34 

 During the following 300 years, the Spanish expanded their power along the northern coast, but various 

 Maya chiefs retained control in the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula (Reed, 1964; Villa Rojas, 1987). 



Due to harsh treatment of the Maya as the Spanish expanded their power and presence in the 

 Yucatan Peninsula, relations between the two groups were poor, and in 1847 the Maya began a 

 rebellion, subsequently called "The War of the Castes" (Reed, 1964). The severest fighting lasted from 

 1847 to 1855, during which about 57,0(X) people perished (about 17% of the total population of the 

 Yucatan Peninsula; Cook and Borah, 1974). Maya farmers armed with guns and machetes eventually 

 held 80% of the Yucatan Peninsula and almost took Merida, by that time the prosperous Spanish capital 

 of the Yucatan; but these men stopped fighting "temporarily" in order to return to their homes and 

 plant their gardens (Reed, 1964). This decision by the Maya to postpone fighting was a major error 

 and allowed the Spanish to regroup. Eventually the Spanish prevailed, but isolated cases of resistance 

 by the Maya, primarily in the area of Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Quintana Roo), continued until the early 

 1900s (Escobar Nava, 1986; Reed, 1964; Sullivan, 1989). 



Quintana Roo was declared a territory of Mexico in 1902 and state in 1974 (Escobar Nava, 

 1986). According to a 1902 estimate, the population of the Quintana Roo was about 5,000 people 

 (Dachary and Amaiz Bume, 1983). By 1970, just prior to the modem period of growth and 

 development, the population of Quintana Roo was 88,150 inhabitants, with about 55.4% of the 

 population bom in-state (mostly Maya Indians) and 43.4% bom out-of-state (mostly mestizos; Dachary 

 and Amaiz Bume, 1984). Largely ignored by the Government of Mexico until the mid 1950s, the 

 Maya and mestizos of the state subsisted mainly by hunting, gardening, extracting lumber from the 

 forest, and harvesting chicle latex from sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) trees. 



The cultural and physical isolation experienced by residents of Quintana Roo lessened in 1955, 

 after Hurricane Janet struck the Yucatan Peninsula and caused major damage to the Chetumal area in 

 southem Quintana Roo. After receiving the damage reports, government officials and private citizens 

 from throughout Mexico became aware of the poor social and economic conditions of the state. 



