Colonial era and independence from Spain
In 1617, Yucatán was administered as a Captaincy General of New Spain. Its geographical position gave it some autonomy. During the Spanish Viceroyalty, the province and captaincy of Yucatán covered the current territories of Campeche, Quintana Roo,War of Mexican Independence
In 1810, the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla issued the ''Impact of Mexican independence
Just as Yucatán's geographical remoteness from the center of New Spain, specifically fromFederal pact with Mexico
Echeverri, who succeeded Carrillo Albornoz in 1821, proclaimed the independence of the peninsula and sent two representatives to negotiate the incorporation of Yucatán into theYucatán swears that recognizes and responds to the government of Mexico, only if it is liberal and representative; and with the condition that: The union of Yucatán is that of a Federated Republic, and not otherwise, and therefore entitled to form their particular Constitution and establish the laws that it deems necessary to its happiness. In the Mexican government, two policies competed for primacy at that time. The Federalists argued for the balance of power among the three branches of state: executive, legislative, and judicial. The Centralists centered all authority on President of the Republic. Federalists ruled in Mexico from the birth of the Republic until 1835, and this corresponds with calm, peaceful relations between Mexico and the Yucatán. In 1835 the Centralists took power in Mexico and appointed the governor of Yucatán. As the Yucatán lost more and more off its autonomy, its people considered more seriously the possibility of their own independence and the formation of a second republic.
Second Republic of Yucatán
An important case set a precedent for the independence of the Yucatán and the formation of a new republic. As Mexico had won its independence from Spain, several provinces on the periphery of New Spain had been subsumed into the new Mexican empire and its successor state, the Republic of Mexico, or the United States of Mexico. One of its northernmost territories,Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ..., had been populated mostly by settlers from theUnited States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori .... Mexican centralization conflicted with the ideas of the Anglo-Texans, who decided to seek US volunteers for their own independence. With that support, Texas attained independence and emerged as a republic. The first vice-president of the Republic of Texas was Lorenzo de Zavala, a Mexican born in Yucatán and Minister of Finance in the government of the second Mexican presidentVicente Guerrero Vicente Ramón Guerrero (; baptized August 10, 1782 – February 14, 1831) was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence. He fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and later served as ....
Declaration of independence
The federal army of Yucatán, commanded by Captain Santiago Imán, took the city ofValladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...and on February 12, 1840 issued a report, which stated that federalism should be restored as a form of government to combat poverty in the country. The act required the reestablishment of the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Six days later, in the presence of troops of the garrison of Mérida (the Yucatán capital city) under the command of Anastasio Torrens, and many supporters, Captain Santiago Imán proclaimed the independence of the Yucatecan territory. On June 6, 1840, the city of Campeche surrendered to the Yucatecan Federalists after a military siege. The central government of Mexico declared war on the Yucatán. On March 16, 1841 at the first City Council meeting in Mérida, a crowd led by Miguel Barbachano Terrazo (future governor of Yucatán) broke into the room calling for the independence of Yucatán. Some members of this group lowered the Mexican flag, without considering the consequences, raising in its place a flag called the Yucatecan. Officially a few days after the Mexican flag was removed from boats and buildings in favor of the Yucatecan flag. On October 1, 1841, the local Chamber of Deputies adopted the Act of Independence of the Yucatán Peninsula. The first article stated:The people of Yucatán, in the full exercise of its sovereignty is becoming free and independent republic of the Mexican nation....The Yucatán flag was hoisted first in the government building of the town of Yucatec on March 16, 1841, in protest at Santa Anna's centralization of Mexico. "The flag of Yucatán is divided into two fields: on the left, a field of green; and on the right, another divided in turn into three, red top and bottom, and white in the middle. The field of green features five stars standing for the five departments into which Yucatán was divided by a decree of November 30, 1840, namely: Mérida, Izamal, Valladolid, Campeche, and Tekax." The colors of the flag of the Yucatán are identical to those of the Mexican flag, in contrast to the flag of the other republic to declare independence from Mexico, the Republic of Texas, which used the colors of the flag of the United States.
Yucatecan Constitution of 1841
The innovative 1841 Constitution of Yucatán was based on the Constitution of the State of Yucatán in 1825 but also contained a reform package drafted by the liberal lawyer Manuel Crescencio García Rejón. It was promulgated on March 31, 1841 and entered into force on May 16. Important rights included individual rights as the fundamental rights of all citizens of the state either at home or abroad; the declaration of freedom of religion, in article 79: "none to be molested for his religious views, and those who come to settle in the country, as their descendants, have secured him the public and private exercise of their respective religions"; Article 69 established trial by a jury of peers. Article 73 abolished required civil or military service. Section I of Article 62 re-established the Amparo, the process of legal protection which is based on the idea of limiting the power of government authorities.
Santa Anna's ''coup'' and the Mexican rapprochement
In October 1841, with insurgents fromTacubaya Tacubaya is a working-class area of west-central Mexico City, in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, consisting of the '' colonia'' Tacubaya proper and adjacent areas in other colonias, with San Miguel Chapultepec sección II, Observatorio, Daniel Ga ..., Antonio López de Santa Anna executed a coup, removing Anastasio Bustamante. Santa Anna radicalized the centralist position of his government. Santa Anna, the new president, commissioned Andrés Quintana Roo, a native of Mérida, to establish a dialogue with the Yucatecan authorities and Yucatecan Congress in order to return to Mexico. Quintana Roo's commission succeeded and the treaties of 28 and 29 November 1841 were signed. In them, Yucatán retain its own customs and tariff laws, and the free entry of goods to ports of the Republic was allowed to continue, among other benefits to Yucatán. In Mexico City, the treaties between Andrés Quintana Roo and Yucatán were ignored. The central governments required Yucatán join Mexico and fully accept the Plan of Tacubaya, Yucatán territory should be subject to all laws of Congress established by the Santa Anna. It also required that Yucatán break all relations with the Republic of Texas because Mexico was at war with the Texans. Attempts were made through several diplomatic channels to resolve the problems, but all failed.
Armed invasion of the Peninsula
Failing in the attempt to subdue Yucatán with words, Santa Anna sent military forces to the peninsula to hunt for the federalists. In August 1842, a Mexican military squadron formed off the coast of the island Carmen (now Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche), including four warships and commanded by Captain Thomas Marin. Marin demanded that the Yucatán return to Mexico. A few days later his soldiers took the island without encountering armed resistance. Control of this island gave the Mexican military a strategic base between the Mexican mainland and the Yucatecan peninsula. Water travel provided the fastest route between Yucatán and Mexico. There were no land routes through the jungles, and the sharp curve of the peninsula meant that the shortest distance between Valladolid, and Mexico City was over water. Marin's small force was reinforced by Santa Anna's army of four thousand men brought fromVeracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...and moved to his next goal: Campeche, a city that was protected by thick walls, built during the colonial era, to defend the city from pirate attacks. The Mexican army took the city of Champoton, and after several failed attempts to take Campeche decided to go on the capital, Mérida. The army landed at the port ofTelchac Puerto Telchac Puerto is a port town in the Yucatan. It is located about one hour north east of the city of Mérida (65 kilometers) and 30 minutes from Progreso. Dining A bakery and several seafood restaurants are in Telchac Puerto. Fried fish st ...and took one by one Telchac Pueblo, Motul andTixkokob Tixkokob (, meaning place of poisonous snakes in Mayan) is a town in the Mexican state of Yucatán, located in the north central part of the state. It is the seat of Tixkokob Municipality and is located about 24 miles east of the city of Mérida .... The Mexican army arrived at the Pacabtún's farm in Mérida, where it learned that Yucatán had already prepared the defense of Mérida and had the reinforcement of eleven thousandMayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...indigenous soldiers. On April 24, 1843 Mexican General Peña y Barragán surrendered and agreed to withdraw his troops by sea toTampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...in the state ofTamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ....
Rapprochement: temporary return to Mexico
Despite the withdrawal, Santa Anna refused to recognize the independence of Yucatán and banned the entry of ships under flag of Yucatán to Mexican territory. He also prohibited the transit of Mexican ships to Yucatán. This overturned all Yucatecan trade with the mainland of Mexico, causing deep economic problems. Barbachano, knowing that Santa Anna was defeated in the military by Yucatán, decided to negotiate with the central government. Yucatán proposed several conditions to the central government. Santa Anna agreed to several conditions giving full autonomy to the Yucatán on December 5, 1843. Yucatán resumed trade with Mexico and the Republic retained its sovereignty. However, the situation would be short-lived. The Mexican government on February 21, 1844 ruled that unique rights and autonomy awarded to Yucatán were unconstitutional. In late 1845, the Mexican Congress revoked the Conventions of December 1843 and the Assembly of Yucatán to declare its independence on January 1, 1846.
Second period of separation
Yucatán had additional conflicts, in addition to the one with Mexico. Political Yucatecans were divided between the partisans of Mérida, led by Miguel Barbachano, and the partisans of Campeche, led by Santiago Méndez. This rivalry was so pointed that by early 1847 Yucatán had a government in both camps. To this should also be added a third group, the indigenous Maya, who formed the bulk of the Yucatecan military and manual labor force. In 1846, the Mexican government returned to the 1824 Constitution, restoring Mexican federalism. The Mérida-Barbachano faction received the news enthusiastically and agreed to rejoin Mexico on November 2, 1846. On the other side, the Campeche-Méndez faction claimed that any reunion with Mexico would involve Yucatán in a war with the United States. In October 1846, the United States' fleet took Ciudad del Carmen, and blockaded the territory. On January 21, 1847, Santiago Méndez moved the Yucatán capital to Campeche which, within a few months, was also cut off by the United States' navy from trade with Texas, Mérida and Mexico. At the same time, theMayans The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ..., who paid high taxes, provided most manual and unskilled labor and formed most of the rank and file of the military, took up arms against the whites and ''mestizos (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...'' on July 30, 1847 at Tepich, spreading terror and causing considerable destruction and disruption of communications. The most prominent cause for this armed conflict was massive widespread resentment and discontent among the Mayan population because of the discrimination and institutional racism they were subjected to by the regional government and the elite who were composed of wealthy mestizos and whites who controlled the politics of Yucatan; additionally, the Mayan people had historically always lived in extreme poverty, conditions that they had survived since the Spanish conquest. Between the American blockade and the Mayan uprising (called the Caste War), the Méndez government faced a critical problem of internal security and protection of trade. Méndez sent a delegation, led by Judge José Rovira, to Washington D.C. to argue that Yucatán's neutrality inMexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...should protect it from hostile blockade. They highlighted the Yucatán independence from Mexico based on the injustices committed by the Mexican central government and that their trade with theGulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...was crucial. Rovira apparently considered suggesting the annexation of the Yucatán by the United States. A second delegation headed byJusto Sierra O'Reilly Justo Sierra O'Reilly (Tixcacal-Tuyú; 1814 in Yucatán – 1861 in Mérida, Yucatán) was a Mexican novelist and historian, the father of Mexican author and political figure Justo Sierra Méndez. Sierra O'Reilly was born in the southeastern Mexica ...sent in 1848 did offer the annexation of the entire peninsula to the United States, a project that was strongly supported by Sierra O'Reilly, as documented by the 1938 publication of his diary of this trip and the discussions he held with American politicians. The Méndez government succeeded in recovering part of Yucatán territory lost to the Maya: the citiesIzamal Izamal () is a small city in the Mexican state of Yucatán, east of state capital Mérida, in southern Mexico. Izamal was continuously occupied throughout most of Mesoamerican chronology; in 2000, the city's estimated population was 15,000 peop ..., Tunkás, Ticul,Tekax Tekax, sometimes spelled Tecax (in full, Tekax de Álvaro Obregón), is a small city in the Mexican state of Yucatán (state), Yucatán, located at in the southernmost part of the state. Tekax (pronounced ) means "Place of the Forests" in the Yuc ...and Yaxcabá as well as Calotmul andValladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ..., with the help of troops from Mexico. Marcelo Pat's death, the son of Jacinto, forced him to abandon the struggle. Eventually, the Caste War overwhelmed Yucatán efforts at security and internal stability. In desperation, President Santiago Méndez offered Yucatecan sovereignty in exchange for military assistance to the governor of the island ofCuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ..., the admiral ofJamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ..., the ministers ofSpain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...and theUnited Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ..., but none responded to his pleas, although the British did sell the Yucatecans arms and supplies through their colony in Belize; in addition to this, the British also received thousands of Yucatecan and Mayan refugees in Belize who were trying to escape the war. Finally, and as mentioned above, the Yucatecan delegation in Washington made a formal offer for the annexation of Yucatán to the United States, an argument that appealed to some of the radical expansionists and theYoung America movement The Young America Movement was an American political, cultural and literary movement in the mid-19th century. Inspired by European reform movements of the 1830s (such as Junges Deutschland, Young Italy and Young Hegelians), the American group w .... President James Knox Polk was pleased with the idea and the "Yucatán Bill" passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but was discarded by the Senate. The war withMexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...had become more complicated than anticipated, and the Congress of the United States did not want a second war with the indigenous of Yucatán. In the end, although the United States did not formally intervene in the war of the castes or to secure the independence of Yucatan, dozens of American citizens fought for the Republic of Yucatan as mercenaries, most of them being veterans of the Mexican-American war which had recently concluded.
Final return to Mexico
Méndez decided to return the government of Yucatán to Miguel Barbachano, who took office in April 1848. The first thing Barbachano did as governor was inform the government of Mexico, who resided in the city of Querétaro, the distressing situation of the war of castes and seek economic and military assistance. Mexican President José Joaquín Herrera, was welcomed to Barbachano, and July 14 of 1848 gave 150,000 pesos to Yucatán (of 3 million that the U.S. gave to Mexico as payment for territory acquired in the Mexican–American War) and sent arms and ammunition to Yucatán. The Mexican Government sent the following message to Barbachano: :Mr. Governor, will be useless after exposure to me the wishes of the nation, the feelings of the representatives, and the conduct of the Government of Yucatán if I don't extended for the purpose of convincing the intensity of interest in the fate of the excited state and the government decision to save. For all the current administration should not be remembered past misfortunes, but as a harsh lesson that we all have a duty to repair indicates both misfortune. The President sees no more than one in Yucatán and very interesting part of the Union, or its citizens more than our brothers handed over to the relentless fury of the wild.The rebellion of the indigenous Maya was put down in August 1848 and August 17 of that year, Barbachano ordered the resumption of a confederation of Mexico and the restoration of the 1825 Constitution of Yucatán. Another of the consequences of the war of the castes was that it altered the international geopolitical divisions of the region between Guatemala and Mexico: since 1823 the biggest and northernmost province of Guatemala, Petén, attempted to annex itself to the state of Yucatán; however, the annexation project was put off several times and finally shelved around 1856 as the war worsened and the Mayans scored several victories.
In fiction
*'' La Casta Divina'', a Mexican film about Yucatán during independence.
See also
* Yucatan * Republic of Texas *Republic of the Rio Grande The Republic of the Rio Grande ( es, República del Río Grande) was an independent nation that insurgents fighting against the Centralist Republic of Mexico sought to establish in northern Mexico. The Republic of the Rio Grande was one of a se ...* Revolt of 1837 (New Mexico) * California Revolt led by Juan Bautista Alvarado *Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...* Caste War *Territorial evolution of Mexico Mexico has experienced many changes in territorial organization during its history as an independent state. The territorial boundaries of Mexico were affected by presidential and imperial decrees. One such decree was ''the Law of Bases for the ...
References
Further reading
*''Diccionario Quintana Roo Enciclopedia Regional'', Héctor Campillo Cuautli, Fernández Editores, México, 1988. (pp. 18–19) *Cordourier, Alfonso y otros, ''Historia y Geografía de Yucatán'', EPSA, México 1997 *''Miguel Barbachano al Exmo. Sr. Ministro de Relaciones de la República'', Mérida, 17 de abril de 1848. Archivo General de la Nación, Gobernación, sin sección, vol. 356, exp. 5. * * *
17 de agosto de 1848. – Yucatán se anexa nuevamente a la República Mexicana. (redescolar.ilce.edu.mx:2000)
* ttp://www.inep.org/content/view/479/106/ Yucatán en el siglo XIX {{DEFAULTSORT:Yucatan, Republic of States and territories established in 1841 States and territories disestablished in 1848 Former unrecognized countries Former countries of Mexico History of the Yucatán Peninsula Separatism in Mexico 1841 establishments in North America 1848 disestablishments in North America Former republics