Chan Santa Cruz

Chan Santa Cruz, sometimes called the Maya Free State, was an indigenous Maya state in the Yucatán Peninsula that emerged from the Caste War of Yucatán. The war began in 1847, when Maya communities rose against the Yucatecan Creole government; by 1849 the rebels had proclaimed the State of the Cross at Xocén. Its capital, Noh Kah Balam Nah Chan Santa Cruz, grew around a shrine housing a "talking cross" and is today the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. The state was organized around the cult of the cross, with a council of leaders and a military command that controlled much of what is now Quintana Roo. Its Maya population, known as the Cruzoob, combined subsistence farming with trade and warfare. Britain recognized the state as a de facto independent nation from the late 1850s until 1893 and sponsored negotiations with Mexico. Mexican forces occupied the capital in 1901, but guerrilla resistance continued for decades. Chan Santa Cruz is remembered as one of the longest-lasting indigenous states in the Americas.