18 February 1524
The battle of Olintepeque
Almost a week after the first battle, on 18 February 1524, a K'iche' army marches against the Spanish in the valley of Xelajú. In the early 17th century a grandson of the K'iche' king tells the alcalde mayor that the army that marched out of Q'umarkaj numbered 30,000 warriors, a figure modern scholars consider credible.
The battle is fought near Olintepeque, north of Xelajú. The K'iche' are comprehensively defeated, and many of their nobles are among the dead. So many die that Olintepeque takes the name Xequiquel, roughly "bathed in blood", and the river beside the town is still called the Xekik'el. The common view places the death of Tecun Uman in this battle.
Statue of Tecun Uman in QuetzaltenangoWikimedia Commons, El Torrito, CC BY 3.0 (Tecun Uman.jpg)
The defeat exhausts the K'iche' militarily. Their lords ask for peace, offer tribute and invite Alvarado into their capital Q'umarkaj. Alvarado distrusts the offer but accepts it.
Sources
- Robert J. Sharer and Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya (6th ed. 2006), pp. 764 to 765.
- Thomas T. Veblen, Native Population Decline in Totonicapan, Guatemala (1977), p. 488.
- Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán, Recordación florida (1690, ed. 1882), vol. 1, p. 49.
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