacantecos, true to their pledge of allegiance two years earlier, aided the Spanish against the other indigenous peoples of the region.