title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Marín was initially met by a peaceful embassy as he approached the Tzoztzil town of Chamula. He took this as the submission of the inhabitants, but was met by armed resistance when he tried to enter the province. The Spanish found that the Chamula Tzotzil had abandoned their lands and stripped them of food in an attempt to discourage the invaders. A day after their initial approach, Marín found that the Chamula Tzotzil had gathered their warriors upon a ridge that was too steep for the Spanish horses to climb. The "conquistadors" were met with a barrage of missiles and boiling water, and found the nearby town defended by a formidable thick defensive wall. The Spanish stormed the wall, to find that the inhabitants had withdrawn under cover of torrential rain that had interrupted the battle. After taking the deserted Chamula, the Spanish expedition continued against their allies at Huixtan. Again the inhabitants offered armed resistance before abandoning their town to the Spanish. "Conquistador" Diego Godoy wrote that the Indians killed or captured at Huixtan numbered no more than 500. The Spanish, by now disappointed with the scarce pickings, decided to retreat to Coatzacoalcos in May 1524.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Pedro de Alvarado rapidly began to demand gold in tribute from the Kaqchikels, souring the friendship between the two peoples, and the Kaqchikel people abandoned their city and fled to the forests and hills on 28 August 1524. Ten days later the Spanish declared war on the Kaqchikel.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Spanish founded a new town at nearby Tecpán Guatemala, abandoned it in 1527 because of continuous Kaqchikel attacks, and moved to the Almolonga Valley to the east, refounding their capital at Ciudad Vieja. The Kaqchikel kept up resistance against the Spanish for a number of years, but on 9 May 1530, exhausted by warfare, the two kings of the most important clans returned from the wilds. A day later they were joined by many nobles and their families and many more people; they then surrendered at the new Spanish capital at Ciudad Vieja. The former inhabitants of Iximche were dispersed; some were moved to Tecpán, the rest to Sololá and other towns around Lake Atitlán.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: At the time of the conquest, the main Mam population was situated in Xinabahul (modern Huehuetenango city), but Zaculeu's fortifications led to its use as a refuge during the conquest. The refuge was attacked by Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras, brother of Pedro de Alvarado, in 1525, with 40 Spanish cavalry and 80 Spanish infantry, and some 2,000 Mexican and Kʼicheʼ allies. Gonzalo de Alvarado left the Spanish camp at Tecpán Guatemala in July 1525 and marched to Momostenango, which quickly fell to the Spanish after a four-hour battle. The following day Gonzalo de Alvarado marched on Huehuetenango and was confronted by a Mam army of 5,000 warriors from Malacatán. The Mam army advanced across the plain in battle formation and was met by a Spanish cavalry charge that threw them into disarray, with the infantry mopping up those Mam that survived the cavalry. The Mam leader Canil Acab was killed and the surviving warriors fled to the hills. The Spanish army rested for a few days, then continued onwards to Huehuetenango only to find it deserted.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Kaybʼil Bʼalam had received news of the Spanish advance and had withdrawn to his fortress at Zaculeu, with some 6,000 warriors gathered from the surrounding area. The fortress possessed formidable defences, and Gonzalo de Alvarado launched an assault on the weaker northern entrance. Mam warriors initially held firm against the Spanish infantry but fell back before repeated cavalry charges. Kaybʼil Bʼalam, seeing that outright victory on an open battlefield was impossible, withdrew his army back within the safety of the walls. As Alvarado dug in and laid siege to the fortress, an army of approximately 8,000 Mam warriors descended on Zaculeu from the Cuchumatanes mountains to the north, drawn from towns allied with the city; the relief army was annihilated by the Spanish cavalry. After several months the Mam were reduced to starvation. Kaybʼil Bʼalam finally surrendered the city to the Spanish in the middle of October 1525. When the Spanish entered the city they found 1,800 dead native people, and the survivors eating the corpses. After the fall of Zaculeu, a Spanish garrison was established at Huehuetenango, and Gonzalo de Alvarado returned to Tecpán Guatemala.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: A year after Luis Marín's reconnaissance expedition, Pedro de Alvarado entered Chiapas when he crossed a part of the Lacandon Forest in an attempt to link up with Hernán Cortés' expedition heading for Honduras. Alvarado entered Chiapas from Guatemala via the territory of the Acala Chʼol; he was unable to locate Cortés, and his scouts eventually led him to Tecpan Puyumatlan (modern Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango), in a mountainous region near the territory of the Lakandon Chʼol. The inhabitants of Tecpan Puyumatlan offered fierce resistance against the Spanish-led expedition, and Gonzalo de Alvarado wrote that the Spanish suffered many losses, including the killing of messengers sent to summon the natives to swear loyalty to the Spanish Crown. After failing to locate Cortés, the Alvarados returned to Guatemala.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1525 Pedro de Alvarado sent a small company to conquer Mixco Viejo (Chinautla Viejo), the capital of the Poqomam. The Spanish attempted an approach through a narrow pass but were forced back with heavy losses. Alvarado himself launched the second assault with 200 Tlaxcalan allies but was also beaten back. The Poqomam then received reinforcements, and the two armies clashed on open ground outside of the city. The battle was chaotic and lasted for most of the day, but was finally decided by the Spanish cavalry. The leaders of the reinforcements surrendered to the Spanish three days after their retreat and revealed that the city had a secret entrance in the form of a cave. Alvarado sent 40 men to cover the exit from the cave and launched another assault along the ravine, in single file owing to its narrowness, with crossbowmen alternating with musketmen, each with a companion sheltering him with a shield. This tactic allowed the Spanish to break through the pass and storm the entrance of the city. The Poqomam warriors fell back in disorder in a chaotic retreat through the city. Those who managed to retreat down the neighbouring valley were ambushed by Spanish cavalry who had been posted to block the exit from the cave, the survivors were captured and brought back to the city. The siege had lasted more than a month, and because of the defensive strength of the city, Alvarado ordered it to be burned and moved the inhabitants to the new colonial village of Mixco.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: There are no direct sources describing the conquest of the Chajoma by the Spanish but it appears to have been a drawn-out campaign rather than a rapid victory. After the conquest, the inhabitants of the kingdom were resettled in San Pedro Sacatepéquez, and San Martín Jilotepeque. The Chajoma rebelled against the Spanish in 1526, fighting a battle at Ukubʼil, an unidentified site somewhere near the modern towns of San Juan Sacatepéquez and San Pedro Sacatepéquez.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Chiquimula de la Sierra ("Chiquimula in the Highlands") was inhabited by Chʼortiʼ Maya at the time of the conquest. The first Spanish reconnaissance of this region took place in 1524. In 1526 three Spanish captains invaded Chiquimula on the orders of Pedro de Alvarado. The indigenous population soon rebelled against excessive Spanish demands, but the rebellion was quickly put down in April 1530. However, the region was not considered fully conquered until a campaign by Jorge de Bocanegra in 1531–1532 that also took in parts of Jalapa. The afflictions of Old World diseases, war and overwork in the mines and "encomiendas" took a heavy toll on the inhabitants of eastern Guatemala, to the extent that indigenous population levels never recovered to their pre-conquest levels.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The richer lands of Mexico engaged the main attention of the Conquistadors for some years, then in 1526 Francisco de Montejo (a veteran of the Grijalva and Cortés expeditions) successfully petitioned the King of Spain for the right to conquer Yucatán. On 8 December of that year he was issued with the hereditary military title of "adelantado" and permission to colonise the Yucatán Peninsula. In 1527 he left Spain with 400 men in four ships, with horses, small arms, cannon and provisions. One of the ships was left at Santo Domingo as a supply ship to provide later support; the other ships set sail and reached Cozumel, an island off the east coast of Yucatán, in the second half of September 1527. Montejo was received in there in peace by the lord Aj Naum Pat. The ships only stopped briefly before making for the mainland, making landfall somewhere near Xelha in the Maya province of Ekab.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Montejo garrisoned Xelha with 40 soldiers and posted 20 more at nearby Pole. Xelha was renamed Salamanca de Xelha and became the first Spanish settlement in the peninsula. The provisions were soon exhausted and additional food was requisitioned from the local Maya villagers; this too was soon consumed. Many local Maya fled into the forest and Spanish raiding parties scoured the surrounding area for food, finding little. With discontent growing among his men, Montejo took the drastic step of burning his ships; this strengthened the resolve of his troops, who gradually acclimatised to the harsh conditions of Yucatán. Montejo was able to get more food from the still-friendly Aj Nuam Pat of Cozumel. Montejo took 125 men and set out on an expedition to explore the north-eastern portion of the Yucatán peninsula. At Belma, Montejo gathered the leaders of the nearby Maya towns and instructed them to swear loyalty to the Spanish Crown. After this, Montejo led his men to Conil, a town in Ekab, where the Spanish party halted for two months.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In the spring of 1528, Montejo left Conil for the city of Chauaca, which was abandoned by its Maya inhabitants under cover of darkness. The following morning the inhabitants attacked the Spanish party but were defeated. The Spanish then continued to Ake, where they engaged in a major battle, which left more than 1,200 Maya dead. After this Spanish victory, the neighbouring Maya leaders all surrendered. Montejo's party then continued to Sisia and Loche before heading back to Xelha. Montejo arrived at Xelha with only 60 of his party, and found that only 12 of his 40-strong garrison survived, while the entire garrison at Pole had been slaughtered.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The support ship eventually arrived from Santo Domingo, and Montejo used it to sail south along the coast, while he sent his second-in-command Alonso d'Avila via land. Montejo discovered the thriving port city of Chaktumal (modern Chetumal). The Maya at Chaktumal fed false information to the Spanish, and Montejo was unable link up with d'Avila, who returned overland to Xelha. The fledgling Spanish colony was moved to nearby Xamanha, modern Playa del Carmen, which Montejo considered to be a better port. After waiting for d'Avila without result, Montejo sailed south as far as Honduras before turning around and heading back up the coast to finally meet up with his lieutenant at Xamanha. Late in 1528, Montejo left d'Avila to oversee Xamanha and sailed north to loop around the Yucatán Peninsula and head for the Spanish colony of New Spain in central Mexico.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Pedro de Portocarrero, a young nobleman, led the next expedition into Chiapas after Alvarado, again from Guatemala. His campaign is largely undocumented but in January 1528 he successfully established the settlement of San Cristóbal de los Llanos in the Comitán valley, in the territory of the Tojolabal Maya. This served as a base of operations that allowed the Spanish to extend their control towards the Ocosingo valley. One of the scarce mentions of Portocarrero's campaign suggests that there was some indigenous resistance but its exact form and extent is unknown. Portocarrero established Spanish dominion over a number of Tzeltal and Tojolabal settlements, and penetrated as far as the Tzotzil town of Huixtan.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: By 1528, Spanish colonial power had been established in the Chiapas Highlands, and "encomienda" rights were being issued to individual "conquistadores". Spanish dominion extended from the upper drainage of the Grijalva, across Comitán and Teopisca to the Ocosingo valley. The north and northwest were incorporated into the Villa de Espíritu Santo district, that included Chʼol Maya territory around Tila. In the early years of conquest, "encomienda" rights effectively meant rights to pillage and round up slaves, usually in the form of a group of mounted "conquistadores" launching a lightning slave raid upon an unsuspecting population centre. Prisoners would be branded as slaves, and were sold in exchange for weapons, supplies, and horses.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1528, captain Diego Mazariegos crossed into Chiapas via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec with artillery and raw recruits recently arrived from Spain. By this time, the indigenous population had been greatly reduced by a combination of disease and famine. They first travelled to Jiquipilas to meet up with a delegation from Zinacantan, who had asked for Spanish assistance against rebellious vassals; a small contingent of Spanish cavalry was enough to bring these back into line. After this, Mazariegos and his companions proceeded to Chiapan and set up a temporary camp nearby, that they named Villa Real. Mazariegos had arrived with a mandate to establish a new colonial province of Chiapa in the Chiapas Highlands. He initially met with resistance from the veteran "conquistadores" who had already established themselves in the region. Mazariegos heard that Pedro de Portocarrero was in the highlands, and sought him out in order to persuade him to leave. The two conquistadors eventually met up in Huixtan. Mazariegos entered into protracted three-month negotiations with the Spanish settlers in Coatzacoalcos (Espíritu Santo) and San Cristóbal de los Llanos. Eventually an agreement was reached, and the "encomiendas" of Espíritu Santo that lay in the highlands were merged those of San Cristóbal to form the new province. Unknown to Mazariegos, the king had already issued an order that the settlements of San Cristóbal de los Llanos be transferred to Pedro de Alvarado. The result of the negotiations between Mazariegos and the established settlers was that Villa de San Cristóbal de los Llanos was broken up, and those settlers who wished to remain were transferred to Villa Real, which had been moved to the fertile Jovel valley. Pedro de Portocarrero left Chiapas and returned to Guatemala. Mazariegos proceeded with the policy of moving the Indians into "reducciones"; this process was made easier by the much reduced indigenous population levels. Mazariegos issued licences of "encomienda" covering still unconquered regions in order to encourage colonists to conquer new territory. The Province of Chiapa had no coastal territory, and at the end of this process about 100 Spanish settlers were concentrated in the remote provincial capital at Villa Real, surrounded by hostile Indian settlements, and with deep internal divisions.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Although Mazariegos had managed to establish his new provincial capital without armed conflict, excessive Spanish demands for labour and supplies soon provoked the locals into rebellion. In August 1528, Mazariegos replaced the existing "encomenderos" with his friends and allies; the natives, seeing the Spanish isolated and witnessing the hostility between the original and newly arrived settlers, took this opportunity to rebel and refused to supply their new masters. Zinacantán was the only indigenous settlement that remained loyal to the Spanish.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Villa Real was now surrounded by hostile territory, and any Spanish help was too far away to be of value. The colonists quickly ran short of food and responded by taking up arms and riding against the Indians in search of food and slaves. The Indians abandoned their towns and hid their women and children in caves. The rebellious populations concentrated themselves on easily defended mountaintops. At Quetzaltepeque a lengthy battle was fought between the Tzeltal Maya and the Spanish, resulting in the deaths of a number of Spanish. The battle lasted several days, and the Spanish were supported by indigenous warriors from central Mexico. The battle eventually resulted in a Spanish victory, but the rest of the province of Chiapa remained rebellious.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: After the battle of Quetzaltepeque, Villa Real was still short on food and Mazariegos was ill; he retreated to Copanaguastla against the protests of the town council, which was left to defend the fledgling colony. By now, Nuño de Guzmán was governor in Mexico, and he despatched Juan Enríquez de Guzmán to Chiapa as end-of-term judge over Mazariegos, and as "alcalde mayor" (a local colonial governor). He occupied his post for a year, during which time he attempted to reestablish Spanish control over the province, especially the northern and eastern regions, but was unable to make much headway.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1531, Pedro de Alvarado finally took up the post of governor of Chiapa. He immediately reinstated the old name of San Cristóbal de los Llanos upon Villa Real. Once again, the "encomiendas" of Chiapa were transferred to new owners. The Spanish launched an expedition against Puyumatlan; it was not successful in terms of conquest, but enabled the Spanish to seize more slaves to trade for weapons and horses. The newly acquired supplies would then be used in further expeditions to conquer and pacify still-independent regions, leading to a cycle of slave raids, trade for supplies, followed by further conquests and slave raids. The Mazariegos family managed to establish a power base in the local colonial institutions and, in 1535, they succeeded in having San Cristóbal de los Llanos declared a city, with the new name of Ciudad Real. They also managed to acquire special privileges from the Crown in order to stabilise the colony, such as an edict that specified that the governor of Chiapa must govern in person and not through a delegated representative. In practise, the quick turnover of "encomiendas" continued, since few Spaniards had legal Spanish wives and legitimate children who could inherit. This situation would not stabilise until the 1540s, when the dire shortage of Spanish women in the colony was alleviated by an influx of new colonists.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1542, the New Laws were issued with the aim of protecting the indigenous peoples of the Spanish colonies from their overexploitation by the "encomenderos". Friar Bartolomé de las Casas and his followers left Spain in July 1544 to enforce the New Laws. Las Casas arrived in Ciudad Real with 16 fellow Dominicans on 12 March 1545. The Dominicans were the first religious order to attempt the evangelisation of the native population. Their arrival meant that the colonists were no longer free to treat the natives as they saw fit without the risk of intervention by the religious authorities. The Dominicans soon came into conflict with the established colonists. Colonial opposition to the Dominicans was such that the Dominicans were forced to flee Ciudad Real in fear of their lives. They established themselves nearby in two indigenous villages, the old site of Villa Real de Chiapa and Cinacantlán. From Villa Real, Bartolomé de las Casas and his companions prepared for the evangelisation of all the territory that fell within the Bishopric of Chiapa. The Dominicans promoted the veneration of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-slayer) as a readily identifiable image of Spanish military superiority. The Dominicans soon saw the need to reestablish themselves in Ciudad Real, and the hostilities with the colonists were calmed. In 1547, the first stone for the new Dominican convent in Ciudad Real was placed.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Montejo was appointed "alcalde mayor" (a local colonial governor) of Tabasco in 1529, and pacified that province with the aid of his son, also named Francisco de Montejo. D'Avila was sent from eastern Yucatán to conquer Acalan, which extended southeast of the Laguna de Terminos. Montejo the Younger founded Salamanca de Xicalango as a base of operations. In 1530 d'Avila established Salamanca de Acalán as a base from which to launch new attempts to conquer Yucatán. Salamanca de Acalán proved a disappointment, with no gold for the taking and with lower levels of population than had been hoped. D'Avila soon abandoned the new settlement and set off across the lands of the Kejache to Champotón, arriving there towards the end of 1530, where he was later joined by the Montejos.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1531 Montejo moved his base of operations to Campeche. Alonso d'Avila was sent overland to the east of the peninsula, passing through Maní where he was well received by the Xiu Maya. D'Avila continued southeast to Chetumal where he founded the Spanish town of Villa Real just within the borders of modern Belize. The local Maya fiercely resisted the placement of the new Spanish colony and d'Avila and his men were forced to abandon it and make for Honduras in canoes.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: At Campeche, a strong Maya force attacked the city, but was repulsed by the Spanish. Aj Canul, the lord of the attacking Maya, surrendered to the Spanish. After this battle, the younger Francisco de Montejo was despatched to the northern Cupul province, where the lord Naabon Cupul reluctantly allowed him to found the Spanish town of Ciudad Real at Chichen Itza. Montejo parcelled out the province amongst his soldiers as "encomiendas". After six months of Spanish rule, Naabon Cupul was killed during a failed attempt to kill Montejo the Younger. The death of their lord only served to inflame Cupul anger and, in mid 1533, they laid siege to the small Spanish garrison at Chichen Itza. Montejo the Younger abandoned Ciudad Real by night, and he and his men fled west, where the Chel, Pech and Xiu provinces remained obedient to Spanish rule. Montejo the Younger was received in friendship by the lord of the Chel province. In the spring of 1534 he rejoined his father in the Chakan province at Dzikabal, (near modern Mérida).


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Xiu Maya maintained their friendship with the Spanish throughout the conquest and Spanish authority was eventually established over Yucatán in large part due to Xiu support. The Montejos founded a new Spanish town at Dzilam, although the Spanish suffered hardships there. Montejo the Elder returned to Campeche, where he was received with friendship by the local Maya. He was accompanied by the friendly Chel lord Namux Chel. Montejo the Younger remained behind in Dzilam to continue his attempts at conquest of the region but soon retreated to Campeche to rejoin his father and Alonso d'Avila, who had returned to Campeche shortly beforehand. Around this time the news began to arrive of Francisco Pizarro's conquests in Peru and the rich plunder there. Montejo's soldiers began to abandon him to seek their fortune elsewhere; in seven years of attempted conquest in the northern provinces of the Yucatán Peninsula, very little gold had been found. Towards the end of 1534 or the beginning of the next year, Montejo the Elder and his son retreated to Veracruz, taking their remaining soldiers with them.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Montejo the Elder became embroiled in colonial infighting over the right to rule Honduras, a claim that put him in conflict with Pedro de Alvarado, captain general of Guatemala, who also claimed Honduras as part of his jurisdiction. Alvarado was ultimately to prove successful. In Montejo the Elder's absence, first in central Mexico, and then in Honduras, Montejo the Younger acted as lieutenant governor and captain general in Tabasco.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Franciscan friar Jacobo de Testera arrived in Champoton in 1535 to attempt the peaceful incorporation of Yucatán into the Spanish Empire. His initial efforts were proving successful when Captain Lorenzo de Godoy arrived in Champoton at the command of soldiers despatched there by Montejo the Younger. Godoy and Testera were soon in conflict and the friar was forced to abandon Champoton and return to central Mexico. Godoy's attempt to subdue the Maya around Champoton was unsuccessful, so Montejo the Younger sent his cousin to take command; his diplomatic overtures to the Champoton Kowoj were successful and they submitted to Spanish rule. Champoton was the last Spanish outpost in the Yucatán Peninsula; it was increasingly isolated and the situation there became difficult.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1533 Pedro de Alvarado ordered de León y Cardona to explore and conquer the area around the Tacaná, Tajumulco, Lacandón and San Antonio volcanoes; in colonial times this area was referred to as the Province of Tecusitlán and Lacandón. De León marched to a Maya city named "Quezalli" by his Nahuatl-speaking allies with a force of fifty Spaniards; his Mexican allies also referred to the city by the name Sacatepequez. De León renamed the city as San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The Spanish founded a village nearby at Candacuchex in April that year, renaming it as San Marcos.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In the ten years after the fall of Zaculeu various Spanish expeditions crossed into the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes and engaged in the gradual and complex conquest of the Chuj and Qʼanjobʼal. The Spanish were attracted to the region in the hope of extracting gold, silver and other riches from the mountains but their remoteness, the difficult terrain and relatively low population made their conquest and exploitation extremely difficult. The population of the Cuchumatanes is estimated to have been 260,000 before European contact. By the time the Spanish physically arrived in the region this had collapsed to 150,000 because of the effects of the Old World diseases that had run ahead of them.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: After Zaculeu fell to the Spanish, the Ixil and Uspantek Maya were sufficiently isolated to evade immediate Spanish attention. The Uspantek and the Ixil were allies and in 1529 Uspantek warriors were harassing Spanish forces and the city of Uspantán was trying to foment rebellion among the Kʼicheʼ; the Spanish decided that military action was necessary. Gaspar Arias, magistrate of Guatemala, penetrated the eastern Cuchumatanes with sixty Spanish infantry and three hundred allied indigenous warriors. By early September he had imposed temporary Spanish authority over the Ixil towns of Chajul and Nebaj. The Spanish army then marched east toward Uspantán; Arias then handed command over to the inexperienced Pedro de Olmos and returned to the capital. Olmos launched a disastrous full-scale frontal assault on the city. As soon as the Spanish attacked, they were ambushed from the rear by over two thousand Uspantek warriors. The Spanish forces were routed with heavy losses; many of their indigenous allies were slain, and many more were captured alive by the Uspantek warriors only to be sacrificed.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: A year later Francisco de Castellanos set out from Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala (by now relocated to Ciudad Vieja) on another expedition, leading eight corporals, thirty-two cavalry, forty Spanish infantry and several hundred allied indigenous warriors. The expedition recruited further forces on the march north to the Cuchumatanes. On the steep southern slopes they clashed with between four and five thousand Ixil warriors; a lengthy battle followed during which the Spanish cavalry outflanked the Ixil army and forced them to retreat to their mountaintop fortress at Nebaj. The Spanish besieged the city, and their indigenous allies penetrated the stronghold and set it on fire. This allowed the Spanish to break the defences. The victorious Spanish branded surviving warriors as slaves. The inhabitants of Chajul immediately capitulated to the Spanish as soon as news of the battle reached them. The Spanish continued east towards Uspantán to find it defended by ten thousand warriors, including forces from Cotzal, Cunén, Sacapulas and Verapaz. Although heavily outnumbered, the Spanish cavalry and firearms decided the battle. The Spanish overran Uspantán and again branded all surviving warriors as slaves. The surrounding towns also surrendered, and December 1530 marked the end of the military stage of the conquest of the Cuchumatanes.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1529 the Chuj city of San Mateo Ixtatán (then known by the name of "Ystapalapán") was given in "encomienda" to the conquistador Gonzalo de Ovalle together with Santa Eulalia and Jacaltenango. In 1549, the first reduction of San Mateo Ixtatán took place, overseen by Dominican missionaries, in the same year the Qʼanjobʼal "reducción" settlement of Santa Eulalia was founded. Further Qʼanjobʼal "reducciones" were in place by 1560. Qʼanjobʼal resistance was largely passive, based on withdrawal to the inaccessible mountains and forests. In 1586 the Mercedarian Order built the first church in Santa Eulalia. The Chuj of San Mateo Ixtatán remained rebellious and resisted Spanish control for longer than their highland neighbours, resistance that was possible owing to their alliance with the lowland Lakandon Chʼol to the north.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: By the mid-16th century, the Spanish frontier expanding outwards from Comitán and Ocosingo reached the Lacandon Forest, and further advancement was impeded by the region's fiercely independent inhabitants. At the time of Spanish contact in the 16th century, the Lacandon Forest was inhabited by Chʼol people referred to as "Lakam Tun". This name was Hispanicised to "Lacandon". The Lakandon were aggressive, and their numbers were swelled by refugees from neighbouring indigenous groups fleeing Spanish domination. The ecclesiastical authorities were so worried by this threat to their peaceful efforts at evangelisation that they eventually supported military intervention. The first Spanish expedition against the Lakandon was carried out in 1559; repeated expeditions into the Lacandon Forest succeeded in destroying some villages but did not manage to subdue the inhabitants of the region, nor bring it within the Spanish Empire. This successful resistance against Spanish attempts at domination served to attract ever more Indians fleeing colonial rule.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1684, a council led by Enrique Enríquez de Guzmán, the governor of Guatemala, decided on the reduction of San Mateo Ixtatán and nearby Santa Eulalia. On 29 January 1686, Captain Melchor Rodríguez Mazariegos, acting under orders from the governor, left Huehuetenango for San Mateo Ixtatán, where he recruited indigenous warriors from the nearby villages. To prevent news of the Spanish advance reaching the inhabitants of the Lacandon area, the governor ordered the capture of three of San Mateo's community leaders, and had them sent under guard to be imprisoned in Huehuetenango. The governor joined Captain Rodríguez Mazariegos in San Mateo Ixtatán on 3 February; he ordered the captain to remain in the village and use it as a base of operations for penetrating the Lacandon region. Two Spanish missionaries also remained in the town. Governor Enriquez de Guzmán subsequently left San Mateo Ixtatán for Comitán in Chiapas, to enter the Lacandon region via Ocosingo.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1695 the colonial authorities decided to act upon a plan to connect the province of Guatemala with Yucatán, and a three-way invasion of the Lacandon was launched simultaneously from San Mateo Ixtatán, Cobán and Ocosingo. Captain Rodriguez Mazariegos, accompanied by Fray de Rivas and 6 other missionaries together with 50 Spanish soldiers, left Huehuetenango for San Mateo Ixtatán. Following the same route used in 1686, they managed on the way to recruit 200 indigenous Maya warriors from Santa Eulalia, San Juan Solomá and San Mateo. On 28 February 1695, all three groups left their respective bases of operations to conquer the Lacandon. The San Mateo group headed northeast into the Lacandon Jungle, and joined up with Jacinto de Barrios Leal, president of the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The soldiers commanded by Barrios Leal conquered a number of Chʼol communities. The most important of these was Sakbʼajlan on the Lacantún River, which was renamed as Nuestra Señora de Dolores, or Dolores del Lakandon, in April 1695. The Spanish built a fort and garrisoned it with 30 Spanish soldiers. Mercederian friar Diego de Rivas was based at Dolores del Lakandon, and he and his fellow Mercederians baptised several hundred Lakandon Chʼols in the following months and established contacts with neighbouring Chʼol communities. The third group, under Juan Díaz de Velasco, marched from Verapaz against the Itza of northern Petén. Barrios Leal was accompanied by Franciscan friar Antonio Margil, who remained in Dolores del Lakandon until 1697. The Chʼol of the Lacandon Forest were resettled in Huehuetenango, in the Guatemalan Highlands, in the early 18th century.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: By 1537 the area immediately north of the new colony of Guatemala was being referred to as the "Tierra de Guerra" ("Land of War"). Paradoxically, it was simultaneously known as "Verapaz" ("True Peace"). The Land of War described an area that was undergoing conquest; it was a region of dense forest that was difficult for the Spanish to penetrate militarily. Whenever the Spanish located a centre of population in this region, the inhabitants were moved and concentrated in a new colonial settlement near the edge of the jungle where the Spanish could more easily control them. This strategy resulted in the gradual depopulation of the forest, simultaneously converting it into a wilderness refuge for those fleeing Spanish domination, both for individual refugees and for entire communities. The Land of War, from the 16th century through to the start of the 18th century, included a vast area from Sacapulas in the west to Nito on the Caribbean coast and extended northwards from Rabinal and Salamá, and was an intermediate area between the highlands and the northern lowlands.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas arrived in the colony of Guatemala in 1537 and immediately campaigned to replace violent military conquest with peaceful missionary work. Las Casas offered to achieve the conquest of the Land of War through the preaching of the Catholic faith.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In this way they congregated a group of Christian Indians in the location of what is now the town of Rabinal. Las Casas was instrumental in the introduction of the New Laws in 1542, established by the Spanish Crown to control the excesses of the colonists against the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. As a result, the Dominicans met substantial resistance from the Spanish colonists; this distracted the Dominicans from their efforts to establish peaceful control over the Land of War.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1555 Spanish friar Domingo de Vico offended a local Chʼol ruler and was killed by the Acala Chʼol and their Lakandon allies. In response to the killing, a punitive expedition was launched, headed by Juan Matalbatz, a Qʼeqchiʼ leader from Chamelco; the independent Indians captured by the Qʼeqchiʼ expedition were taken back to Cobán and resettled in Santo Tomás Apóstol.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Dominicans established themselves in Xocolo on the shore of Lake Izabal in the mid-16th century. Xocolo became infamous among the Dominican missionaries for the practice of witchcraft by its inhabitants. By 1574 it was the most important staging post for European expeditions into the interior, and it remained important in that role until as late as 1630, although it was abandoned in 1631.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1540 Montejo the Elder, who was now in his late 60s, turned his royal rights to colonise Yucatán over to his son, Francisco Montejo the Younger. In early 1541 Montejo the Younger joined his cousin in Champton; he did not remain there long, and quickly moved his forces to Campeche. Once there Montejo the Younger, commanding between three and four hundred Spanish soldiers, established the first permanent Spanish town council in the Yucatán Peninsula. Shortly afterwards, Montejo the Younger summoned the local Maya lords and commanded them to submit to the Spanish Crown. A number of lords submitted peacefully, including the ruler of the Xiu Maya. The lord of the Canul Maya refused to submit and Montejo the Younger sent his cousin against them (also called Francisco de Montejo); Montejo the Younger remained in Campeche awaiting reinforcements.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Montejo the Younger's cousin met the Canul Maya at Chakan, not far from Tʼho. On 6 January 1542 he founded the second permanent town council, calling the new colonial town Mérida. On 23 January, Tutul Xiu, the lord of Mani, approached the Spanish encampment at Mérida in peace. He was greatly impressed by a Roman Catholic mass celebrated for his benefit and converted to the new religion. Tutul Xiu was the ruler of the most powerful province of northern Yucatán and his submission to Spain and conversion to Christianity had repercussions throughout the peninsula, and encouraged the lords of the western provinces of the peninsula to accept Spanish rule. The eastern provinces continued to resist Spanish overtures.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Montejo the Younger sent his cousin to Chauaca where most of the eastern lords greeted him in peace. The Cochua and Cupul Maya resisted Spanish domination, but were quickly defeated. Montejo continued to the eastern Ekab province. When nine Spaniards were drowned in a storm off Cozumel and another was killed by hostile Maya, rumours grew in the telling and both the Cupul and Cochua provinces once again rose up against their would-be overlords. The Spanish hold on the eastern portion of the peninsula remained tenuous and a number of Maya polities remained independent, including Chetumal, Cochua, Cupul, Sotuta and the Tazes.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: On 8 November 1546 an alliance of eastern provinces launched a coordinated uprising against the Spanish. The provinces of Cupul, Cochua, Sotuta, Tazes, Uaymil, Chetumal and Chikinchel united in an effort to drive the invaders from the peninsula; the uprising lasted four months. Eighteen Spaniards were surprised in the eastern towns, and were sacrificed, and over 400 allied Maya were killed. Mérida and Campeche were forewarned of the impending attack; Montejo the Younger and his cousin were in Campeche. Montejo the Elder arrived in Mérida from Chiapas in December 1546, with reinforcements gathered from Champoton and Campeche. The rebellious eastern Maya were finally defeated in a single battle, in which twenty Spaniards and several hundred allied Maya were killed. This battle marked the final conquest of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. As a result of the uprising and the Spanish response, many of the Maya inhabitants of the eastern and southern territories fled to the still unconquered Petén Basin, in the extreme south.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Petén Basin covers an area that is now part of Guatemala; in colonial times it originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yucatán, before being transferred to the jurisdiction of the Audiencia Real of Guatemala in 1703. The Contact Period in the Petén lowlands lasted from 1525 through to 1700. Superior Spanish weaponry and the use of cavalry, although decisive in the northern Yucatán, were ill-suited to warfare in the dense forests of lowland Petén.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The leaders of Xocolo and Amatique, backed by the threat of Spanish action, persuaded a community of 190 Toquegua to settle on the Amatique coast in April 1604. The new settlement immediately suffered a drop in population. In 1628 the towns of the Manche Chʼol were placed under the administration of the governor of Verapaz, with Francisco Morán as their ecclesiastical head. Morán moved Spanish soldiers into the region to protect against raids from the Itza to the north. The new Spanish garrison in an area that had not previously seen a heavy Spanish military presence provoked the Manche to revolt, which was followed by abandonment of the indigenous settlements.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Following Cortés' visit in 1525, no Spanish attempted to visit the warlike Itza inhabitants of Nojpetén for almost a hundred years. In 1618 two Franciscan friars set out from Mérida on a mission to attempt the peaceful conversion of the still pagan Itza in central Petén. Bartolomé de Fuensalida and Juan de Orbita were accompanied by some Christianised Maya. They were well received at Nojpetén by the current Kan Ekʼ. Attempts to convert the Itza failed, and the friars left Nojpetén on friendly terms with the Itza king. The friars returned in October 1619, and again Kan Ekʼ welcomed them in a friendly manner, but this time the Maya priesthood were hostile and the missionaries were expelled without food or water, but survived the journey back to Mérida.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In March 1622, Captain Francisco de Mirones Lezcano set out from Yucatán with 20 Spanish soldiers and 80 Mayas to launch an assault upon the Itza. His was joined by Franciscan friar Diego Delgado. In May the expedition advanced to Sakalum, where they waited for reinforcements. En route to Nojpetén, Delgado left the expedition to make his own way to Nojpetén with eighty Christianised Maya from Tipuj in Belize; he was joined by an escort of 13 soldiers. Soon after their arrival at the Itza capital, the Itza seized and sacrificed the Spanish party. Soon afterwards, on 27 January 1624, an Itza war party led by AjKʼin Pʼol caught Mirones and his soldiers off guard and unarmed in the church at Sakalum and slaughtered them. Spanish reinforcements arrived too late. A number of local Maya men and women had also been killed, and the attackers burned the town.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Following these massacres, the Maya governor of Oxkutzcab, Fernando Kamal, set out with 150 Maya archers to track AjKʼin Pʼol down. The captured Itza captain and his followers were taken back to the Spanish Captain Antonio Méndez de Canzo, interrogated under torture, tried, and executed. These events ended all Spanish attempts to contact the Itza until 1695. In the 1640s internal strife in Spain distracted the government from attempts to conquer unknown lands; the Spanish Crown lacked the time, money or interest in such colonial adventures for the next four decades.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1692 Basque nobleman Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi proposed to the Spanish king the construction of a road from Mérida southwards to link with the Guatemalan colony, in the process "reducing" any independent native populations into colonial "congregaciones"; this was part of a greater plan to subjugate the Lakandon and Manche Chʼol of southern Petén and the upper reaches of the Usumacinta River. At the beginning of March 1695, Captain Alonso García de Paredes led a group of 50 Spanish soldiers south into Kejache territory, accompanied by native guides, muleteers and labourers. He met with armed Kejache resistance, and retreated around the middle of April.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In March 1695, Captain Juan Díaz de Velasco set out from Cahabón in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, with 70 Spanish soldiers, accompanied by a large number of Maya archers from Verapaz, native muleteers, and four Dominican friars. They pressed ahead to Lake Petén Itzá and engaged in a series of fierce skirmishes with Itza hunting parties. At the lakeshore, the Spanish encountered such a large force of Itzas that they retreated south, back to their main camp. The expedition almost immediately withdrew back to Cahabón.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In mid-May 1695 García again marched southwards from Campeche, with 115 Spanish soldiers and 150 Maya musketeers, plus Maya labourers and muleteers. The expedition was joined by two companies of Maya musketeers. García ordered the construction of a fort at Chuntuki, some 25 leagues (approximately 65 miles or 105 km) north of Lake Petén Itzá, which served as the main military base for the "Camino Real" ("Royal Road") project.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Sajkabʼchen company of native musketeers engaged in a skirmish with about 25 Kejache near the abandoned Kejache town of Chunpich. Several musketeers were injured, and the Kejache retreated without injury. The company seized large amounts of abandoned food from two more deserted settlements and then also retreated. A small group of Franciscans led by friar Andrés de Avendaño sought out the Chunpich Kejache that had engaged the Sajkabʼchen musketeers but were unable to find them, and Avendaño returned to Mérida. Meanwhile, another group of Franciscans continued following the roadbuilders into Kejache territory. Around 3 August García moved his entire army forward to Chunpich, and by October Spanish soldiers had established themselves near the source of the San Pedro River. By November Tzuktokʼ was garrisoned with 86 soldiers and more at Chuntuki. In December 1695 the main force was reinforced with 250 soldiers, of which 150 were Spanish and pardo and 100 were Maya, together with labourers and muleteers.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Juan de San Buenaventura's small group of Franciscans arrived in Chuntuki on 30 August 1695. In early November 1695, two Franciscans were sent to establish a mission at Pakʼekʼem, where they were well received by the "cacique" (native chief) and his pagan priest. Pakʼekʼem was sufficiently far from the new Spanish road that it was free from military interference, and the friars oversaw the building of a church in what was the largest mission town in Kejache territory. A second church was built at Bʼatkabʼ to attend to over 100 Kʼejache refugees who had been gathered there under the stewardship of a Spanish friar; a further church was established at Tzuktokʼ, overseen by another friar.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Franciscan Andrés de Avendaño left Mérida on 13 December 1695, and arrived in Nojpetén around 14 January 1696, accompanied by four companions. The Franciscans baptised over 300 Itza children over the following four days. Avendaño tried to convince Kan Ekʼ to convert to Christianity and surrender to the Spanish Crown, without success. The king of the Itza, cited Itza prophecy and said the time was not yet right. Kan Ekʼ learnt of a plot by the Kowoj and their allies to ambush and kill the Franciscans, and the Itza king advised them to return to Mérida via Tipuj.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: When Captain García de Paredes arrived at Chuntuki in mid-January, he only had 90 soldiers plus labourers. Captain Pedro de Zubiaur, García's senior officer, arrived at Lake Petén Itza with 60 musketeers, two Franciscans, and allied Yucatec Maya warriors. They were also accompanied by about 40 Maya porters. They were approached by about 300 canoes carrying approximately 2,000 Itza warriors. The warriors mingled freely with the Spanish party and the encounter degenerated into a skirmish. About a dozen of the Spanish party were seized, and three were killed. The Spanish soldiers opened fire with their muskets, and the Itza retreated across the lake with their prisoners, who included the two Franciscans. The Spanish party retreated from the lake shore and regrouped on open ground where they were surrounded by thousands of Itza warriors. Zubiaur ordered his men to fire a volley that killed between 30 and 40 Itzas. Realising that they were hopelessly outnumbered, the Spanish retreated towards Chuntuki, abandoning their captured companions. Martín de Ursúa now began to organise an all-out assault on Nojpetén. Work on the road was redoubled and about a month after the battle at Chʼichʼ the Spanish arrived at the lakeshore, now supported by artillery.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: A Guatemalan expedition against the Itza set out from Cahabón in early 1696. An advance party was led into an Itza trap and 87 expedition members were lost, including 50 soldiers, two Dominicans and about 35 Maya helpers. The rest of the party arrived at the shore of Lake Petén Itzá, but quickly retreated back to Guatemala.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi arrived on the western shore of Lake Petén Itzá with his soldiers on 26 February 1697. Once there they built a heavily armed "galeota" attack boat, which carried 114 men and at least five artillery pieces. On 10 March, Ursúa received a mixed Itza and Yalain embassy in peace, and invited Kan Ekʼ to visit his encampment three days later. On the appointed day, Kan Ekʼ failed to arrive; instead Maya warriors amassed both along the shore and in canoes upon the lake. That morning, a waterbourne assault was launched upon Kan Ek's capital. The city fell after a brief but bloody battle in which many Itza warriors died; the Spanish suffered only minor casualties. After the battle the surviving defenders swam across to the mainland and melted away into the forests, leaving the Spanish to occupy the abandoned town. Martín de Ursúa renamed Nojpetén as "Nuestra Señora de los Remedios y San Pablo, Laguna del Itza" ("Our Lady of Remedy and Saint Paul, Lake of the Itza"). Kan Ekʼ was soon captured with help from the Yalain Maya ruler Chamach Xulu; The Kowoj king was also soon captured, together with other Maya nobles and their families. With the defeat of the Itza, the last independent and unconquered native kingdom in the Americas fell to the European colonisers.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: During the campaign to conquer the Itza of Petén, the Spanish sent expeditions to harass and relocate the Mopan north of Lake Izabal and the Chʼol Maya of the Amatique forests to the east. They were resettled on the south shore of the lake. By the latter half of the 18th century, the local inhabitants consisted entirely of Spaniards, mulattos and others of mixed race, all associated with the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara fort guarding the entrance to Lake Izabal. There was a drastic depopulation of Lake Izabal and the Motagua Delta due to constant slave raids by the Miskito Sambu of the Caribbean coast that effectively ended the Maya population of the region; the captured Maya were sold into slavery, a common practise among the Miskito.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In the late 17th century the small population of Chʼol Maya in southern Petén and Belize was forcibly removed to Alta Verapaz, where the people were absorbed into the Qʼeqchiʼ population. The Chʼol of the Lacandon Jungle were resettled in Huehuetenango in the early 18th century. By 1699 the neighbouring Toquegua no longer existed as a separate people because of a combination of high mortality and intermarriage with the Amatique Indians. At around this time the Spanish decided on the reduction of the independent Mopan Maya living to the north of Lake Izabal. Catholic priests from Yucatán founded several mission towns around Lake Petén Itzá in 1702–1703. Surviving Itza and Kowoj were resettled in the new colonial towns by a mixture of persuasion and force. Kowoj and Itza leaders in these mission towns rebelled in 1704, but although well-planned, the rebellion was quickly crushed. Its leaders were executed and most of the mission towns were abandoned. By 1708 only about 6,000 Maya remained in central Petén, compared to ten times that number in 1697. Although disease was responsible for the majority of deaths, Spanish expeditions and internecine warfare between indigenous groups also played their part.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The initial shock of the Spanish conquest was followed by decades of heavy exploitation of the indigenous peoples, allies and foes alike. Over the following two hundred years colonial rule gradually imposed Spanish cultural standards on the subjugated peoples. The Spanish "reducciones" created new nucleated settlements laid out in a grid pattern in the Spanish style, with a central plaza, a church and the town hall housing the civil government, known as the "ayuntamiento". This style of settlement can still be seen in the villages and towns of the area. The introduction of Catholicism was the main vehicle for cultural change, and resulted in religious syncretism. Old World cultural elements came to be thoroughly adopted by Maya groups. The greatest change was replacement of the pre-Columbian economic order by European technology and livestock; this included the introduction of iron and steel tools to replace Neolithic tools, and of cattle, pigs and chickens. New crops were also introduced; however, sugarcane and coffee led to plantations that economically exploited native labour. Some indigenous elites such as the Xajil Kaqchikel noble family did manage to maintain a level of status into the colonial period. During the second half of the 18th century, adult male Indians were heavily taxed, often being forced into debt peonage. Western Petén and neighbouring Chiapas remained sparsely populated, and the Maya inhabitants avoided contact with the Spanish.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The sources describing the Spanish conquest of Guatemala include those written by the Spanish themselves, among them two letters written by conquistador Pedro de Alvarado in 1524, describing the initial campaign to subjugate the Guatemalan Highlands. Gonzalo de Alvarado y Chávez wrote an account that mostly supports that of Pedro de Alvarado. Pedro de Alvarado's brother Jorge wrote another account to the king of Spain that explained it was his own campaign of 1527–1529 that established the Spanish colony. Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote a lengthy account of the conquest of Mexico and neighbouring regions, the "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España" ("True History of the Conquest of New Spain"); his account of the conquest of Guatemala generally agrees with that of the Alvarados. He also included his own description of Cortes' expedition, and an account of the conquest of the Chiapas highlands. Conquistador Diego Godoy accompanied Luis Marín on his reconnaissance of Chiapas, and wrote an account of the battle against the inhabitants of Chamula. Hernán Cortés described his expedition to Honduras in the fifth letter of his "Cartas de Relación". Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas wrote a highly critical account of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and included accounts of some incidents in Guatemala.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: The Tlaxcalan allies of the Spanish wrote their own accounts of the conquest; these included a letter to the Spanish king protesting at their poor treatment once the campaign was over. Other accounts were in the form of questionnaires answered before colonial magistrates to protest and register a claim for recompense. Two pictorial accounts painted in the stylised indigenous pictographic tradition have survived; these are the "Lienzo de Quauhquechollan", and the "Lienzo de Tlaxcala". Accounts of the conquest as seen from the point of view of the defeated highland Maya kingdoms are included in a number of indigenous documents, including the "Annals of the Kaqchikels". A letter from the defeated Tzʼutujil Maya nobility to the Spanish king written in 1571 details the exploitation of the subjugated peoples.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán was a colonial Guatemalan historian of Spanish descent who wrote "La Recordación Florida". The book was written in 1690 and is regarded as one of the most important works of Guatemalan history. Field investigation has tended to support the estimates of indigenous population and army sizes given by Fuentes y Guzmán.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: In 1688 colonial historian Diego López de Cogolludo detailed the expeditions of the Spanish missionaries in 1618 and 1619 in his "Los tres siglos de la dominación española en Yucatán o sea historia de esta provincia" ("The three centuries of Spanish domination in Yucatán, or the history of this province"); he based it upon Fuensalida's report, which is now lost.


title: Spanish conquest of the Maya

text: Franciscan friar Andrés Avendaño y Loyola recorded his own account of his late 17th century journeys to Nojpetén. When the Spanish finally conquered Petén in 1697 they produced a vast quantity of documentation. Juan de Villagutierre Soto-Mayor was a Spanish colonial official who wrote the "Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, reduccion, y progressos de la de el Lacandon, y otras naciones de indios barbaros, de la mediacion de el Reyno de Guatimala, a las provincias del Yucatan en la América Septentrional" ("History of the Conquest of the Province of the Itza, reduction, and advances in that of the Lacandon, and other nations of barbarous indians, and the intervention of the Kingdom of Guatemala, and the provinces of Yucatan in Northern America"). This detailed the history of Petén from 1525 through to 1699.


title: Shovel

text: A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore.


title: Shovel

text: Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made of sheet steel or hard plastics and are very strong. Shovel handles are usually made of wood (especially specific varieties such as ash or maple) or glass-reinforced plastic (fiberglass).


title: Shovel

text: Hand shovel blades made of sheet steel usually have a folded seam or hem at the back to make a socket for the handle. This fold also commonly provides extra rigidity to the blade. The handles are usually riveted in place. A T-piece is commonly fitted to the end of the handle to aid grip and control where the shovel is designed for moving soil and heavy materials. These designs can all be easily mass-produced.


title: Shovel

text: The term "shovel" also applies to larger excavating machines called power shovels, which serve the same purpose—digging, lifting, and moving material. Although such modern power shovels as front-end loaders and excavators (including tractors that feature a loading bucket on one end and a backhoe for digging and placing material on the other) descend from steam shovels and perform similar work they are not classified as shovels.


title: Shovel

text: Hand shovels have been adapted for many different tasks and environments. They can be optimized for a single task or designed as cross-over or compromise multitaskers. They are very useful in agriculture.


title: Shovel

text: In the Neolithic age and earlier, a large animal's scapula (shoulder blade) was often used as a crude shovel or spade. It is via this connection between shoulder blades and digging blades that the words "spatula" and "spade" both have etymologic connection with scapulas.


title: Shovel

text: The later invention of purpose-built shovels was a ground-breaking development. Manual shoveling, often in combination with picking, was the chief means of excavation in construction until mechanization via steam shovels and later hydraulic equipment (excavators such as backhoes and loaders) gradually replaced most manual shoveling. The same is also true of the history of mining and quarrying and of bulk materials handling in industries such as steelmaking and stevedoring. Railroad cars and cargo holds containing ore, coal, gravel, sand, or grains were often loaded and unloaded this way. These industries did not always rely "exclusively" on such work, but such work was a ubiquitous part of them. Until the 1950s, manual shoveling employed large numbers of workers. Groups of workers called 'labor gangs' were assigned to whatever digging or bulk materials handling was needed in any given week, and dozens or hundreds of workers with hand shovels would do the kind of rapid excavating or materials handling that today is usually accomplished with powered excavators and loaders operated by a few skilled operators. Thus the cost of labor, even when each individual worker was poorly paid, was a tremendous expense of operations. Productivity of the business was tied mostly to labor productivity. It still often is even today; but in the past it was even more so. In industrial and commercial materials handling, hand shoveling was later replaced not only with loaders and backhoes.


title: Shovel

text: Given the central importance and cost of manual labour in industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the "science of shoveling" was something of great interest to developers of scientific management such as Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor, with his focus on time and motion study, took an interest in differentiating the many motions of manual labor to a far greater degree than others tended to. Managers might not care to analyze it (possibly motivated by the assumption that manual labor is intellectually simple work), and workers might not care to analyze it in any way that encouraged management to take away the prerogative in craft work for the craftsman to decide the details of his methods. Taylor realized that failing to analyze shoveling practice represented a missed opportunity to discover or synthesize best practices for shoveling, which could achieve highest productivity (value for dollar spent). It was Taylor and colleagues in the 1890s through 1910s that greatly expanded the existing idea of varied shovel designs with different-sized scoops, one for each material, based on the material's density. Under scientific management, it was no longer acceptable to use the same shovel for shoveling brown coal one day and gravel the next. Taylor advocated the higher capital cost of maintaining two shovels as more than paying for itself through the increase in worker productivity that it would lead to, which would mean less money being spent on wages for each unit of shoveling work accomplished.


title: Shovel

text: During the Second Industrial Revolution around 1900, heavy equipment such as excavators became available.


title: Born Pink

text: Born Pink is the second studio album by South Korean girl group Blackpink, released on September 16, 2022, through YG Entertainment and Interscope Records. It marked the group's first full-length record since "The Album" in 2020. Production of the album was handled by various producers including Teddy Sinclair, Willy Sinclair, Bekuh Boom, R. Tee, Kush and Teddy Park. Blackpink conceived "Born Pink" as "the essence" of the group, taking inspiration from hip-hop sound throughout the album and combining various genres.


title: Born Pink

text: "Born Pink"s English-heavy sound draws mostly from pop, hip-hop, rock and EDM, with melodies characterized by more uptempo production than in its predecessor "The Album". The songs incorporate eclectic styles ranging from disco and bubblegum pop to pop-rock and stadium rock. Lyrically, the album discusses themes of love, self-confidence, self-encouragement, dealing with fame and detractors, and more. Blackpink members Jisoo and Rosé co-wrote the fourth track "Yeah Yeah Yeah".


title: Born Pink

text: "Born Pink" was supported by two singles, both of which reached number one on the "Billboard" Global 200. The pre-release single "Pink Venom" topped the national charts of 10 countries, peaking at number two on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart and at number 22 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The album's second single "Shut Down" peaked at number three on the Circle Digital Chart and at number 25 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Ready for Love", previously released as a promotional single in collaboration with battle royale video game "PUBG Mobile", was also included on the tracklist. To promote the album, Blackpink embarked on the Born Pink World Tour beginning in October.


title: Born Pink

text: The album was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. The album's stronger production and more personal lyrics received praise; however, criticisms were made for its lack of innovation and musical development. Commercially, it debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart with 2.2 million copies sold in less than two days, becoming the best-selling album by a girl group in South Korea and the first to surpass two million sales. In the United States, it became the first album by a female Korean act to reach number one on the "Billboard" 200, as well as the first album by a female group to do so since Danity Kane in 2008. Additionally, "Born Pink" became the first album by a K-pop girl group to land atop the UK Albums Chart. The album has since been certified double million by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA).


title: Born Pink

text: On March 7, 2022, Jennie appeared on the variety show "The Game Caterers" in an episode featuring YG Entertainment artists, revealing that Blackpink had been working on a new comeback: "Blackpink is also making a comeback soon, I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but since I'm the only Blackpink member here, I'll just say it please look forward to it". In a "Rolling Stone" interview published on May 23, 2022, Blackpink stated that "they were working hard on the preparation of the album and that they were ready to comeback into the swing of things."


title: Born Pink

text: In collaboration with battle royale video game "PUBG Mobile", "Ready for Love" was released as a promotional single, with an animated music video published on YouTube on July 29, 2022. On July 31, 2022, YG Entertainment officially released the album trailer video on the group's official social media accounts, announcing that the group's new world tour would start in October, following a pre-release single in August and the album itself in September. The label later confirmed that two music videos were filmed to support the album, reportedly with the highest production budgets they have ever invested into a music video. The album's pre-release single, "Pink Venom", was released on August 19. The same day, Blackpink performed the single at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, marking their American awards show debut and making them the first female K-pop group in history to do so.


title: Born Pink

text: On September 6, 2022, the teaser poster for the title track, “Shut Down”, was released on Blackpink's social media accounts. On September 7, the album's tracklist was released, confirming that it will contain eight songs. It was further revealed that both Jisoo and Rosé participated in the writing of "Yeah Yeah Yeah". From September 10 to 13, promotional posters of each of the members were released. On September 16, the album was released alongside the music video for "Shut Down".


title: Born Pink

text: In an interview with "Newsen" Rosé stated that "If "The Album" focused solely on music, this album tried to express the essence of Blackpink as its title 'Born Pink', where we keep trying new things while keeping our original identity. Furthermore she added: "based on the hip-hop sound throughout the album, various genres were combined, focusing on expressing the light color of Blackpink. I pride myself on creating music that we've never done before". Regarding the creative process and style for the songs, YG Entertainment stated after that "A lot of music that is Blackpink-esque has been completed with much effort over a long period of time" and that the new album was expected to include numerous tracks that "feature the band's signature music style that the members have worked on for a very long time". The label further explained that the album's title "Born Pink" "portrays Blackpink's confidence and self-esteem for being born different" and that the album lives up to the group's reputation and "unrivaled presence."


title: Born Pink

text: In an online press conference in Seoul for the release of “Pink Venom”, Jennie explained how the single was chosen to represent Blackpink's identity: "Since our album’s title is "Born Pink", we wanted to relay our identity in the song as much as we could. Since ‘pink’ and ‘venom’ have contradicting images, we thought they were kind of reminiscent of us." During the group's live stream broadcast for "Born Pink", Lisa shared the group's first impression of "Shut Down" and how they chose it to be the album's second single: "We listened to the demo version of 'Shut Down' in the studio, and when we first heard it, we exchanged looks and knew that this had to be the title track. I was able to sketch how we’d perform this song". She also revealed that the track is "distinctly Blackpink" and is something the band can express well.


title: Born Pink

text: In an article by "Variety", several songwriters whose work was featured on "Born Pink" discussed the stories behind their contributions to the record. The writer of "Typa Girl", Bekuh Boom revealed that she had written the demo for the song in 2021 at The Black Label's studio and that she had originally "thought Lisa might use it for her next solo single". She further described it as a "song to empower women". American songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler conjured "Hard To Love" during a jam session with his friends. He sent the demo to Teddy in June 2022 and was video called by him, Lisa, and Rosé the next day. He described the song as "an overwhelmingly organic — and fast — process". Over the next month, he would FaceTime with Park and the group, who suggested changes.


title: Born Pink

text: The writers of "Tally" discussed the story behind the track: "Judgment is something that a lot of women come across. These lyrics are so impactful coming from [BLACKPINK]". The song was inspired by co-writer Soraya LaPread, who brought up the subject in a session with production duo Saltwives. During the interview with "Rolling Stone", LaPread confessed she worked on the song years ago and had actually forgotten about it. The producer then revealed that she only remembered the song after Australian songwriter Nat Dunn showed interest in the track and offered to buy it. He played the demo for Brian Lee in London and later sent it to Teddy Park, who had handpicked every song on the album. Prior to its release, the recording process of "Ready for Love" was shown in the Netflix documentary, in October 2020, as it was


title: Born Pink

text: Record producer Ryan Tedder, who last worked with Blackpink on their debut studio album, confirmed in an interview with "Good Morning America" that he wrote songs with members Jennie and Rosé for the upcoming album. Describing the process, Tedder said it was very much Blackpink's work with him supporting and contributing. Despite working on several songs, none of them made the final album tracklisting.


title: Born Pink

text: "Born Pink" is twenty-four minutes long and consists of 8 songs. Three of the album's tracks are labelled explicit. It features genres such as hip-hop, pop, disco, ballad, pop-rock, stadium rock, punk, EDM, bubblegum pop and classical interludes. As the creative directors, Blackpink worked with many producers, including Teddy Sinclair, Willy Sinclair, Bekuh Boom, R. Tee, Kush and Teddy Park. The first half of the album contains lyrics that shoe the group's "extremely confident" and "untouchable exteriors", while the second half reveals the insecurities in "emotional charged" ballads. The uptempo, "English heavy" album was described as "faster" and "shinier" than its predecessor "The Album".


title: Born Pink

text: The record opens with the pre-release single, "Pink Venom", a hip-hop based track that blends elements of traditional Korean instruments with EDM and pop-rap. Lyrically, it expresses Blackpink's confidence and dual identity as both sweet and deadly and the group's growing international popularity. The song includes several lyrical references from the 1990s and 2000s: Jennie opens the first verse with "Kick in the door, waving the Coco", a play on the lyric "Kick in the door, wavin’ the .44" from the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Kick in the Door", while one of Lisa's verses interpolates the lyrics "One by one, then two by two" from Rihanna's debut single "Pon de Replay". "Shut Down" samples the classical composition "La Campanella", originally by Niccolò Paganini, mixed with hip hop and trap hooks, strings and an insistent bass sound. Lyrically it contains self-referential lyrics about the group's fame and success, while telling their haters and doubters "to take a seat". Longtime collaborator Bekuh Boom primarily wrote and produced the third track "Typa Girl", an electronic hip-hop and pop song with a trap beat and strong 1980s sound that speaks "confidently" about being the "type" of person everyone wants and highlights "the potential of a different kind of music".


title: Born Pink

text: Members Jisoo and Rosé participated in the writing process for the fourth track, the pop-rock, synth-pop and new wave "lush" love song "Yeah Yeah Yeah", which features retro synths in its arrangement and recalls 1980s music in its composition. Lyrically, the track is about the simultaneous confusion and excitement of falling in love with someone completely unexpected. The song "rides on a jagged guitar riff with lavish flourishes of over-the-top synth-disco." Park Jun-hee of "The Star" noted that "The disco-style tune that gives off '80s vibes enters the 50-second mark and sketches out a euphoric moment of young love and youthful energy. It reminds us of spending summer nights with a lover under the bright light of the moon". Many critics compared its production to the group's 2020 single "Lovesick Girls". Singer-songwriter Freddy Wexler contributed to the composition of the fifth track, "Hard to Love", as co-writer and co-producer, performed by member Rosé as a solo.The guitar pop track incorporates elements of 90's rock and roll, is led by soft piano and a "vintage intro that contrasts with the powerful rhythm of the drop beat", building into a lite-disco and pop-rock sound with funk-inspired guitar and bass groove. The lyrics talk about the honest but complex feeling of wanting to be loved by someone who is difficult to trust.


title: Born Pink

text: Teddy Sinclair and Willy Sinclair co-produced the sixth track, "The Happiest Girl". A downtempo piano ballad track characterized by grand piano instrumentals, the lyrics centers on the narrator's strong will to find happiness despite missing someone, using a "melancholic" melody to convey the desire for contentment. The rock infused ballad "Tally" is a midtempo pop song with elements of hip-hop and rock and "crunchy" guitar in the introduction. The lyrics discuss positivity and the beauty of achieving life's goals. The song "embodies a free, yet elegant mood", allowing the group to present their free spirit while speaking openly about the importance of being oneself. The closing track "Ready for Love" is a pop and dance-pop song with "sparkling" EDM chorus and horn flares with the likes of a house-pop "euphoric" instrumental. The song finds the group truly ready to leave their doubts behind and celebrate the future. On "Born Pink" as a whole, Park noted that "All the members have moments to shine, infusing a fresh sound into Blackpink's musical vessel".


title: Born Pink

text: "Born Pink" was released worldwide on September 16, 2022, by YG Entertainment and Interscope Records.


title: Born Pink

text: Two singles supported "Born Pink". Blackpink released the first, "Pink Venom" on August 19, which they performed at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, making them the first female K-pop group in history to do so. It's music video reached 90.4 million views in 24 hours, surpassing the previous record held by their own song "How You Like That" for the most-viewed video by a female artist in a single day. The second and lead single "Shut Down" was released alongside the album on September 16. All two singles peaked in the top twenty-five of the US "Billboard" Hot 100, and topped the "Billboard" Global 200 chart. "Ready for Love" was released as a promotional single on July 29, in collaboration with battle royale video game PUBG Mobile.


title: Born Pink

text: On September 16, the group held a live stream broadcast on the group's official YouTube channel one hour before the release of "Born Pink". During the broadcast, held on a large stage aligning with the concept of the second single "Shut Down", the members revealed a variety of behind-the-scenes stories of the music video filming, discuss their future activities, and introduce the new songs and sneak peeks into the Born Pink World Tour. On the same day, Blackpink was interviewed on US radio stations Sirius XM and 102.7 KIIS FM as part of promotions for both "Shut Down" and the new album. On September 19, they performed the single live for the first time on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". From September 16 to 18, Spotify held an event called "Born Pink: The Pop-Up Experience" in Los Angeles to celebrate the new album's release, where attendees had the opportunity to enjoy photographic moments selected by the members, buy exclusive Blackpink products directly in-store and receive an exclusive gift from Spotify and Blackpink.


title: Born Pink

text: On July 6, 2022, YG Entertainment confirmed that Blackpink would embark on the largest world tour by a K-pop girl group in history later in the year. On July 31, it was revealed that the group's second Korean studio album "Born Pink" would release in September, supported by the Born Pink World Tour starting in October. On August 8, Blackpink announced 36 tour dates between October 2022 and June 2023 spanning Asia, North America, Europe, and Oceania. The tour began on October 15, 2022, at the KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea.


title: Born Pink

text: different physical formats—a box set version, a kit album, and a vinyl record—as well as digital download. The box set version has pink, black, and gray variations, each with a packing box, 80-page page photobook, accordion lyrics sheet, photocards, postcards, two instant films and a sticker.


title: Born Pink

text: The kit album, which allows buyers to listen to the album on their smartphones, contains a set of twelve photo cards, lyric and credit sheet, and a random polaroid card. The pink vinyl is special-edition is set to released on December 30, 2022. A fourth physical format, called "digipacks", were announced on August 21, 2022; they come in four versions, one for each member, and was released on September 16.


title: Born Pink

text: The album was reportedly made with Forest Stewardship Council-certified low-carbon eco-friendly paper, soybean oil ink, and eco-friendly coating. In addition, in its kit format, the disc is made of biodegradable plastic (PLA), and the plastic of the packaging and bag are made of ecological resin extracted from corn starch. The digital cover art consists of two pink fangs that appear from the top against a white background. The group's name and album's title are shown under them in a grey font.


title: Born Pink

text: "Born Pink" was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a weighted average score of 70 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Born Pink

text: Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" proclaimed it "the landmark pop album Blackpink were born to make" and praised the songs as "high-impact bangers and ferocious rock & roll anthems." Park Jun-hee of "The Korea Herald" described listening to the album as "biting into a trick candy: You don’t know what they’ll bring out this time, but it'll always be a sweet surprise." Vince Ferreras from CNN Philippines called the album as the group's most mature release to date and the one that shows the quartet's notable artistic growth the most. "The Telegraph"'s writer Emma Madden described "Born Pink" as a "sound of the biggest girlgroup on the planet" where they "marry the very best of Western pop music" with "a romantic, gleefully chaotic South Korean sensibility". In her review for "AllMusic", Neil Z. Yeung felt "Born Pink" "matures Blackpink with stronger production, more personal lyrics, and a bold conviction that cannot be contained". "The Harvard Crimson"s Alisa S. Regassa praised the album's innovative production and songwriting and felt that it pushed the boundaries of the K-pop industry. "Billboard" included "Born Pink" in their list of the 50 best albums of 2022, noting that it showcased "a more mature, grown-up version of the group."


title: Born Pink

text: "Pitchfork"'s Alex Ramos noted that rather than following in the steps of “Pink Venom” by experimenting, the rest of the album features "more of the same". Writing for "NME", Tanu I. Raj stated that on the album Blackpink treads the well-known thematic territory of pop music, but the imagery of "finding solace from heartbreak at the bottom of a bottle" or "boasting about being the type of girl you take to your 'mama house'" isn’t particularly novel.


title: Born Pink

text: "Billboard", "Rolling Stone", and "Uproxx" named "Born Pink" one of the best albums released in 2022. Its singles, "Pink Venom" and "Shut Down", were also named amongst best songs of 2022.


title: Born Pink

text: On August 18, 2022, YG Entertainment confirmed that "Born Pink" surpassed 1.5 million pre-orders in six days, followed by an announcement notifying that the album had sold over two million copies in pre-orders on August 25, making it the first album by a K-pop female act to achieve the milestone. Following its release, "Born Pink" became the first album by a K-pop girl group to sell over one million copies on its first day on Hanteo, doing it in less than 12 hours. "Born Pink" debuted at number one on the Circle Album Chart with 2,141,281 copies sold in less than two days of tracking and became the first album by a K-pop girl group to sell over two million copies. The kit version of the album debuted at number four with 59,718 copies sold. The album also topped the monthly Circle Album Chart, selling 2,457,206 copies as well as 60,000 copies of the kit version in the month of September.


title: Born Pink

text: All eight tracks on the album collectively drew 371.5 million streams and sold 55,000 downloads worldwide and went on to debut in the top half of the "Billboard" Global 200 and the top-forty of the Global Excl. U.S. in the week ending September 22. Both "Pink Venom" and "Shut Down" peaked at number one on the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S., making "Born Pink" the third album after "Sour" and "Be" to yield multiple Global 200 chart-toppers and the second after "Be" to yield multiple Global Excl. U.S. chart-toppers.


title: Born Pink

text: In the United States, "Born Pink" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with 102,000 album-equivalent units, including 75,500 pure album sales, 25,000 stream-equivalent sales (resulting from 37.49 million on-demand streams), and 1,500 track-equivalent sales. It became the first album by a female Korean act to top the chart and the first album by a female group to do so since Danity Kane's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" in 2008. The album also debuted atop the Top Album Sales chart with 75,500 copies sold, which comprised 64,000 CD sales and 11,500 digital sales, earning the seventh-largest sales week of any album in 2022. Blackpink became the eighth all-female group in history to top the "Billboard" 200, following Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Go-Go's, Spice Girls, TLC, The Chicks, Destiny’s Child and Danity Kane. In its second week, the album descended to number four with 40,000 album-equivalent units, including 26,000 pure album sales, making it the first album by a Korean female act to spend multiple weeks in the top five. In the United Kingdom, "Born Pink" also became the first album by a K-pop girl group to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. It marked the first time a girl group simultaneously topped the album charts in the United States and United Kingdom since Destiny's Child's "Survivor" in 2001. "Born Pink" also reached the top ten in Australia, Netherlands, France, Germany, Lithuania, Sweden and Norway.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: Kelly AuCoin (born February 14, 1967) is an American actor who has appeared in film, television, and theater. He is best known as "Dollar" Bill Stern on "Billions" (Showtime), and Pastor Tim on "The Americans" (FX). He has had recurring roles on several other American television series, including "The Girl from Plainville" (Hulu), "WeCrashed" (AppleTV+), "The Endgame" (NBC), "House of Cards" (Netflix), and as Hercules Mulligan on the final season of "" (AMC). He frequently appears on stage in New York and venues around the country, such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and La Jolla Playhouse. He has had supporting roles in many films, including Steven Spielberg's "The Post", "The Good House", "False Positive", "The Kingdom", "Julie & Julia", and "All That I Am", which won the SXSW Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: AuCoin was born in the Portland suburb of Hillsboro, Oregon, the son of Les and Susan AuCoin, and grew up in Oregon and Washington, D.C., where his father served as a United States Congressman from 1975 to 1993. His first appearance on television was in one of his father's campaign commercials, in which he countered claims that his father was a tax-and-spend Democrat by washing the family car to illustrate how cheap his father actually was. AuCoin is a graduate of Georgetown Day School and Oberlin College.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: Upon arriving in New York, AuCoin landed small roles in several soap operas, including "Guiding Light" and "The City". In the early 2000s, AuCoin appeared in episodes of "The Sopranos" and the first of many episodes of "Law & Order". His breakthrough came in 2014, when he landed recurring roles in Netflix's "House of Cards", "The Americans", and, most importantly, as the rabidly loyal - and notoriously cheap - cult favorite, "Dollar" Bill Stearn, on the Showtime series "Billions". He has also appeared in other television series, such as "The Bold Type", in which he played Jane Sloan's father during the show's final season, "Madam Secretary", the NBC miniseries "The Slap", "Unforgettable", "Person of Interest", "Forever", "The Following", ""Elementary"", "The Good Wife", "White Collar", "Gossip Girl", "Blue Bloods", among others. He played the regular recurring role of Peter Keatch in the CBS series "Waterfront", which was canceled before ever airing, despite having shot five episodes.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: For the 2012 presidential election, NPR's Planet Money team cast AuCoin as their "Fake Presidential Candidate" to give voice to "major economic policies they could all stand behind."


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: His first major film role came in 2007, where he played State Department official Ellis Leach in "The Kingdom". In 2009's "Julie & Julia", AuCoin played one of the executives for the Houghton Mifflin publishing company who declined to publish Julia Child's soon-to-be-legendary cookbook. More recently he has appeared in "False Positive", starring and written by Iliana Glazer, "Complete Unknown", starring Rachel Weisz, Barry Levinson's "The Wizard of Lies", starring Robert De Niro, "Drunk Parents", starring Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek, and the upcoming "The Good House", starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: In 2005, AuCoin appeared as Octavius in a Broadway revival of "Julius Caesar", which starred Denzel Washington. AuCoin has appeared in numerous other Off-Broadway stage productions, including Manhattan Theatre Club's productions of "Of Good Stock" and "Long Lost", and Signature Theatre's 2014 revival of A. R. Gurney's "The Wayside Motor Inn", directed by Lila Neugebauer, which won him, and the rest of the cast, a special Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Ensemble". Other Off Broadway productions include 2008's premiere of Ernest Hemingway's "The Fifth Column", 2009's "Jailbait", by Deirdre O'Connor, directed by Suzanne Agins, 2010's "Happy Now?", by Lucinda Coxon, the 2013 premiere of Tanya Barfield's "The Call", directed by Leigh Silverman in a joint production by Primary Stages and Playwrights Horizons, He recently starred in two La Jolla Playhouse productions; J. T. Rogers' "Blood And Gifts", directed by Lucie Tiberghien, and Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley's world premier "A Dram Of Drummhicit", directed by Christopher Ashley. AuCoin was a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company in the early 1990s.


title: Kelly AuCoin

text: AuCoin is married to dancer Carolyn Hall, winner of a 2002 Bessie Award for creative work in dance performance, and the couple lives in Brooklyn.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: Radhe Shyam is the 2022 soundtrack album composed by Justin Prabhakaran, Mithoon, Amaal Mallik, and Manan Bhardwaj to the 2022 Indian period romantic drama film of the same name written and directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, starring Prabhas and Pooja Hegde.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: A. R. Rahman was reportedly approached to compose music for the film. However, Rahman did not sign the film.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: The Hindi soundtrack is composed by Mithoon, Amaal Mallik and Manan Bhardwaj, while Justin Prabhakaran is composing the songs in the Telugu version and dubbed versions.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: Manoj Muntashir, Rashmi Virag, Kumaar, Mithoon were reported to be providing lyrics for Hindi, while Krishna Kanth is providing lyrics for Telugu. The soundtrack features a total of 6 songs in total.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: On 13 November 2021, it was announced that the first single for the Telugu version was going to be released on 15 November 2021.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: On 28 November 2021, it was announced that the first single for the Hindi version and the second single for the Telugu version were going to be released on 1 December 2021. However due to the passing of lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, the Telugu version was delayed to 2 December 2021 while the Hindi version was still released on 1 December 2021.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: On 5 December 2021, it was announced that the second single for the Hindi version was going to be released on 8 December 2021.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: On 13 December 2021, it was announced that the third single for all the versions was going to be released on 16 December 2021.


title: Radhe Shyam (soundtrack)

text: The first single was released on 15 November 2021. The lyrical version of the single was made as a conceptual 3D video by Anil Kumar Upadyaula which features both the leads. The song was released as Ee Raathale (in Telugu), Aagoozhile (in Tamil), Kaanaakkare (in Malayalam) and Ee Reethile (in Kannada) with vocals by Yuvan Shankar Raja for Telugu and Tamil, Nihal Sadiq in Malayalam and Kannada while Harini Ivaturi gave the female vocals for all languages.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Carmen Dell'Orefice (, ; born June 3, 1931) is an American supermodel and actress. She is known within the fashion industry for being the world's oldest working model as of the Spring/Summer 2012 season. She was on the cover of "Vogue" at the age of 15 and has been modeling ever since. Her daily motto is to enjoy herself, at no-one else's expense.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Dell'Orefice was born in New York City to parents of Italian and Hungarian descent. Her parents had an unstable relationship characterized by frequent break ups and reconciliations. Dell'Orefice lived in foster homes or with other relatives during her parents' clashes.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: At the age of 13, while riding a bus to ballet class, she was approached to model by the wife of photographer Herman Landschoff. Her test photos, taken at Jones Beach, were a "flop" according to Dell'Orefice. In 1946, her godfather introduced her to "Vogue" and the 15-year-old signed a modeling contract for $7.50 an hour. She became a favorite model of photographer Erwin Blumenfeld who shot her first "Vogue" cover in 1946. She appears in the December 15, 1946 issue of US "Vogue"; New York Vol. 108, Iss. 11, as Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Cinderella along with model Dorian Leigh, actors Ray Bolger and Jose Ferrer.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Dell'Orefice and her mother struggled financially, and her modeling income was not enough to sustain the family. With no telephone, "Vogue" had to send runners to their apartment to let Dell'Orefice know about modeling jobs. She roller-skated to assignments to save on bus fares. She was so malnourished that famed fashion photographers Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton had to pin back dresses and stuff the curves with tissue.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Dell'Orefice and her mother were accomplished seamstresses and made extra money making clothes. One of their customers was Dorian Leigh. Dell'Orefice later became best friends with Leigh's younger sister, model Suzy Parker. Together they were bridesmaids at Leigh's second wedding to Roger W. Mehle in 1948.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: In 1947, Dell'Orefice's rate was raised to $10–$25 per hour. She appeared on the October 1947 cover of "Vogue" at age 16, one of the youngest "Vogue" cover models. She was also on "Vogue"'s November 1948 cover. She worked with the most famous fashion photographers of the era, including Irving Penn, Gleb Derujinsky, Francesco Scavullo, Norman Parkinson, and Richard Avedon. Dell'Orefice was photographed by Melvin Sokolsky for Harper's Bazaar in 1960. The image, titled "Carmen Las Meninas" has been collected internationally. Mark Shaw photographed her for a classic "Vanity Fair" lingerie campaign, in which Dell'Orefice obscures her face with her hand. She was painter Salvador Dalí's muse.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Despite her early successes, modeling agent Eileen Ford declined to represent her and "Vogue" lost interest in her. Her thin frame required medical attention: Doctors prescribed shots to start puberty, and her new curves brought her work in catalogs modeling lingerie at $300 per hour. She joined the Ford Modelling Agency in 1953, but retired from modeling after her second marriage in 1959.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: After her third divorce and in need of funds, Dell'Orefice returned to modeling in 1978. In 1984 she appeared on the cover of "Quarante", a newsstand quarterly publication subtitled, "For the woman of style and substance". In the 1990s and 2000s, she modeled for Isaac Mizrahi's clothing line at Target, as well as Cho Cheng and Rolex. Dell'Orefice is featured regularly in their advertising campaigns appearing in "Vogue", "W" and "Harper's Bazaar".


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: In 1993 she appeared in "The Babe Business", a feature documentary filmed in New York about models directed by Don Boyd for Channel Four television.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: On July 19, 2011 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London, in recognition of her contribution to the fashion industry. The university sponsored a retrospective exhibition curated by illustrator and long-time friend David Downton, featuring Dell'Orefice's "Vogue" covers, career highlights, and photographs from her personal archives.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Since her return to the industry, Dell'Orefice has appeared in campaigns for Missoni, shot by Giampaolo Sgura; Sephora, shot by Mikael Jansson; Philipp Plein, shot by Steven Klein and H&M, and walked the runway for Anna Sui, Stéphane Rolland, Thierry Mugler and Guo Pei. In 2015, Dell'Orefice collaborated with David Gandy and Isabeli Fontana in the promotion for the reopening of the department store Palacio de Hierro Polanco. She has also featured on the covers of "L'Officiel" (Australia, Azerbaijan, Switzerland), "Marie Claire" Arabia and "Harper's Bazaar" Thailand.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: Dell'Orefice met and married Bill Miles in the early 1950s. Miles exploited his wife financially, by picking up his wife's modeling agency checks, allowing her only $50 allowance from her earnings. They had a daughter, Laura, and divorced soon after. In 1958, she met photographer Richard Heimann and married him six months later. She decided to retire, after which he left her. Though their marriage didn't work out, it had nothing to do with her "retirement". Carmen and Richard divorced in 1960 but remained close friends for the next 53 years, until his death in 2013. Her third marriage was to a young architect, Richard Kaplan, in the mid-1960s. The marriage lasted eleven years.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: In the late 1980s, Dell'Orefice was engaged to television talk-show host David Susskind. He died before they were married. In 1993, a neighbor introduced her to Norman F. Levy, who was Bernard Madoff's best friend. Levy was her boyfriend for several years.


title: Carmen Dell'Orefice

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, Dell'Orefice lost most of her money in the stock market. She was forced to auction off her famous modeling photographs from the 1940s to the 1980s through Sotheby's.