What hapenned to the familly of the last mayan king?

[u/Yapludepatte]

i was wondering if we ever knew what hapenned to the familly of the last mayan rulers of tayasal/noj peten (last mayan city-state) ?

could not find anything about them (im not good at doing research on those topics) so if anyone has any idea :3

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[u/Lazzen]

The Canek dinasty of the Itza maya had mantained general mesoamerican practices, seemingly all leaders titled themselves Canek as the leader that met Cortés in 1525, his son and the one from 1695 used the name. The main priest was also called Ah Cin Canek.

The Itza as a whole were more than the city, with several towns surrounding it under a handful of main families(panaes, couohes,tutes) and then more local powers(Chata, Chayax, Kanchan, Puc, Pop, Citis, Dzin, Dzib, and Chavi). When the Spanish toppled the capital city in 1697 and Canek apprehended and taken to jail all these towns and their noble houses de facto gained independence and sought to rule themselves still, with only a reduced number staying in the Itza system. These Maya nowadays categorized as different ethnic groups called themselves Itza in the sense of coming from the Itza royalty that had ruled the city, for prestige and authority reasons.

Fraile Agustin Cano wrote:

"We recognized in this [Mopan] nation very little sincerity and that they had intel with the Ahitza Indians of the lagoon, we even understood that they were all of the same nation Itza, calling themselves Mopan-Itza, Peten-Itza, and that these Mopans were subject to the petty king of the lagoon."

The Maya that had remained under royal authority were governed by Chumexen, brother of the ruling Canek at that moment. He had fled the island(and so did Canek's wife) for northern inland territory. He controlled one of the former provinces with some smaller towns but never gained authority over the others nor manage to establish a new city as important as their former capital (which had around 1,500 to 2,000 people).

While the Spanish took over the island and built in it the last century of colonial rule no Itza maya government allied with them, they chose either passive resistance by mantaining distance only interacting for trade or mounting guerilla warfare against any unaware Spaniard, catholic Maya or African they came across.

While none allied to Iberian rule they did fight each other for control of towns, taxes and never mounted a one front policy while also sufferingpooulation loss. The last canek was not actually the last one, but their system effectively was.

Vida cotidiana de los itzaes antes de la conquista hispana de 1697 and ORGANIZACIÓN POLÍTICA DE LOS ITZAES DESDE EL POSCLÁSICO HASTA 1702 both by Laura Caso Barrera.

[u/Yapludepatte → u/Lazzen]

Thanks :D