Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Flores was founded on an island
(petén)
by the Itzáes, who came here after being expelled
from Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, probably in the mid-15th century.
They called it Tah Itzá ('place of the Itzá'), which the Spanish later corrupted to Tayasal.
Hernán Cortés dropped in on King Canek of Tayasal in 1525 on his way to Honduras, but
the meeting was, amazingly, peaceable. Cortés left behind a lame horse, which the Itzáes
fed on flowers and turkey stew. When it died, the Itzáes made a statue of it which, by the
time a couple of Spanish friars visited in 1618, was being worshiped as a manifestation of
the rain god Chac. It was not until 1697 that the Spaniards brought the Itzáes of Tayasal -
by some distance the last surviving independent Maya kingdom - forcibly under their
control. The Spanish soldiers destroyed its many pyramids, temples and statues, and today
you won't see a trace of them, although the modern town is doubtless built on the ruins
and foundations of Maya Tayasal.
