The City of the Sacred Well

by T. A. Willard

Montejo saw that conquest to the southward was blocked, and, with the aid of the friendly Cheles and taking the chief of the town of Zilan and two young nobles, the sons of a still greater chief, he traveled with his force up the coast, the young natives of his escort obtaining safe conduct for him through the various tribes. Thus he reached Mexico, which was held by the iron hand of Cortes.

Montejo was next sent to Honduras as viceroy, but the project of subduing Yucatan seems always to have been his dream. Some years later he went to the city of Chiapa and from there despatched his son, at the head of an expedition, to Yucatan, in a further effort to conquer it. The younger Montejo had in the meantime traveled through Mexico and even into lower California and had been made viceroy of Tabasco.

In the years since the attempt of the elder Montejo to subdue the Mayas, Yucatan had suffered greatly, first from internecine strife and then from a famine, so that the younger Montejo found almost no organized resistance. The city of Champoton, where the Spaniards had twice suffered defeat under Hernandez de Córdoba and under Grijalva, and where the first Montejo had not dared to risk a conflict, now offered no battle at all. From there the younger Montejo went to Campeche and established friendly relations, so that with the aid of Champoton and Campeche, gained by promises of rich rewards, he reached the city of Tiho, meeting with almost no resistance.

Here he established his capital, renaming the city Mérida, and so it has remained to the present time as the seat of government of Yucatan. The army of a few hundred men was quartered in Mérida and the subjugation of the country was carried on from there. Captains were sent to different towns as local governors. The young Montejo sent his cousin of the same name to Valladolid, to govern that important city and subdue the surrounding territory. When things had pretty well settled down, the elder Montejo came from Chiapa, first taking up residence in Campeche, which he renamed San Francisco in honor of himself. A little later he moved on to Mérida and became governor in fact, as well as in name, of the land of Yucatan.

The rule of the Spaniards was exceedingly brutal for some years, but it is believed that most of their cruelties were committed without the knowledge of Montejo and certainly not at his command. There is the well-worn excuse that the conquerors were few in number and the conquered numerous, and that diabolical treatment was sometimes necessary, to hold the masses in check. Rebels were burned alive and hanged in great numbers. The important people in the town of Yobain were gathered together in a large house and locked in stocks, then the house was set on fire, so that all perished horribly.

Diego de Landa himself saw a tree upon which were hanging many Indian women from whose feet their little children had been hanged. In another city two Indian women, one a maid, the other newly married, were hanged for no other reason than that they were beautiful and the Spanish captain feared that his men might seek their favor and thereby stir up trouble with the natives.

Perhaps the greatest cruelty of all was the deportation of the natives of the thickly populated provinces of Cochua and Chectemal. Hands and arms and legs were lopped off. Women had their breasts severed and, with gourds tied to their feet, were thrown into the lagoons. Children were stabbed because they could not walk as fast as their captors, and men, women, and children were slain without excuse.

Because of this treatment the native population decreased very rapidly and the towns and cities were abandoned. A serious outbreak occurred in Valladolid, where the natives slew seventeen Spaniards and four hundred natives who were servants of the Spanish. Hands and feet of the slain were sent through the country as a signal for a general uprising, but none took place.

Evidently the priesthood complained to the king regarding the atrocities that were being committed and of the making of servants or virtually slaves of many of the natives. An edict from the king deprived all governors of native servants. Montejo was impeached and sent to Mexico for a hearing, and from there to the royal council at Madrid. And there he died, as Landa says, “full of days and work.”

The younger Montejo left the imposing gubernatorial mansion which his father had built in Mérida and resided for some time in the city merely as a private citizen, much respected by all. After a time he went to Guatemala and then returned to Spain, where he eventually died after a prolonged illness.