The Caste War of the Yucatán
Reporter: Alex Hobbs
The unyielding rebellions never seem to escape Mexico. As the Caste War in the Yucatán came to its awaited end it was recognized as one of the longest revolts known in Mexican history. This revolution created drastic changed within the native Mayan communities. A revolt that has lasted nearly fifty-four years finally ends this year, 1901, and has changed the native people’s perspective on life forever. This revolt started for all the right reasons, to defend the Mayan traditions and culture. Sadly, it ended in the worst way possible for the Mayans, complete devastation. Although the Creoles demolished the Mayan’s land, tricked the Mayans into debt and personal servitude resulting in ruining one of the most ancient and indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Mayans proved their bravery and strength by thwarting the Creoles control over the Mayan land for over fifty-four continuous years.
The Creoles coerced the native people into granting their land to them and forcing the Mayans to work on Creole plantations with minimal wages and substandard care. By transfiguring Mayan land into sugar plantations and having the need for low paid workers, the ruthless Creole plantation owners encroached on Mayan territory and tricked natives into debt, forcing men and children to work on the sugar plantations. Along with the merciless treatment of the Mayans, Mexican tax collectors came into the native villages searching for proceeds. This overwhelming amount of unfair treatment led to natives fighting back, and protecting their villages. Countless natives that were fed up with the way they were treated and that the Creoles forced them to lose their identity as well as dismembered their culture, used fire arms to repel any intruders away from their villages. Though this did solve many of the native’s problems, the Creoles reacted with an even greater retaliation, an army.
For the next few years the Creoles main focus was revenge on what they thought were backward-looking, savage natives, thinking they were incapable of understanding the benefits of a modernized society. At first the Creoles were unable to stop the natives revolt and their destruction of all structures representing Creole authority. When planting season came the Mayans returned to their farms, forgetting about the Creoles. While the Mayans made their return to their villages, the Mexican government obtained $15 million for surrendering their northern provinces to the United States for annexation, and used the money to advance their southern armies. After using the immense amount of money to fund for their army, the 17,000 soldier army started for the Mayan rebels, who were already weak from their previous revolt. In 1849, the Mexican troops made their way into Mayan territory, torching the native’s villages and fields which fed the depleted native people. The troops slaughtered almost 40 percent of the Mayan population. The once abundant population of Mayans went from 40,000 people to 10,000 by the year 1900. Food was scarce, and in order to survive the once honorable Mayans had to work for the Creole owned plantations.
The long lasting battle between the native people and the Creoles finally came to its oppressing end, resulting in the Mayans having to give up their way of life due to the harsh actions taken by the Creoles. This revolution will forever remain as one of the most important yet depressing events in Mexican-Yucatán history.