{{Infobox country , native_name = ''Tavasco'' , common_name = Tabasco , government_type = monarchy , year_start = 12th century , year_end = 1519 , event_start = 11th century , event_end = 1519 , date_end = 16 April , p1 = League of Mayapan , flag_p1 = , p2 = Xicalango , flag_p2 = , s1 = New Spain , flag_s1 = Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg , image_flag = , flag_type = , image_coat = , image_map = Tavasco.png , image_map_caption = Tabasco at its greatest extent, 1513-1519 (green). , capital =

Potonchán Potonchán, was a Chontal Maya city, capital of the minor kingdom known as ''Tavasco'' or ''Tabasco''. It occupied the left bank of the Tabasco River, which the Spanish renamed the Grijalva River, in the current Mexican state of Tabasco. Juan ...

, common_languages = Yoko Ochoco , religion = Maya Religion , currency =

Cacao bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of '' Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substanc ...

and Jade , title_leader =

Halach Uinik Halach uinik or halach uinic ( Yucatec Maya:'real man') was the name given to the supreme ruler, overlord or chief, as they were called in the colonial period of a Maya '' kuchkabal''. Most ''kuchkabal'' were run by a halach uinik, who ruled on ...

, leader1 = Unknown revolutionary , year_leader1 = 12th century , leader2 =

Tabscoob Tabscoob was a ''halach uinik'' ( Maya ruler) of the Potonchán jurisdiction, known for leading the Chontal Maya in the Battle of Centla against Spanish forces led by Hernán Cortés on March 14, 1519. Tabscoob's administration maintained commer ...

, year_leader2 = ?–1519 , stat_year1 = 12th century , today=

Mexico 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 ...

Tabasco or Tavasco was a Chontal Maya Nation in the westernmost area of the Maya region.

History

Separation

Sometime, probably during the 12th century the Chontal

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

in the westernmost part of The League of Mayapan separated from the rest of the league. They did this because they objected to an alliance with

Mayapan Mayapan (Màayapáan in Modern Maya; in Spanish Mayapán) is a Pre-Columbian Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west o ...

,(the city not the league). They adopted the same governmental system that existed when they were attached to the league and Mayapan. That is, with the three existing classes.

Nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

and priesthood,

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

and slaves. It was in the west of their new country on the river Tabasco where they founded their capital city. Its name was

which means smelly place, there were 25,000 homes there. Having their main city on a wide river near the ocean allowed them to have an extensive sea trade network.

Acalan

At some point the eastern part of Tabasco became independent. The new countries name was

Acalan Acalan (Chontal Maya: ''Tamactun'', Nahuatl: ''Acallan'') was a Chontal Maya region in what is now southern Campeche, Mexico. Its capital was Itzamkanac. The people of Acalan were called ''Mactun'' in the Chontal Maya language. Cuauhtemoc, ru ...

which had its capitol at Itzamkanac. Acalan had constant disputes with Tabasco. Also Itzamkanac was inland and Acalan had a much smaller sea trade industry.

War with Xicalango

On Tris Island, now called Isla del Carmen the people were not

but

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

. They had their own country and port city, both called Xicalango. Tabasco claimed the island, and there was constant violence on the border. Finally in 1513 Tabscoob, the last ruler of Tabasco led an army of 20,000 soldiers to Xicalango, where they defeated the islanders. It was a Maya custom to give the Halach Uinik a large number of slaves from the destroyed country. One of the slaves from Xicalango was

Malintzin Marina or Malintzin ( 1500 – 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche , a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an interpreter, advi ...

European contact

The visit of Juan de Grijalva

The first Spanish expedition to land in Tabasco was led by

Juan de Grijalva Juan de Grijalva (; born c. 1490 in Cuéllar, Crown of Castile – 21 January 1527 in Honduras) was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He went to Hispanio ...

, who on June 8, 1518, traversed in what is now the state of Tabasco. Grijalva arrived that day at the mouth of a great river, which the crew named "Grijalva" in honor of their captain.

went up the river to discover the inland area, and found four canoes full of Tabascans, painted and making gesticulations and gestures of war. But Grijalva sent the Mayas Julián and Melchorejo who were kidnapped from

Ekab Ekab or Ecab was the name of a Mayan chiefdom of the northeastern Yucatán Peninsula, before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. In the fifteenth century most of Yucatán was controlled by the League of Mayapan. By 1 ...

, so that they could explain to the Tabascans in the Chontal language that they came in peace. Thus they continued along the river and, after less than a league, stumbled upon the large city of Potonchán. Grijalva y Tabscoob

We started eight days in June 1518 and going armed to the coast, about six miles away from land, we saw a very large stream of water coming out of a major river, the fresh water was spewing approximately six miles out to sea. And with that current we could not enter by said river, which we named the Grijalva River. We were being followed by more than two thousand Indians and they were making signs of war (...) This river flows from very high mountains, and this land seems to be the best upon which the sun shines; if it were to be more settled, it would serve well as a capital: it is called the Potonchán province.

—Juan Díaz, Itinerary of Grijalva (1518) Once ashore, Juan de Grijalva, with the help of Maya interpreters that he had taken earlier, began to strike up a friendly dialog. In addition to flattering the natives with gifts, Grijalva begged them to call their boss to meet and hold talks with him. And so, after a while, the Halach Uinik Tabscoob appeared with his nobles to greet Grijalva. During the talk, both figures exchanged gifts. Tabscoob gave Grijalva, Tabscoob gold armor in the shape of a leaf and a feather headdress. Grijalva gave the Maya ruler his green velvet doublet.

Hernán Cortés

First contact

on March 12, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived at the mouth of the Grijalva river. He decided to have his ships drop anchor and enter the river in skiffs, in search of the great city of

described by Juan de Grijalva. Cortés landed right at the mouth of the river, at a place named "Punta de los Palmares."

On the twelfth day of the month of March of the year one-thousand five-hundred nineteen, we arrived with all the fleet at the Rio de Grijalva, which is also called Tabasco(...) and from the smaller vessels and boats all the soldiers were landed at the Cape of the Palms(as they were in Grijalva's time) which was about half a league distant from the town of Tabasco. The river, the river banks and the mangrove thickets were swarming with Indians (...) in addition to this there were assembled in the town more than twelve thousand warriors all prepared to make war on us...

—Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España (1519) To discover their intentions, Cortés, used a translator, to tell some Tabascans that were in a boat that "he would do no harm, to those who came in peace and that he only wanted to speak with them." But Cortés, seeing that the natives were still threatening, ordered weapons brought on the boats and handed them to archers and musketeers, and he began planning how to attack the city.

The first battle

The next day Cortés sent

Alonso de Ávila Alonso is a Spanish name of Germanic origin that is a Castilian variant of ''Adalfuns''. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 36.6% of all known bearers of the surname ''Alonso'' were residents of Spain (frequency 1:222), 26.1% of Mexico (1:83 ...

with one hundred soldiers out on the road leading to the City, while Cortés and the other group of soldiers went in the boats. There, on the shore, Cortés made a requisition for them disembark. The natives refused, telling the Spaniards that, if they disembarked, they would be killed. They began to shoot arrows at Cortés' soldiers, initiating combat.

... and they surrounded us with their canoes with such a spray of arrows that they made us stop with water up to our waists, and there was so much mud that we could not get out and many Indians charged us with spears and others pierced us with arrows, ensuring that we did not touch land as soon as we would have liked, and with so much mud we couldn't even move, and Cortés was fighting and he lost a shoe in the mud and came to land with one bare foot(...) and we were upon them on land crying to St. James and we made them retreat to a wall that was made of timber, until we breached it and came in to fight with them(...) we forced them through a road and there they turned to fight face-to-face and they fought very valiantly....

—Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de population la Nueva España (1519) Alonso de Ávila arrived to the combat developing within Potonchán with his hundred men who went traveled by land, making the Tabascans flee and take refuge in the mountains. In this way, Cortés took possession of the great main plaza of Potonchán, in which there were rooms, great halls, and which had three houses of idols.

...we came upon a great courtyard, which had some chambers and great halls, and had three houses of idols. In the "cúes" emplesof that court, which Cortés ordered that we would repair (...) and there Cortés took possession of the land, for his Majesty and in his royal name, in the following manner: His sword drawn, he dealt three stabs to a large
ceiba ''Ceiba'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to N Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to tall or more, with a straight, la ...
tree in a sign of possession. The tree was in the square of that great town and he said that if there were one person that contradicted him, he would defend it with his sword and all those that were present said it was okay to take the land (...) And before a notary of the king that decree was made...

—Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España (1519)

Battle of Centla

The entrance of Hernan Cortés into the city of Tabasco

The next day, Captain Cortés sent Pedro de Alvarado with a hundred soldiers so that he could go six miles inland, and he sent Francisco de Lugo, with another hundred soldiers, to a different part. Francisco de Lugo ran into warrior squads, starting a new battle. Upon hearing the shots and drums, Alvarado went in aid of Lugo, and together, after a long fight, they were able to make the natives flee. The Spaniards returned to town to inform Cortés. The next day, early in the morning, Cortés and his men went through plains to Cintla or Centla. There they found thousands of Tabascan soldiers, beginning Battle of Centla. The Spaniards were attacked by the Tabascans. The Spaniards defended themselves with firearms like muskets and cannons. But what scared them much more was seeing the Spaniards riding horses. There were no horses in the Americas before the Spaniards came. The Tabascans believed that both rider and horse were one. In the end the Tabascans lost.