Verapaz, Guatemala

Verapaz, formerly Tezulutlan, was a second order subdivision of the former Kingdom of Guatemala, itself a constituent part of New Spain.

Extent
The northern limits of Tezulutlan and later Verapaz were the subject of heated debates between competing authorities of Santiago de Guatemala and Mérida de Yucatán. Particularly questioned were the lowlands now comprising northern and eastern Alta Verapaz, southern Belize, and all of Izabal and Petén. Commonly accepted as unquestionably part of the province, on the other hand, were the highlands now comprising southwestern Alta Verapaz, and all of Baja Verapaz.

Human
In the early 16th century, Tezulutlan is said to have housed Q’eqchi’ and Poqomchi’ speakers, whose polities were reportedly wedged ‘between the uninhabited sierras de Chuacús and de las Minas, to the south, and the jungles of Petén, to the north.’ They therefore bordered the quiché–achí state (on the Carchelá River, between Tactic and Tzalamá) to the southwest, and choles, manchés, acalaes, lacandones polities to the north and east. The Q’eqchi’ state lay in ‘the sierras which stretch between the Polochic River, to the south, and the Cahabón River, to the north,’ and thus bordered the Poqomchi’ polity to the west, said border falling somewhere between modern Cobán (then a Q’eqchi’ city) and Santa Cruz Munchú (then a Poqomchi’ city). The Q’eqchi’ heartland is thought to have been among the colonial towns Carchá, Chamelco, and Cobán. The Poqomchi’ state lay in ‘a narrow strip from west to east, from the middle Chixoy River to Panzós, in the lower Polochic valley,’ and thereby formed a western and southern buffer, from Chamá to Panzós, for the Q’eqchi’ state from the southwesterly K’iche’ one. The Poqomchi’ heartland was probably near San Cristóbal Cagcoh, and the  one amidst Tactic, Tamahú, and Tucurú.

Spanish contact
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and Sancho de Barahona reportedly lead a military campaign against the Q’eqchi’ city of Cobán, in Tezulutlan, in mid 1528, but details remain muddled. Nonetheless, the expedition is now deemed to have probably founded no Spanish settlement in the region. Similarly, Diego de Alvarado is thought to have lead a military campaign against the Poqomchi’ polity in Tezulutlan in 1530 or 1531, with details likewise remaining confused. The expedition reportedly returned the year as the captain had ‘forgotten about this corner when Peru rang,’ or returned  April 1531 as troops were ‘devastated [...] asking for shelter and ministrations.’ A further campaign or  entrada founded Nueva Sevilla in 1543 on the Río Polochic; it grew to 60 vecinos but the Dominicans protested the settlement, such that in 1548 the Audiencia ordered its desertion, effected in 1549. A similar attempt was later made by Núñez de Landecho, who founded Monguía or Munguía about 1568 on Lake Izabal, but it likewise failed. Frustrated too was the attempt by Martín Alfonso Tovilla, then alcalde mayor of the province, who founded Toro de Acuña in the former Manche on 13 May 1631; the villa was abandoned within the year.

Dominican entry
The asiento or capitulación of Tezulutlan was secretely signed on 2 May 1537 in Santiago de Guatemala by Alonso Maldonado, interim governor of the province, and Bartolomé de las Casas, episcopal vicar of the diocese. Said asiento would bind the Crown to not subject to encomiendas those native Indians whom the Dominicans converted to Roman Catholicism. It was ‘declared generally compliant’ by a real provisión of the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, and Audiencia of Mexico, dated 6 February 1539; the same was then ‘confirmed’ by a real cédula of Charles I of Spain, dated Madrid, 17 October 1540.

Dominican friars are thought to have entered the province in 1544 to Chamelco and Tucurú, as by mid 1545 ‘the few pueblos already reducidos (from the local population) lay near Chamelco and Tucurú, which confirms that this was not only the area of greatest population density, but also seat of the K’ekchi’ and Poqomchi’ authorities.’

Northern expansion
Of the pre-Hispanic polities north of Verapaz, the first to be contacted was the Manche Chol Territory in the 1590s via Cahabón. By 1606 the inhabitants of some six pueblos ‘had been discovered and baptised.’ Meanwhile, Alonso Criado de Castilla had in 1604 ‘discovered and inaugurated’ the port of Santo Tomás de Aquino in the Amatique Bay, within the former Toquegua territory. Nonetheless, by 1633, ‘on the heels of a general rebellion came the loss of all those Indians, of whom had been reducidos over 6,000 souls to the Faith, spread across nine pueblos.’

Dominican reducciones having proved fruitless, by the mid 17th century it was thought more expedient to undertake an ‘entrada’ northwards, capture native Indians, and relocate them south, closer to Spanish dominion. The earliest of these is thought to have occurred in circa 1654, when over 30 Ch’olan speakers north of Verapaz were relocated to Atiquipaque, in the Guazacapán province. The new policy, however, was not assiduously pursued until the 1674–1676 entrada by Francisco Gallegos. By 1680, the Dominicans reported over 3,000 reducidos from the Lacandon and Manche Chol polities.

The conquest of Petén, for which Verapaz served as a southern entry point, began in earnest by 1690 and was completed within five or six years. The conquered lands and their pueblos de indios were placed under the political administration of Santiago de Guatemala, and the ecclesiastic oversight of Mérida de Yucatán.

Piratical intrusions
Lutheran pirates were first sighted near Amatique Bay in 154xx. The local port of call, Bodegas del Golfo, established 154xx, came under xx.

Governance
In 1548–1555, Verapaz was constituted an alcaldía mayor, with jurisdiction over the province's pueblos de indios. Said pueblos de indios were in turn the jurisidction of principales, that is, native Indian members of the pre-Hispanic elite, who served as members of their local cabildos and parishes. In the particular case of Verapaz, additionally, the clergy held outsized authority in temporal matters. Thomas Gage, for instance, noted that local principales ‘did nothing without the approval of their vicar.’

Legacy
The earliest description in print of the ‘peaceful conquest of Verapaz’ is thought to have appeared in Antonio de Remesal's 1619.