The Conquest of Guatemala

​The conquest of the Guatemalan natives began in 1523 when Spanish troops, lead by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, invaded the area. The most interesting thing about the conquest of the area that is now Guatemala, was that it was more difficult to conquer than the majority of other areas that the Spaniards conquered. This was due to the fact that the people put up more of a resistance than in other places. As said by  "Some highland groups, among them the Uspantec and the Kekchi, inflicted temporary defeat on the foreign invaders; other lowland peoples, including the Chol Manche and the Itzas, actually stalled effective Spanish penetration for up to a century and a half after the initial European intrusion."(1) Part of the trouble that the Spanish had in conquering the people is that there were multiple governments that needed to be toppled. Some places they needed only to conquer one capital in order to gain most of the control they needed, but in the Guatemalan area there were multiple, so instead of just one capital to move towards there were many, this would split there forces, or cause them to lose a major amount of supplies and troops as they worked their way to each different one.