Why go
The episode gives the ruins a second political history beyond the ancient city. It explains why Spanish plans to establish a capital here failed, even though the conquerors initially encountered little resistance, and why the site later became part of a colonial estate.
The full story
Francisco de Montejo secured a royal charter to conquer Yucatán in 1526. After early campaigns and a new base at Campeche, he sent his son into the peninsula’s interior in 1532. Montejo the Younger reached Chichen Itza and called it Ciudad Real. He began allocating surrounding land to his soldiers, but Maya opposition grew. Maya forces besieged the Spaniards, cut their link to the coast and compelled them to shelter among the ancient buildings. After months without reinforcements, Montejo the Younger lost men in an attempted attack and withdrew in 1534. By the following year, Spanish forces had been driven from the peninsula. Conquest came later through another campaign involving Maya allies recruited by Montejo. By 1588, a colonial land grant that included Chichen Itza was operating as a cattle ranch. This sequence is useful when viewing the monuments: they were not an empty stage waiting for European arrival, and the first Spanish claim to the site was resisted.