Itzá
Itzá
(ētsä`), MayaMaya, indigenous people of S Mexico and Central America, occupying an area comprising the Yucatán peninsula and much of the present state of Chiapas in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, parts of El Salvador, and extreme western Honduras.
..... Click the link for more information. of YucatánYucatán
, peninsula, c.70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km), mostly in SE Mexico, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. It comprises the states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, Mexico; the country of Belize; and part of Petén, Guatemala.
..... Click the link for more information. (Mexico) and PeténPetén
, region, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), N Guatemala. A humid expanse of dense, tropical hardwood forests interrupted by savannas and crisscrossed by ranges of hills, it is related geographically to SE Mexico and Belize rather than to the rest of Guatemala.
..... Click the link for more information. (Guatemala). Probable founders of Chichén ItzáChichén Itzá
, city of the ancient Maya, central Yucatán, Mexico. It was founded around two large cenotes, or natural wells. According to one system of dating, it was founded c.
..... Click the link for more information. , which they occupied at various times from c.514 to 1194, they moved (1450?) S from Campeche to Lake Petén. Here, in spite of sporadic attempts by the Spanish to convert or subdue them after the visit of Cortés in 1525, the Itzá (the last strong, independent Mayan tribe) remained until driven from their capital, Tayasal, in 1697.