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180-504: Iximcheʼ ( /iʃimˈtʃeʔ/ ) (or Iximché using Spanish orthography) is a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican archaeological site in the western highlands of Guatemala . Iximche was the capital of the Late Postclassic Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470 until its abandonment in 1524. The architecture of the site included a number of pyramid-temples , palaces and two Mesoamerican ballcourts . Excavators uncovered
360-522: A clay matrix . A few of the structures have been restored and the site core is kept clear of overgrowth. Residential structures built on platforms around the ceremonial plazas usually had built-in benches and hearths. The Great Palace I (or Gran Palacio I in Spanish) is a large residential complex on the northeast side of Plaza B. The surviving remains consist of a sunken patio and some low house platforms. Excavation revealed three construction phases,
540-638: A meridian drawn from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic , at a distance of 370 leagues (1,800 km) west of Cape Verde . Spain received the lands west of this line. The known means of measuring longitude were so inexact that the line of demarcation could not in practice be determined, subjecting the treaty to diverse interpretations. Both the Portuguese claim to Brazil and the Spanish claim to
720-525: A micaceous ware and include ceramic comals (a type of griddle). Imported ceramics include Chinautla Polychrome and White-on-red, they are reasonably common at the site. Brown bowls are of a type also found in Zaculeu and Mixco Viejo , both of which also had a Late Postclassic occupation. Three-legged metates (a kind of mortar ) were frequently recovered from the excavations and black obsidian blades were found in great quantities. Simple jade jewellery
900-845: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Conquistador Conquistadors ( / k ɒ n ˈ k ( w ) ɪ s t ə d ɔːr z / , US also /- ˈ k iː s -, k ɒ ŋ ˈ -/ ) or conquistadores ( Spanish: [koŋkistaˈðoɾes] ; Portuguese: [kõkiʃtɐˈðoɾɨʃ, kõkistɐˈdoɾis] ; lit 'conquerors')
1080-486: A base for conquering much of Ecuador and Chile . Central Colombia , home of the Muisca was conquered by licentiate Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada , and its northern regions were explored by Rodrigo de Bastidas , Alonso de Ojeda , Juan de la Cosa , Pedro de Heredia and others. For southwestern Colombia, Bolivia , and Argentina , conquistadors from Peru combined parties with other conquistadors arriving more directly from
1260-555: A cache to the southeast of Temple 2 together with some obsidian blades. Temple 3 (also known as Structure 3 ) is a pyramid-temple located on the east side of Plaza A, opposite Temple 2, and is similar in form to that building. The stairway climbs the west (plaza) side of the temple platform. In front of the stairway, at the level of the plaza, is a small rectangular platform. A large amount of ceramic remains were found associated with this building, these were pieces of large cylindrical incense-burners, of which more than twelve were used in
1440-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
1620-656: A cross-shaped altar. The palace was smaller than those of the Ahpo Sotzʼil and the Ahpo Xahil and is believed to have been the palace of the Ahuchan . Plazas E and F are to the east of Plaza D and also included palace buildings. These plazas were not mapped by Guillemín and remain covered by trees. The two plazas formed a single complex, believed to have been that of the Kʼalel Achi . The defensive ditch running across
1800-467: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
1980-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
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#17327758488792160-601: A free conquistador with the Spaniards to fight the Maya in Yucatán in 1540. After the conquests he settled in the city of Mérida in the newly formed colony of Yucatán with his family. In 1574, the Spanish crown ordered that all slaves and free blacks in the colony had to pay a tribute to the crown. However, Toral wrote in protest of the tax based on his services during his conquests. The Spanish king responded that Toral need not pay
2340-409: A great deal of domestic artefacts. The Xahil Palace was destroyed by a major fire that resulted in the collapse of the adobe walls and it may be that this was the complex where Pedro de Alvarado was lodged with his Spanish soldiers. It would also be the same building that Spanish deserters burned in 1526. The collapse of the building preserved the domestic contents of the palace for archaeologists, unlike
2520-571: A husband. Women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada , Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar. Some conquistadors married Native American women or had illegitimate children. European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, writing, theology, Latin, Greek, and history, and wrote letters and official documents for them. King's army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become
2700-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
2880-419: A military leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers, perhaps based on merit. Others were born into hidalgo families, and as such they were members of the Spanish nobility with some studies but without economic resources. Even some rich nobility families' members became soldiers or missionaries, but mostly not the firstborn heirs. The two most famous conquistadors were Hernán Cortés who conquered
3060-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
3240-580: A religious homogeneity. The 1492 discovery of the New World by Spain rendered desirable a delimitation of the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration, thus dividing the world into two areas of exploration and colonization. This was settled by the Treaty of Tordesillas (7 June 1494) which modified the delimitation authorized by Pope Alexander VI in two bulls issued on 4 May 1493. The treaty gave to Portugal all lands which might be discovered east of
3420-675: A result of his expedition, the 1529 Diego Ribeiro world map outlined the East coast of North America almost perfectly. The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca was the leader of the Narváez expedition of 600 men that between 1527 and 1535 explored the mainland of North America. From Tampa Bay, Florida , on 15 April 1528, they marched through Florida. Traveling mostly on foot, they crossed Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and Mexican states of Tamaulipas , Nuevo León and Coahuila . After several months of fighting native inhabitants through wilderness and swamp ,
3600-465: A revolt against their father that seriously damaged his authority. This revolt had serious consequences for the Kʼicheʼ as their conquered domains seized the opportunity to break free from their subjugation. A minor incident in the Kʼicheʼ capital Qʼumarkaj escalated to have important consequences. A Kʼicheʼ soldier tried to seize bread from a Kaqchikel woman who was selling it in the market. The woman refused
3780-446: A ridge surrounded by deep ravines, in order to defend the city from its hostile Kʼicheʼ and Tzʼutujil neighbours. The ridge is called Ratzamut and is a promontory of Tecpán hill, a 3,075-metre-high (10,089 ft) mountain to the northwest of the ruins, which sit at the southeastern end of this promontory. The ridge is flanked by two rivers flowing in deep ravines, Río El Molino and Río Los Chocoyos, which both join to flow southwest into
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#17327758488793960-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
4140-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
4320-688: A series of discussions and debates among the Bishops of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. The two orders had very different approaches to the conversion of the Indians. The Franciscans used a method of mass conversion, sometimes baptizing many thousands of Indians in a day. This method was championed by prominent Franciscans such as Toribio de Benavente . The conquistadors took many different roles, including religious leader, harem keeper, King or Emperor, deserter and Native American warrior. Caramuru
4500-450: A single complex belonging to the Sotzʼil clan and included the palace of the Ahpo Sotzʼil . Plaza A possesses a ballcourt, two temples and ten palace structures, five of which are interconnecting. Plaza C was separated from Plazas A and B by a 0.91-metre (3 ft) wall and was the palace complex of the Ahpo Xahil , the junior co-ruler. Plaza C also had two temples facing each other across
4680-677: A slaved domestic servant in Puebla, Mexico. In 1533, Juan Valiente made a deal with his owner to allow him to be a conquistador for four years with the agreement that all earnings would come back to Alonso. He fought for many years in Chile and Peru. By 1540, he was a captain, horseman, and partner in Pedro de Valdivia's company in Chile. He was later awarded an estate in Santiago; a city he would help Valdivia found. Both Alonso and Valiente tried to contact
4860-539: A small contingent to find it. With the guidance of Hopi Indians, Cárdenas and his men became the first outsiders to see the Grand Canyon. However, Cárdenas was reportedly unimpressed with the canyon, assuming the width of the Colorado River at six feet (1.8 m) and estimating 300-foot-tall (91 m) rock formations to be the size of a person. After unsuccessfully attempting to descend to the river, they left
5040-399: A steep stairway climbed to the topmost tier, at the top of the stair was a 40-centimetre-high (16 in) sacrificial altar measuring 45 centimetres (18 in) wide by 18 centimetres (7.1 in) deep. The altar was made from stone and stucco and the top was slightly concave, it is of a type used in human sacrifice . The temple floor is elevated 9 metres (30 ft) above the plaza and
5220-446: A thin cap of clay with a pointed instrument. The quality of the work was very fine and indicated execution by a specialised artist. There were ten painted figures on the front of the building with further murals on the back. The designs consist of two rows of discs on top of a row of vertical stripes with figures painted against the striped background with the discs above them. The painted figures are performing various actions, one of which
5400-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
5580-420: Is tongue piercing , and they probably represent a Kaqchikel ritual in progress. The painted murals are very poorly preserved due to deterioration caused by damp combined with damage caused by tree roots. The style of the paintings is very similar to that of Postclassic Mixtec art. Exposed parts of the middle phase of construction were damaged and the second phase was covered by the final construction phase, which
Iximche - Misplaced Pages Continue
5760-666: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of
5940-456: Is a tiered pyramidal platform on the west side of Plaza A. It has a stairway that climbs the east side of the structure, providing access from the plaza. Structure 2 faces the sunrise on the summer solstice . The structure is the best preserved of the excavated temples. Like many buildings at Iximche it had three construction phases dating, from oldest to newest, from the reigns of Wuqu-Batzʼ, Oxlahuh Tzʼiʼ and Hun-Iqʼ. The earliest of these phases
6120-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
6300-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
6480-709: Is now the southern and western United States , and from Mexico sailing the Pacific Ocean to the Spanish East Indies . Other conquistadors took over the Inca Empire after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and sailing the Pacific to northern Peru . From 1532 to 1572, Francisco Pizarro succeeded in subduing this empire in a manner similar to Cortés. Subsequently, other conquistadores used Peru as
6660-516: Is open on a daily basis and displays a number of artefacts recovered from the ruins. The site was largely preserved by the Spanish due to their alliance with the Kaqchikel against the Kʼicheʼ. The site's central core is flanked by deep ravines and is separated from the main residential area by a defensive ditch. The city developed very quickly and within 50 years of its foundation it had reached its maximum extent. This explosive population growth at
6840-732: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
7020-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
7200-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
7380-477: Is the term used to refer to Spanish and Portuguese soldiers and explorers who carried out the conquests and explorations of the Age of Discovery . Conquistadors sailed beyond the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas , Oceania , Africa and Asia , establishing new colonies and trade routes . They brought much of the " New World " under the dominion of Spain and Portugal. After Christopher Columbus ' arrival in
Iximche - Misplaced Pages Continue
7560-634: Is today Panama, reaching Inca territory by 1526. After one more expedition in 1529, Pizarro received royal approval to conquer the region and be its viceroy. The approval read: "In July 1529 the queen of Spain signed a charter allowing Pizarro to conquer the Inca. Pizarro was named governor and captain of all conquests in New Castile." The Viceroyalty of Peru was established in 1542, encompassing all Spanish holdings in South America. In early 1536,
7740-678: The Aztec Empire and Francisco Pizarro who led the conquest of the Inca Empire . They were second cousins born in Extremadura , where many of the Spanish conquerors were born. Catholic religious orders that participated and supported the exploration, evangelizing and pacifying, were mostly Dominicans , Carmelites , Franciscans and Jesuits , for example Francis Xavier , Bartolomé de Las Casas , Eusebio Kino , Juan de Palafox y Mendoza or Gaspar da Cruz . In 1536, Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas went to Oaxaca to participate in
7920-564: The Governor of Cuba Hernando de Soto . Dávila made an agreement with Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro , which brought about the discovery of Peru, but withdrew in 1526 for a small compensation, having lost confidence in the outcome. In 1526 Dávila was superseded as Governor of Panama by Pedro de los Ríos , but became governor in 1527 of León in Nicaragua. An expedition commanded by Pizarro and his brothers explored south from what
8100-583: The Kʼicheʼ Kingdom of Qʼumarkaj . Both leaders were supposed to be equal in rank but in practice the Sotzʼil king was the senior (or nabʼey al , "firstborn child") while the king of the Xahil was subordinate (the chipil al , "lastborn child"). The Kʼalel Achi and the Ahuchan were the other two lords, which translate from Kaqchikel as the "principal person" and the "speaker". The Kaqchikel document Testamento de los Xpantzay gives alternate titles for two of
8280-677: The Madre Vieja River , which empties into the Pacific Ocean. Iximche is located among pine forests common to highland Guatemala. The Kaqchikel kingdom itself was divided among four clans that between them contained ten principal lineages or "big houses". The clans themselves were the Xahil, who were the main branch of the Kaqchikel, the Sotzʼil, the Tukuche and the Akajal . The rulers of Iximche were four principal lords with
8460-503: The Paraná River . In 1517, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba sailed from Cuba in search of slaves along the coast of Yucatán . The expedition returned to Cuba to report on the discovery of this new land. After receiving notice from Juan de Grijalva of gold in the area of what is now Tabasco , the governor of Cuba , Diego de Velasquez , sent a larger force than had previously sailed, and appointed Cortés as Captain-General of
8640-597: The Persian Gulf , the East Indies , and East Africa ; and Filipe de Brito e Nicote who led conquests into Burma . Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa and founding numerous coastal enclaves along the route. Following the discovery in 1492 by Spaniards of the New World with Italian explorer Christopher Columbus ' first voyage there and
8820-609: The Spanish Conquest , Iximche was the second most important city in the Guatemalan Highlands , after the Kʼicheʼ capital at Qʼumarkaj . Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado was initially well received in the city in 1524 and the Kaqchikel kings provided the Spanish with native allies to assist in the conquest of the other highland Maya kingdoms. Iximche was declared the first capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala in
9000-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
9180-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
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#17327758488799360-548: The United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which
9540-652: The West Indies in 1492, the Spanish, usually led by hidalgos from the west and south of Spain, began building a colonial empire in the Caribbean using colonies such as Santo Domingo , Cuba , and Puerto Rico as their main bases. From 1519 to 1521, Hernán Cortés led the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , ruled by Moctezuma II . From the territories of the Aztec Empire , conquistadors expanded Spanish rule to northern Central America and parts of what
9720-480: The 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout
9900-536: The 1520s and 1530s. Granted a house plot in Mexico City, he raised a family there, working at times as a guard and town crier. He claimed to have been the first person to plant wheat in Mexico. Sebastian Toral was an African slave and one of the first black conquistadors in the New World. While a slave, he went with his Spanish owner on a campaign. He was able to earn his freedom during this service. He continued as
10080-406: The 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for tradable commodities such as firearms, spices, silver, gold, and slaves crossing Africa and India. In 1434 the first consignment of slaves was brought to Lisbon ; slave trading was the most profitable branch of Portuguese commerce until the Indian subcontinent was reached. Due to the importation of
10260-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
10440-406: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
10620-495: The Adelantado of Canary Islands , Pedro Fernández de Lugo , arrived to Santa Marta , a city founded in 1525 by Rodrigo de Bastidas in modern-day Colombia, as governor. After some expeditions to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta , Fernández de Lugo sent an expedition to the interior of the territory, initially looking for a land path to Peru following the Magdalena River . This expedition was commanded by Licentiate Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada , who ended up discovering and conquering
10800-433: The Almolonga Valley to the east, refounding their capital on the site of today's San Miguel Escobar district of Ciudad Vieja , near Antigua Guatemala . The Kaqchikel kept up resistance against the Spanish for a number of years but on 9 May 1530 the two kings of the most important clans returned from the wilds. A day later they were joined by many nobles and their families and many more people came with them to surrender at
10980-459: The Americas. After Mexico fell, Hernán Cortés's enemies Bishop Fonseca , Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar , Diego Columbus and Francisco Garay were mentioned in Cortés' fourth letter to the King in which he describes himself as the victim of a conspiracy. Infante Dom Henry the Navigator of Portugal, son of King João I , became the main sponsor of exploration travels. In 1415, Portugal conquered Ceuta , its first overseas colony. Throughout
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#173277584887911160-452: The Americas. The predisposition inspired a lot of the entradas to seek slaves as part of the conquest. After his father's death in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragón married Isabella I of Castile , unifying both kingdoms and creating the Kingdom of Spain . He later tried to incorporate the kingdom of Portugal by marriage. Notably, Isabella supported Columbus' first voyage that launched the Spanish conquistadors into action. The Iberian Peninsula
11340-431: The Annals of the Kaqchikel, struck the city in 1519 and lasted two years, resulting in a large number of deaths. This was likely to have been smallpox brought to the Americas with the Spanish. After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish onslaught in 1521, the Kaqchikel sent messengers to Hernán Cortés offering an alliance with the Spanish. On 11 August 1521, Belehe Qat and Cahi Imox were chosen as lords of
11520-444: The Armada. Cortés then applied all of his funds, mortgaged his estates and borrowed from merchants and friends to outfit his ships. Velásquez may have contributed to the effort, but the government of Spain offered no financial support. Pedro Arias Dávila , Governor of the Island La Española was descended from a converso 's family. In 1519 Dávila founded Darién , then in 1524 he founded Panama City and moved his capital there laying
11700-410: The Aztecs, the slow progression of conquest, erection of towns, and cultural dominance over the natives brought more Spanish troops and support to modern-day Mexico. As trading routes over the seas were established by the works of Columbus, Magellan, and Elcano, land support system was established as the trails of Cortés' conquest to the capital. Human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for
11880-486: The Caribbean and Río de la Plata - Paraguay respectively. These conquests founded the basis for modern Hispanic America and the Hispanosphere . Spanish conquistadors also made significant explorations into the Amazon Jungle , Patagonia , the interior of North America , and the discovery and exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Conquistadors founded numerous cities, some of them in locations with pre-existing settlements, such as Cusco and Mexico City . Conquistadors in
12060-517: The Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás (known as Juan de Fuca) was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington state in 1592. German-born Nikolaus Federmann , Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia. The Venetian Sebastiano Caboto was Sebastián Caboto, Georg von Speyer Hispanicised as Jorge de la Espira, Eusebio Francesco Chini Hispanicised as Eusebio Kino , Wenceslaus Linck
12240-494: The Colorado River, sailed up the Gulf of California and a short distance into the river's delta. The Basques were fur trading, fishing cod and whaling in Terranova ( Labrador and Newfoundland ) in 1520, and in Iceland by at least the early 17th century. They established whaling stations at the former, mainly in Red Bay , and probably established some in the latter as well. In Terranova they hunted bowheads and right whales , while in Iceland they appear to have only hunted
12420-523: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
12600-565: The Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa , Mexico, over a period of roughly eight years. They spent years enslaved by the Ananarivo of the Louisiana Gulf Islands . Later they were enslaved by the Hans , the Capoques and others. In 1534 they escaped into the American interior, contacting other Native American tribes along the way. Only four men, Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza , Alonso del Castillo Maldonado , and an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Estevanico , survived and escaped to reach Mexico City . In 1539, Estevanico
12780-577: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
12960-739: The Incan silver mines, Potosí was the most important site in Colonial Spanish America, located in the current department of Potosí in Bolivia and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint. The first settlement in the way was the fort of Sancti Spiritu , established in 1527 next to the Paraná River . Buenos Aires was established in 1536, establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata . Africans were also conquistadors in
13140-399: The Kaqchikel blamed on Pedro de Alvarado. Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo recounted how in 1526 he returned to Iximche and spent the night in the "old city of Guatemala" together with Luis Marín and other members of Hernán Cortés 's expedition to Honduras. He reported that the houses of the city were still in excellent condition, his account was the last description of the city while it
13320-536: The Kaqchikel calendar) Pedro de Alvarado declared Iximche as the first capital of Guatemala, Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala ("St. James of the Knights of Guatemala"). Pedro de Alvarado rapidly began to demand gold in tribute from the Kaqchikels, souring the friendship between the two peoples. He demanded that the Kaqchikel kings deliver 1000 gold leaves each of 15 pesos . A Kaqchikel priest foretold that
13500-412: The Kaqchikel gods would destroy the Spanish and the Kaqchikel people abandoned their city and fled to the forests and hills on 28 August 1524 ( 7 Ahmak in the Kaqchikel calendar). Ten days later the Spanish declared war on the Kaqchikel. A couple of years later, on 9 February 1526, a group of sixteen Spanish deserters burnt the palace of the Ahpo Xahil , sacked the temples and kidnapped a priest, acts that
13680-436: The Kaqchikel within the alliance eventually caused such friction that the Kaqchikel were forced to flee the Kʼicheʼ capital and founded the city of Iximche. The Kaqchikel established their new capital upon an easily defensible ridge almost surrounded by deep ravines. Iximche developed quickly as a city and within 50 years of its foundation it had reached its maximum extent. The rulers of Iximche were four principal lords drawn from
13860-549: The Kʼicheʼ capital at Qʼumarkaj . When Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado arrived in what is now Guatemala in 1524, 3 years after the conquest of the Aztecs, he found the highland Maya kingdoms weakened by twenty years of warfare and swept by the first European plagues. In the period of February to March 1524 he fought and completely defeated the Kʼicheʼ, razed Qʼumarkaj and executed the Kʼicheʼ kings. The Spanish were invited into Iximche on 14 April 1524 and were well received by
14040-517: The Kʼicheʼ continued throughout the early 16th century. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, the Aztec emperor sent messengers to warn the Kaqchikel. After the surrender of the Aztecs to Hernán Cortés , Iximche sent its own messengers to offer a Kaqchikel alliance with the Spanish. Smallpox decimated the population of Iximche before the physical arrival of the Europeans. At the time of
14220-553: The Kʼicheʼ, their former allies. The Kʼicheʼan peoples (including the Kaqchikel, the Kʼicheʼ and others) had received strong influences from central Mexico since the time of the great Early Classic metropolis of Teotihuacan . The history of Iximche is largely drawn from the Annals of the Kaqchikels , a document written in the Kaqchikel language but using Latin characters soon after the Spanish Conquest. This document details
14400-519: The Moluccas depended on the treaty. It was particularly valuable to the Portuguese as a recognition of their new-found, particularly when, in 1497–1499, Vasco da Gama completed the voyage to India. Later, when Spain established a route to the Indies from the west, Portugal arranged a second treaty, the Treaty of Zaragoza . Sevilla la Nueva , established in 1509, was the first Spanish settlement on
14580-680: The Muslims back to Granada, which was the Muslims' last control of the Iberian Peninsula. The marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile resulted in joint rule by the spouses of the two kingdoms, honoured as the "Catholic Monarchs" by Pope Alexander VI. Together, the Crown Kings saw about the fall of Granada, victory over the Muslim minority, and expulsion or forcibly converted Jews and non-Christians to turn Iberia into
14760-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
14940-597: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
15120-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
15300-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
15480-805: The basis for the exploration of South America's west coast and the subsequent conquest of Peru . Dávila was a soldier in wars against Moors at Granada in Spain, and in North Africa, under Pedro Navarro intervening in the Conquest of Oran . At the age of nearly seventy years he was made commander in 1514 by Ferdinand of the largest Spanish expedition. Dávila sent Gil González Dávila to explore northward, and Pedro de Alvarado to explore Guatemala . In 1524 he sent another expedition with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba , executed there in 1526 by Dávila, by then aged over 85. Dávila's daughters married Rodrigo de Contreras and conquistador of Florida and Mississippi,
15660-437: The battlefield but also to serve as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves who were forced to work for the Spaniards. Castilian law prohibited foreigners and non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian. Many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve
15840-466: The capital of the Aztec Empire. The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the beginning of Spanish rule in central Mexico, and they established their capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most significant events in world history. In 1516, Juan Díaz de Solís , discovered the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and
16020-455: The central portion of the ruins is a modern ceremonial area used by the modern Kaqchikel to carry out their rituals. This ceremonial area is linked to the ruins by a footpath and includes six concrete altars arranged around an unexcavated building. Flowers, food and drink are placed on these altars as sacrifices. The museum displays a number of pieces from the site, including sculptures and ceramics. Plazas A and B are thought to have comprised
16200-477: The city after the deaths of Hun-Iqʼ and Lahuh-Noh, the previous kings. Cahi Imox was the Ahpo Sotzʼil and Belehe Qat was the Ahpo Xahil . On the eve of the Spanish Conquest, the Kaqchikel kingdom based at Iximche was still expanding into areas formerly controlled by the Kʼicheʼ and it was rapidly becoming the most powerful new kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands. It was second in importance only to
16380-454: The city caused the residential area to spill over into the edges of the ravines themselves. The site center consists of four large and two small plazas, each of which contained at least two temples . Along with elite palaces , there are two ballcourts , the larger of which is 40 metres (130 ft) long and had zoomorphic markers. The plazas are named A, B, C, D, E and F, running from northwest (A) to southeast (F). The ceremonial centre of
16560-404: The city was separated from the residential areas by a wall. Today the ruins are accessed via the modern town of Tecpán Guatemala , which replaced Iximche when it was destroyed. The modern entrance to the site is on the northern side of the ruins and includes visitor parking, a small museum, a picnic area and a football field, as well as the custodian's house. In an area of woodland to the south of
16740-691: The city, very few European artefacts were found. Those few pieces that were found consisted of forged iron crossbow bolts. Over 160 structures have been mapped at Iximche. The structures were faced with stone blocks that were coated in lime plaster , which in some cases was then painted with Mixtec-Puebla style murals, although few traces of the murals survive today. The Mixtec-Puebla style originated around AD 900 in central Mexico and spread from there throughout Mesoamerica. The superstructures of buildings at Iximche were built from adobe blocks and once supported beam and mortar roofs but none have survived. The platform cores were generally built of rough stones set in
16920-684: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
17100-500: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
17280-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
17460-436: The day 13 Iqʼ of the Kaqchikel calendar the four lords of the Kaqchikel led their people out of the Kʼicheʼ capital to found their own capital at Iximche. The exact year of this event is not known with certainty but is believed to have been between AD 1470 and 1485, with some scholars, such as Guillemín, preferring 1470. The Kaqchikel abandoned their previous capital Chiavar (speculated to be modern Chichicastenango ) because it
17640-403: The earliest of which dates to the founding of the city by Wuqu-Batzʼ and Hun-Toh. This phase covered approximately 500 square metres (5,400 sq ft) and came to form the core of the palace. The first phase consisted of four long single-roomed residential range structures arranged around a courtyard, which possessed an altar in the middle. The residential units possessed inset benches against
17820-532: The early conquest campaigns in the Caribbean and Mexico. In the 1500s there were enslaved black and free black sailors on Spanish ships crossing the Atlantic and developing new routes of conquest and trade in the Americas. After 1521, the wealth and credit generated by the acquisition of the Aztec Empire funded auxiliary forces of black conquistadors that could number as many as five hundred. Spaniards recognized
18000-435: The first Adelantado of Cuba , Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar founded the island's first Spanish settlement at Baracoa; other towns soon followed, including Havana , which was founded in 1515. After he pacified Hispaniola , where the native Indians had revolted against the administration of governor Nicolás de Ovando , Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar led the conquest of Cuba in 1511 under orders from Viceroy Diego Columbus and
18180-490: The first circumnavigation of the world by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, expeditions led by conquistadors in the 16th century established trading routes linking Europe with all these areas. The Age of Discovery was hallmarked in 1519, shortly after the European discovery of the Americas, when Hernán Cortés began his conquest of the Aztec Empire. As the Spaniards, motivated by gold and fame, established relations and war with
18360-590: The first time: from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa . The spread of Old World diseases , including smallpox , influenza , and typhus , led to the deaths of many indigenous inhabitants of the New World . In the 16th century, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. By the late 16th century, gold and silver imports from the Americas provided one-fifth of Spain's total budget. Contrary to popular belief, many conquistadors were not trained warriors, but mostly artisans, lesser nobility or farmers seeking an opportunity to advance themselves in
18540-476: The following decade. The Aztec emperor Moctezuma II sent messengers to the Kaqchikel in 1510, warning of strangers in the Caribbean. In 1512 he sent another messenger (named as Witzʼitzʼil) warning of the arrival of the Spanish in Yucatán and Veracruz . In 1513 the Kaqchikel suffered from a plague of locusts. The following year, in 1514, Iximche was severely damaged by a fire. A plague, described as terrible in
18720-683: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
18900-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
19080-494: The four lords had his own section in the new city that included his palace, royal court and temples. Archaeologists only found traces of one pre-Kaqchikel occupational phase and this was an ancient level dating to the Late Preclassic . Occasional Early and Late Classic remains have been found but they are incidental and do not represent a Classic Period occupation of the site. The Kaqchikel people were closely related to
19260-599: The four lords. This document lists the Ahpo Sotzʼil and the Ahpo Xahil as the two most important, the other two lords were drawn from two additional clans and were the Ahpo Tukuche ("Lord of the Tukuche") and the Ahpo Raxonihay ("Lord of the Raxonihay"). The titles of Ahpo Sotzʼil and Ahpo Xahil were passed from father to son. The Xahil heir bore the title Ahpop Achi Ygich , and the Sotzʼil heir bore
19440-446: The four main clans of the Kaqchikel, although it was the lords of the Sotzʼil and Xahil clans who held the real power. After the initial establishment of Iximche, the Kʼicheʼ left the Kaqchikel in peace for a number of years. The peace did not last and the Kaqchikel soundly defeated their former overlords around 1491. This was followed by infighting among the Kaqchikel clans with the rebel clans finally being overcome in 1493. Wars against
19620-534: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
19800-523: The indigenous Muisca , and establishing the New Kingdom of Granada , which almost two centuries would be a viceroyalty. Jiménez de Quesada also founded the capital of Colombia, Santafé de Bogotá . Juan Díaz de Solís arrived again to the renamed Río de la Plata , literally river of the silver, after the Incan conquest. He sought a way to transport the Potosi's silver to Europe. For a long time due to
19980-471: The island of Jamaica , which the Spaniards called Isla de Santiago . The capital was in an unhealthy location and consequently moved around 1534 to the place they called "Villa de Santiago de la Vega", later named Spanish Town , in present-day Saint Catherine Parish . After first landing on " Guanahani " in the Bahamas , Columbus found the island which he called "Isla Juana", later named Cuba. In 1511,
20160-457: The king. After this defeat of the Kʼicheʼ, two Kaqchikel clans rebelled, the Akahal and the Tukuche. The kings Oxlahuh-Tzʼiʼ and Kablahuh-Tihax crushed the rebellion on 20 May 1493. Oxlahuh-Tzʼiʼ died on 23 July 1508 and was succeeded by his son Hun-Iqʼ. Kablahuh-Tihax died on 4 February 1509 and was succeeded by his son Lahuh-Noh. The Kaqchikel continued their wars against the Kʼicheʼ kingdom over
20340-540: The language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in
20520-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
20700-509: The late 17th century. They were visited various times by scholars during the 19th century, who published plans and descriptions. Serious investigations of the site started in the 1940s and continued sporadically until the early 1970s. In 1980, during the Guatemalan Civil War , a meeting took place at the ruins between guerillas and Maya leaders that resulted in the guerillas stating that they would defend indigenous rights. A ritual
20880-720: The latter. The Spanish fishery in Terranova declined over conflicts between Spain and other European powers during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1524, the Portuguese Estêvão Gomes , who had sailed in Ferdinand Magellan 's fleet, explored Nova Scotia, sailing South through Maine, where he entered New York Harbor and the Hudson River and eventually reached Florida in August 1525. As
21060-465: The lords Belehe Qat and Cahi Imox. The Kaqchikel kings provided native soldiers to assist the conquistadors against continuing Kʼicheʼ resistance and to help with the defeat of the neighbouring Tzʼutuhil kingdom. The Spanish only stayed briefly in Iximche before continuing through Atitlán, Escuintla and Cuscatlán . The Spanish returned to the Kaqchikel capital on 23 July 1524 and on 27 July ( 1 Qʼat in
21240-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
21420-501: The modern name of the country. The site has also been referred to as Patinamit by 19th century investigators, a Kaqchikel word meaning "the city". Iximche is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Tecpán , and 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Guatemala City , in the northwest of the Guatemalan department of Chimaltenango . The city was built at an altitude of 2,260 metres (7,410 ft) in an easily defensible position on
21600-567: The new Spanish capital at Ciudad Vieja. The ruins were described by Guatemalan historian Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán in 1695. Miguel Rivera Maestre published some plans and views of the ruins in 1834 in his Atlas del Estado de Guatemala ("Atlas of the State of Guatemala"). American diplomat and writer John Lloyd Stephens described the ruins, which he called Patinamit , after he visited Iximche with English artist Frederick Catherwood and in 1840. Catherwood never published any drawings of
21780-778: The new world since they had limited opportunities in Spain. A few also had crude firearms known as arquebuses . Their units ( compañia ) would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups. Their armies were mostly composed of Spanish troops, as well as soldiers from other parts of Europe and Africa. Native allied troops were largely infantry equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically. Some groups consisted of young men without military experience, Catholic clergy who helped with administrative duties, and soldiers with military training. These native forces often included African slaves and Native Americans, some of whom were also slaves. They were not only made to fight in
21960-474: The northeast courtyard within the Great Palace II may have been the royal apartments of this complex, owing to their position near the central courtyard while at the same time being closed off from it. The ceramics from this area were of exotic origin and elite nature. The royal apartments may also have included the rooms around the north courtyard of the palace. Temple 2 (also known as Structure 2 )
22140-476: The northern lands of New Spain in 1540–1542. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado reached Quivira in central Kansas. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the western coastline of Alta California in 1542–1543. Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition began as a search for the fabled Cities of Gold, but after learning from natives in New Mexico of a large river to the west, he sent García López de Cárdenas to lead
22320-492: The northwest of Hispaniola . Juan Ponce de León equipped three ships with at least 200 men at his own expense and set out from Puerto Rico on 4 March 1513 to Florida and surrounding coastal area. Another early motive was the search for the Seven Cities of Gold , or "Cibola", rumoured to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest. In 1536 Francisco de Ulloa , the first documented European to reach
22500-673: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
22680-406: The origins, history and conquest of the Kaqchikels. The Kaqchikel served as close allies of the Kʼicheʼ for many years. The Kaqchikel rulers Hun-Toh and Wuqu-Batzʼ served the great Kʼicheʼ king Kʼiqʼab with such loyalty that he rewarded them with the royal titles Ahpo Sotzʼil and Ahpo Xahil and the power to rule. The sons of Kʼiqʼab became jealous of the growing power of the Kaqchikel lords and led
22860-654: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
23040-604: The other to make an agreement about Valiente's manumission and send Alonso his awarded money. They were never able to reach each other and Valiente died in 1553 in the Battle of Tucapel. Other black conquistadors include Pedro Fulupo, Juan Bardales, Antonio Pérez, and Juan Portugués. Pedro Fulupo was a black slave that fought in Costa Rica. Juan Bardales was an African slave that fought in Honduras and Panama. For his service he
23220-426: The palace of the Ahpo Sotzʼil where comparatively few artefacts were recovered. Plaza D has not been excavated although it was cleared and mapped by archaeologists. It is a large plaza surrounded by fairly high mounds although it does not appear to have had the large east and west pyramids present on the other main plazas. It had a palace on the south side with three interior courtyards, the westernmost of which had
23400-512: The party reached Apalachee Bay with 242 men. They believed they were near other Spaniards in Mexico, but there was in fact 1500 miles of coast between them. They followed the coast westward, until they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River near to Galveston Island . Later they were enslaved for a few years by various Native American tribes of the upper Gulf Coast . They continued through Coahuila and Nueva Vizcaya ; then down
23580-478: The plaza. The Xahil ballcourt was on the southwest side of Plaza C and the palace proper of the Ahpo Xahil was on the southeast side of the plaza. The Xahil Palace was built with an east–west alignment with the entry courtyard on the western side of the palace and had a central altar. The main palace was entered from the eastern side of the entry courtyard. The rooms and courtyards of the Xahil Palace contained
23760-526: The poorly preserved remains of painted murals on some of the buildings and ample evidence of human sacrifice . The ruins of Iximche were declared a Guatemalan National Monument in the 1960s. The site has a small museum displaying a number of pieces found there, including sculptures and ceramics. It is open daily. For many years the Kaqchikel served as loyal allies of the Kʼicheʼ Maya . The growing power of
23940-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
24120-488: The promontory was originally 8 metres (26 ft) deep. It was largely filled in soon after the Conquest in order to render the city less defensible. In the middle of the 19th century the defensive ditch was measured as 3 yards (2.7 m) deep, in the 1960s it was still visible on the ground although it is now almost totally filled in. Ceramic finds at the site include frequent finds of incense-burners with handles and molded decoration. The most common domestic ceramics are of
24300-403: The reigns of two of his co-rulers. The Kaqchikel kings Oxlahuh-Tzʼiʼ and Kablahuh-Tihax gained a definitive victory over the Kʼicheʼ around 1491 when they captured the Kʼicheʼ kings Tepepul and Itzayul together with the idol of their most important deity Tohil . The captured Kʼicheʼ kings were sacrificed together with a number of nobles and high-ranking soldiers, including the son and grandson of
24480-636: The ruins from Tecpán took place every Good Friday . This cult had died out by the time of the Guatemalan Civil War in the late 20th century. Alfred P. Maudslay visited Iximche in 1887 and referred to it both as Patinamit and Iximche . He carried out a site survey and published a plan of the ruins. Robert Wauchope carried out a ceramic study of Iximche in the 1940s on behalf of the Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University and published his work in 1948–1949. Historian Janos de Szecsy began excavations at
24660-792: The ruins in January 1956. The remains of the city were excavated by Swiss-Guatemalan archaeologist George (Jorge) Guillemín from 1959 to 1972. Guillemín published his work in 1959, 1967 and 1969. The excavation and restoration of the ruins was funded by the Guatemalan Committee for Reconstruction of National Monuments until July 1961, after 1963 the investigations were funded by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research. Guillemín died before his investigations could be completed and his full report published. His field notes were finally published in 2003. In 1960
24840-683: The ruins of Iximche were declared a National Monument under governmental decree 1360 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala , published in May 1963. In 1980, during the Guatemalan Civil War, the ruins were chosen as a meeting place between Maya leaders and the guerillas, as a result of which the guerillas stated explicitly that they would defend indigenous rights in the so-called "Declaration of Iximche". In 1989 an important Maya ceremony
25020-399: The same year. Due to excessive Spanish demands for tribute, the Kaqchikel soon broke the alliance and deserted their capital, which was burned 2 years later by Spanish deserters. The Europeans founded a new town nearby but abandoned it in 1527 due to the continued hostility of the Kaqchikel, who finally surrendered in 1530. The ruins of Iximche were first described by a Guatemalan historian in
25200-660: The service of the Portuguese Crown led numerous conquests and visits in the name of the Portuguese Empire across South America and Africa , going "anticlockwise" along the continent's coast right up to the Red Sea , as well as commercial colonies in Asia, founding the origins of modern Portuguese-speaking world . Notable Portuguese conquistadors include Afonso de Albuquerque who led conquests across India ,
25380-456: The site and Stephens reported that the locals had plundered the stone at the site for many years in order to use it for building materials in Tecpán. French architect Cesar Daly mapped Iximche in 1857. In Spanish Colonial times Iximche was the focus of a syncretic cult worshipping a relic from the ruins that had been transferred to the church in Tecpán. As late as the 19th century processions to
25560-527: The slaves as early as 1441, the kingdom of Portugal was able to establish a number of population of slaves throughout the Iberia due to its slave markets' dominance within Europe. Before the Age of Conquest began, the continental Europe already associated darker skin color with slave-class, attributing to the slaves of African origins. This sentiment traveled with the conquistadors when they began their explorations into
25740-425: The soldier and drove him off with a stick. The Kaqchikel demanded the execution of the Kʼicheʼ soldier while the Kʼicheʼ nobility demanded the punishment of the Kaqchikel bread seller. When the Kaqchikel lords refused to hand her over, the Kʼicheʼ lords sentenced Hun-Toh and Wuqu-Batzʼ to death against the wishes of the Kʼicheʼ king Kʼiqʼab. King Kʼiqʼab warned his Kaqchikel friends and advised them to flee Qʼumarkaj. On
25920-495: The tax because of his service. Toral died a veteran of three transatlantic voyages and two Conquest expeditions, a man who had successfully petitioned the great Spanish King, walked the streets of Lisbon, Seville, and Mexico City, and helped found a capital city in the Americas. Juan Valiente was born in West Africa and purchased by Portuguese traders from African slavers. Around 1530 he was purchased by Alonso Valiente to be
26100-556: The temple floor had been opened as if to receive a burial but the tomb was never used and was covered over again. The remains of a turtle were excavated from the plaza immediately in front of the temple and may have represented one of the bacabs (a class of mythical being) that supported the temple. Turtles also played an important part in the Classic Period Maya myth of the rebirth of the Maize God. The temple shrine
26280-419: The temple superstructure, including both the temple walls and the roof, would have added another 5 metres (16 ft) to the total height of the structure at the time of the Spanish Conquest. The temple shrine had benches built against three sides of the interior and a hearth in the middle. A small rear chamber also had benches, this chamber may have been where the gods of the Sotzʼil were kept. A small section of
26460-616: The temple that were probably the remains of a relic from within the temple itself. There is no evidence of such early occupation at Iximche and may have been plundered from Zaculeu , a city with a long occupational history that was conquered by the Kʼicheʼ-Kaqchikel alliance. A sacrificial flint knife was also recovered from Structure 3. Two low platforms stand in front of the temple, they were likely to have been used either as altars or as dance platforms. Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano )
26640-511: The temple. One represented an elderly god emerging from the jaws of a serpent, another two show the same deity in a standing position. They may represent one of the patron deities of the Kaqchikel, Bʼelehe-Toh or Hun-Tihax. The incense burners were found exactly where the Kaqchikels had left them when they abandoned Iximche. Some of these incense-burners bore a suspended solar disc with modelled rays. Fragments of an Early Postclassic plumbate ware vessel were recovered scattered around three sides of
26820-537: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
27000-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
27180-700: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
27360-444: The title Ahpop Achi Balam . They were important positions in their own right and the heirs were military leaders who commanded on the battlefield. When Iximche was founded in the late 15th century AD Wuqu-Batzʼ was Ahpo Sotzʼil , Hun-Toh was Ahpo Xahil , Chuluk was Kʼalel Achi and Xitamel-Keh was Ahuchan . According to the early Colonial Kaqchikel document Memorial de Sololá , the last two of these were not very important. Each of
27540-453: The titles of Ahpo Sotzʼil , Ahpo Xahil , Kʼalel Achi and Ahuchan , although in reality it was the first two of these that held the real power. The two main clans of the Kaqchikel people each provided a leader, one was the Ahpo Sotzʼil ("Lord of the Sotzʼil") and the other was the Ahpo Xahil . These royal titles were originally bestowed upon the leaders of the Xahil and Sotzʼil clans by the Kʼicheʼ in gratitude for their military services to
27720-477: The value of these fighters. One of the black conquistadors who fought against the Aztecs and survived the destruction of their empire was Juan Garrido . Born in Africa, Garrido lived as a young slave in Portugal before being sold to a Spaniard and acquiring his freedom fighting in the conquests of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other islands. He fought as a free servant or auxiliary, participating in Spanish expeditions to other parts of Mexico (including Baja California) in
27900-467: The walls and hearths at each end. This may have been the room where the Ahpo Sotzʼil held court and received visitors and tribute. The Great Palace II (or Gran Palacio II in Spanish) is another large residential complex, it is located on the southeast side of Plaza C. The palace is formed by a large number of small rooms arranged around seven interior courtyards. A large quantity of ceramic remains were recovered from within this palace. The rooms around
28080-440: The walls and hearths in the middle of the floorspace. The walls were originally built of adobe covered with painted murals. Artifacts recovered from this phase included obsidian knives, comals, metates and domestic ceramics. Fragments of incense burners were recovered close to the altars in the palace. The Palace expanded in all directions around this early core with the addition of new buildings and courtyards. The early courtyard
28260-426: The weekend the site attracts about 250 visitors per day. Comparatively few tourists visit the ruins and the majority that do are Guatemalan nationals. Modern aj qʼijab' (Maya priests often referred to as " daykeepers " in English) arrive as pilgrims at Iximche from throughout the Guatemalan Highlands. Tourist facilities at the site include visitor parking, a small museum, a picnic area and a football field. The museum
28440-533: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
28620-411: The words ixim and che , meaning literally " maize tree". Iximche was called Guatemala by the Spanish, from the Nahuatl Quauhtemallan meaning "forested land". Since the Spanish conquistadors founded their first capital at Iximche, they took the name of the city used by their Nahuatl-speaking Mexican allies and applied it to the new Spanish city and, by extension, to the kingdom . From this comes
28800-582: The world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
28980-706: Was Wenceslao Linck, Ferdinand Konščak , was Fernando Consag, Amerigo Vespucci was Américo Vespucio, and the Portuguese Aleixo Garcia was known as Alejo García in the Castilian army. The origin of many people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Various occupations, such as sailors, fishermen, soldiers and nobles employed different languages (even from unrelated language groups), so that crew and settlers of Iberian empires recorded as Galicians from Spain were actually using Portuguese, Basque, Catalan, Italian and Languedoc languages, which were wrongly identified. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by
29160-513: Was a Portuguese settler in the Tupinambá Indians. Gonzalo Guerrero was a Maya war leader for Nachan Can, Lord of Chactemal . Gerónimo de Aguilar , who had taken holy orders in his native Spain, was captured by Maya lords too, and later was a soldier with Hernán Cortés. Francisco Pizarro had children with more than 40 women, many of whom were ñusta . The chroniclers Pedro Cieza de León , Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés , Diego Durán , Juan de Castellanos and friar Pedro Simón wrote about
29340-421: Was also found. Human sacrifice is evidenced at the site by the altar upon Structure 2, of a type used in heart sacrifice, and by a cylindrical cache of skulls taken from decapitated victims accompanied by obsidian knives. A pentatonic flute crafted from a child's femur was recovered from one of the temples and is also indicative of human sacrifice. Because of the very brief nature of the Spanish occupation of
29520-475: Was appointed governor of the island. As governor he authorized expeditions to explore lands further west, including the 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba expedition to Yucatán . Diego Velázquez , ordered expeditions, one led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva , to Yucatán and the Hernán Cortés expedition of 1519. He initially backed Cortés's expedition to Mexico, but because of his personal enmity for Cortés later ordered Pánfilo de Narváez to arrest him. Grijalva
29700-424: Was badly damaged by the stonework being stripped away for building the nearby town of Tecpán. At the southwest corner of Temple 2 is a low platform that bore painted murals that had a skull with crossed longbones upon two bands of decoration. This platform may have been an itzompan or "skull place", a Kaqchikel version of the Aztec tzompantli skull racks. Two skulls bearing evidence of decapitation were found in
29880-418: Was built on a final platform on top of the fourth tier. The exposed remains of the shrine date to the reign of Oxlahuh-Tzʼiʼ. It had a triple doorway divided by columns and was built from adobe covered with plaster, the columns and walls on eithers side of the doorways were painted with decorations, traces of red, yellow and blue were found by archaeologists, these colours were applied to designs marked out onto
30060-399: Was carried out at the site in 1989 in order to reestablish the ruins as a sacred place for Maya ceremonies. United States President George W. Bush visited the site in 2007, and in the same year Iximche was the venue for the III Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala. The site's name derives from the Mayan name of the ramon tree ( Brosimum alicastrum ), from
30240-464: Was carried out at the site in order to reestablish the ruins as a sacred place for indigenous ceremonies. From 26–30 March 2007 Iximche was the site of the III Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala. The meeting's closing "Declaration of Iximche" committed delegates to a struggle for social justice and against "neoliberalism and other forms of oppression." The majority of visitors to Iximche are indigenous Maya , at
30420-581: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
30600-446: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
30780-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
30960-405: Was granted manumission and a pension of 50 pesos. Antonio Pérez was from North Africa, and a free black. He joined the conquest in Venezuela and was made a captain. Juan Portugués fought in the conquests in Venezuela. During the 1500s, the Spanish began to travel through and colonize North America. They were looking for gold in foreign kingdoms. By 1511 there were rumours of undiscovered lands to
31140-461: Was largely divided before the hallmark of this marriage. Five independent kingdoms: Portugal in the West, Aragon and Navarre in the East, Castile in the large center, and Granada in the south, all had independent sovereignty and competing interests. The conflict between Christians and Muslims to control Iberia, which started with North Africa's Muslim invasion in 711, lasted from the years 718 to 1492. Christians, fighting for control, successfully pushed
31320-426: Was later divided into several smaller patios. The last phase of construction at the Palace dates to the joint reign of Hun-Iqʼ and Lajuj Noj, by the end of which the palace covered an area of more than 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft). On the southwest of the palace courtyard there were some low platforms, possibly ritual dance platforms, and on the southeast side was a building with benches against three of
31500-410: Was located by archaeologists tunnelling into the interior of the structure. It is poorly preserved because the facing stones were stripped in order to be reused. The middle phase is the best preserved of the three phases of construction and consisted of four stepped tiers supporting high talud-tablero style walls consisting of a sloping wall topped by a vertical panel. The temple had recessed corners and
31680-483: Was one of four men who accompanied Marcos de Niza as a guide in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola , preceding Coronado . When the others were struck ill, Estevanico continued alone, opening up what is now New Mexico and Arizona. He was killed at the Zuni village of Hawikuh in present-day New Mexico. The viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza , for whom is named the Codex Mendoza , commissioned several expeditions to explore and establish settlements in
31860-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
32040-418: Was sent out with four ships and some 240 men. Hernán Cortés, led an expedition (entrada) to Mexico, which included Pedro de Alvarado and Bernardino Vázquez de Tapia. The Spanish campaign against the Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtemoc and Tenochtitlan,
32220-427: Was still inhabitable. The Spanish founded a new town at Tecpán Guatemala , with Tecpán being Nahuatl for "palace", so the name of the new town translated as "the palace among the trees". The inhabitants of Iximche were dispersed, with some being moved to Tecpán, others to Sololá and to other towns around Lake Atitlán . The Spaniards abandoned Tecpán in 1527, due to the continuous Kaqchikel attacks, and moved to
32400-417: Was too close to Qʼumarkaj . Kʼiqʼab prevented his nobles from making war on the Kaqchikel for the remainder of his life, giving his former allies the time to establish their own kingdom and prepare its defences. When Hun-Toh died he was succeeded by his son Lahuh-Ah. Lahuh-Ah died in 1488 and was replaced by Kablahuh-Tihax. Oxlahuh-Tzʼiʼ, the son of Wuqu-Batzʼ, had a long and successful reign and lived through
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