When the maya were being defeated in the caste war, what inspired the maya to continue fighting?

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Evolution of Maya culture
Olmec	1200-1000 B.C.
Early Preclassic Maya	1800-900 B.C.
Middle Preclassic Maya	900-300 B.C.
Late Preclassic Maya	300 B.C. - A.D. 250
Early Classic Maya	A.D. 250-600
Late Classic Maya	A.D. 600-900
Post Classic Maya	A.D. 900-1500
Colonial period	A.D. 1500-1800
Independent Mexico	A.D. 1821 to the present

11,000The first hunter-gatherers settle in the Maya highlands and lowlands. 3114 or 3113The creation of the world takes place, according to the Maya Long Count calendar. 2600Maya civilization begins. 2000The rise of the Olmec civilization, from which many aspects of Maya culture are derived. Village farming becomes established throughout Maya regions. 700Writing is developed in Mesoamerica. 400The earliest known solar calendars carved in stone are in use among the Maya, although the solar calendar may have been known and used by the Maya before this date. 300The Maya adopt the idea of a hierarchical society ruled by nobles and kings. 100The city of Teotihuacan is founded and for centuries is the cultural, religious and trading centre of Mesoamerica. 50The Maya city of Cerros is built, with a complex of temples and ball courts. It is abandoned (for reasons unknown) a hundred years later and its people return to fishing and farming. 100The decline of the Olmecs. 400The Maya highlands fall under the domination of Teotihuacan, and the disintegration of Maya culture and language begins in some parts of the highlands. 500The Maya city of Tikal becomes the first great Maya city, as citizens from Teotihuacan make their way to Tikal, introducing new ideas involving weaponry, captives, ritual practices and human sacrifice. 600An unknown event destroys the civilization at Teotihuacan, along with the empire it supported. Tikal becomes the largest city-state in Mesoamerica, with as many as 500,000 inhabitants within the city and its hinterland. 683The Emperor Pacal dies at the age of 80 and is buried in the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque. 751Long-standing Maya alliances begin to break down. Trade between Maya city-states declines, and inter-state conflict increases. 869Construction ceases in Tikal, marking the beginning of the city's decline. 899Tikal is abandoned. 900The Classic Period of Maya history ends, with the collapse of the southern lowland cities. Maya cities in the northern Yucatán continue to thrive. 1200Northern Maya cities begin to be abandoned. 1224The city of Chichén Itzá is abandoned by the Toltecs. A people known as the Uicil-abnal, which later takes the name Itzá, settles in the desolate city. 1244The Itzá abandon Chichén Itzá for reasons unknown. 1263The Itzá begin building the city of Mayapán. 1283Mayapán becomes the capital of Yucatán. 1441There is a rebellion within Mayapán and the city is abandoned by 1461. Shortly after this, Yucatán degenerates from a single united kingdom into sixteen rival statelets, each anxious to become the most powerful. 1511A Spaniard named Gonzalo Guerrero is shipwrecked and washed up on the eastern shore of Yucatán. He defects to the Maya, tattooing his face, piercing his ears and marrying into a Maya noble family. Guerrero later becomes an implacable foe of the Spaniards and does much to help the Maya resist Spanish rule in Yucatán. 1517The Spanish first arrive on the shores of Yucatán under Hernandez de Cordoba, who later dies of wounds received in battle against the Maya. The arrival of the Spanish ushers in Old World diseases unknown among the Maya, including smallpox, influenza and measles. Within a century, 90 per cent of Mesoamerica's native populations will be killed off. 1519Hernán Cortés begins exploring Yucatán. 1524Cortés meets the Itzá people, the last of the Maya peoples to remain unconquered by the Spanish. The Spanish leave the Itzá alone until the seventeenth century. 1528The Spanish under Francisco de Montejo begin their conquest of the northern Maya. The Maya fight back with surprising vigour, keeping the Spanish at bay for several years. 1541The Spanish are finally able to subdue the Maya and put an end to Maya resistance. Revolt continues, however, to plague the Spaniards off and on for the rest of the century. 1542The Spanish establish a capital city at Mérida in Yucatán. 1695The ruins of Tikal are discovered by chance by the Spanish priest Father Avedaño and his companions, who had become lost in the jungle. 1712The Maya of the Chiapas highlands rise against the Mexican government. They will continue to do so off and on until the 1990s. 1724The Spanish Crown abolishes the system of encomienda, which had given Spanish land barons the right to forced Maya labour, as long as they agreed to convert the Maya to Christianity. 1821Mexico becomes independent from Spain. In general, life becomes more tolerable for the Maya than it had been under Spanish rule. 1822An account of Antonío del Río's late eighteenth-century explorations of Palenque is published in London. The book raises a great deal of interest in further exploration of the "lost" Maya civilization and settlements. 1839American diplomat and lawyer John Lloyd Stephens and English topographical artist Frederick Catherwood begin a series of explorations into Maya regions, revealing the full splendour of classical Maya civilization to the world for the first time. 1847The Yucatán Maya rise up against the Mexican government, rebelling against the miserable conditions and cruelty they have suffered at the hands of the whites. The rebellion is so successful that the Maya almost manage to take over the entire peninsula in what has become known as the War of the Castes. 1850A miraculous "talking cross" in a village in central Quintana Roo predicts a holy war against the whites. Bolstered by arms received from the British in Belize, the Maya form into quasi-military companies inspired by messianic zeal. The fighting continues until 1901. 1860The Yucatán Maya rebel again. 1864Workmen digging a canal on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala discover a jade plaque inscribed with a date of A.D. 320. The plaque becomes one of the oldest known objects dated in the Maya fashion. 1880A new tide of government intervention in Maya life begins as governments attempt to force the Maya to become labourers on cash-crop plantations. This destroys many aspects of Maya cultural traditions and agricultural methods preserved over 4,000 years. Towns which had been protected for the Maya soon become a haven for mixed-race ladinos who prey economically on the indigenous Maya and usurp all positions of social and economic power. 1910 Rampant government corruption leads to the Mexican Revolution. 1946American photographer Giles Healey is taken to the Maya city of Bonampak by the native Lacandón who live nearby. Healey becomes the first non-Maya ever to see Bonampak's stunning wall-paintings, which reveal new details about Maya civilization. 1952The Priest-king Pacal's tomb at Palenque is discovered and excavated by Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz, marking the first time a tomb has been found inside a Maya pyramid. Prior to this, Maya pyramids were believed to be temples with a purely religious or ceremonial purpose. 1962Maya hieroglyphic signs are first catalogued. Uncontrolled looting of Maya tombs and other sites begins around this time in the southern lowlands, continuing until well into the 1970s. 1992A Quiché Maya woman from Guatemala named Rigoberta Menchu, who has lost most of her family to the death squads and is known for speaking out against the extermination of the Maya, wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Outbreak of the War, 30 July 1847

The Yucatecan authorities were always fearful of Maya rebellions. But from time to time, the various political factions could not help but supply the Maya with arms and with military training when they enlisted them to help fight their cause. Soon, someone reported that Maya leaders Jacinto Pat, Bonifacio Novelo, Cecilio Chi, and Manuel Antonio Ay were plotting to rebel against the Yucatec whites and to drive them off the peninsula. Ay, reportedly caught with some evidence of the conspiracy, was promptly shot and Yucatec troops were sent to capture the remaining three leaders. The troops could not find them and in anger, destroyed Cecilio Chi’s rancho, raped a Maya girl, and killed four Maya defenders. The Maya launched a counterattack. They burnt the village of Tepich to the ground, killed 30 whites and spared only the girls for rape. The Caste War had begun.

The Maya Offensive

The powerful Cocom Maya rose in rebellion, attacking towns and taking no prisoners. Maya leaders organized their strategy. Pat led the attacks near Peto while Chi attacked the area near the white city of Valladolid. Sugarcane plantations, and haciendas, towns and villages known to house whites were attacked and burnt with the hated debt records of the haciendas. Refugees came pouring in from the countryside. Catholic bishops tried to “pacify” the Maya, but they would not hear of it. “When you were murdering us, did you not know that there is a True God?” a leader replied. Valladolid was abandoned. Over 10,000 refugees poured out desperately seeking refuge in Merida. The Yucatec army was no match against Maya forces. Yucatec governor Santiago Mendez begged the United States, Britain, and Spain for “powerful and effective help” in exchange for Yucatan.

After taking Tekax, the southern Maya attacked and occupied Bacalar. Yucatec refugees fled to Corozal in Belize. In May of 1848, the Belize Maya “with bows and arrows” attacked British mahogany camps near Hill Bank. They melted into the forest when British troops were sent to intercept them. The British were nervous. They could not take the Maya for granted.

Soon, the Maya were in control of four-fifths of the peninsula. Only Merida, Campeche and the villages nearby remained to be taken. The Hispanics began to make plans to abandon the peninsula to the Maya. But then, the tide changed. Most of the Maya abandoned the fight and never attacked Merida and Campeche. It seems that they had gone back home to plant their milpas.

Yucatec Forces Regroup and Retake Most of the Peninsula

The Maya took too long to launch their final offensive. Mexico City sent cash, more weapons, and troops. The Maya of the northwest were declared hidalgos (nobles) freed from taxes and from their hacienda debt if they enlisted to fight against the rebels. The United States and Cuba sent help. United States mercenaries from New Orleans came in to fight against the Maya. Merida and Campeche patched up their differences to fight against their common enemy. Then the Maya leaders began to fight among themselves. Cecilio Chi was murdered in December 1848 and in September 1849 Venancio Pec murdered Jacinto Pat. Valladolid was retaken. Bacalar was also retaken and from there the Yucatec forces tried to block war weapons reaching the Maya through Belize. By 1850, most of the 247,118 dead or missing in the war were Maya but the Yucatec forces sensing victory were not ready for peace. Their only concession they made was that instead of killing Maya prisoners, they would sell them as slaves in Cuba.

The Maya Split: The People of the Cross (Cruzob) versus the Pacíficos del Sur (later known as Icaiché).

In 1851, with the help of Peten priests, mayor Modesto Mendez brokered a peace between Yucatec forces and the Maya chief Angelino Itza of the southern Maya capital of Chichanhá. In retaliation, the Quintana Roo Maya attacked and destroyed Chichanhá taking prisoners including Itza. The civil war among the Maya had begun. In 1853, Jose Maria Tzuc, Itza’ successor got the British in Belize town to sponsor a more formal peace treaty between Yucatan and the southern Maya. In the agreement, the southern Maya agreed to accept the authority of Yucatan. In return, their taxes were abolished, they could elect their own leaders, retain the lands on which they lived, and maintain 400 armed troops to defend themselves against the Cruzob.

The People of the Cross (Cruzob) regroup and go on the Offensive

With the southern Maya “pacified”, and the Quintana Roo Maya having retreated to their forests, in-fighting among the Yucatec resumed: Merida versus Campeche and Conservatives versus Liberals. In 1853 a major cholera epidemic swept through the peninsula killing thousands. The Quintana Roo Maya turned to their God and He responded. Chief Jose Maria Barrera found a wooden, speaking Cross who told the Maya not to fear as He would lead his Chosen people, the people of the Cross, Cruzob. A church was built and the Cross spoke to His people from behind the altar.

In 1858, the Cruzob launched their offensive. Tekax was retaken, with hundreds massacred. Spoils of war were taken to buy more weapons. Bacalar was next. Most of the people fled hundreds arriving in Corozal. Forty-one prisoners were taken. The Maya demanded 8,000 pesos for the life of the prisoners. Corozal landowner James Hume Blake offered 2,000 pesos and 1,000 pesos in goods. When a report was received of in-coming Yucatec troops, the order was issued for the execution of the prisoners. Only eleven women and children were spared.

From their capital at Chan Santa Cruz, now Felipe Carrillo Puerto, the Cruzob managed the forest resources of Quintana Roo extending to the border with Belize. With income derived from royalty (license fees) for the cutting of mahogany and logwood, and for land rents on the Maya side of the Rio Hondo, the Cruzob continued to purchase weapons to continue the war on Yucatec forces in central and northeastern Yucatan. A Maya temple, balam na was constructed at Chan Santa Cruz (100 feet by 60 feet) in honor of the Holy Cross. The building had a wing that served as a school.

Cruzob government was headed by a Tatich the head of the army and of the Cruzob religion. Next were the generals, the Chief of Intelligence, and the interpreter of the messages of the Holy Cross. Medicine men and secretaries who could read and write were next in line. The majority of the men were farmers and soldiers, the macelhualob. In an ironic reversal of history, most of the slaves were captured white prisoners, recaptured deserters and some Chinese that had fled from Belize.

In 1863, the Cruzob again attacked Chichanhá in Campeche, this time razing it to the ground. Some 3,000 of the survivors fled deeper into the forest and founded the town of Icaiché. About 1,000 of the refugees arrived in the Yalbac area of western Belize founding a number of settlements with San Pedro as their capital led by Asunción Ek. Over the years, many of the Icaiché Maya would find their way to Belize founding villages along the Rio Hondo of the Orange Walk and Corozal districts.

Caste War refugees, whites, mestizos, and Maya brought with them their language and culture. Small scale entrepreneurs such as Manuel Jesus Castillo of San Antonio Rio Hondo, Florencio de la Vega of San Esteban and Basilio Grajález of San Roman brought with them small-scale sugar making technology, including the planting, harvesting and the processing of sugarcane into sugar and rum. Most of the Maya continued making their livelihood from their milpa and sometimes look for work in the sugar producing ranchos or in cutting logwood. Many of the injustices practiced on the Maya before the Caste War such as debt enslavement were also brought by the refugees to Belize.

The End of the Caste War

The continuing political conflict in Mexico persuaded some Conservatives to offer the government of Mexico to a “royal” person who might command the respect of the people. In 1863, Emperor Maximilian became king of Mexico. The Emperor declared Belize a part of Mexico and sent federal troops from Mexico City to crush the Maya. The plan failed. Liberal forces under the government of Benito Juarez captured Emperor Maximilian and in 1867 had him shot. By this time, the population of the Cruzob had been reduced to about 40,000. The decline continued and by the 1880s, the population reduced by disease, death in war, flight to many areas including Belize had reached about 10,000.

Despite their large population decline, the Cruzob pressed on with their struggle. The English in Belize sensed that sooner or later the Cruzob would be crushed, and they wished to remain on good terms with both the Mexican authorities as with the Cruzob. Moreover, the English wanted help to destroy the Icaiché (remnants of the southern Maya) who laid claim to parts of northwestern Belize launching raids against mahogany camps, Orange Walk and Corozal. In January 1884, as they began to negotiate a boundary treaty with Mexico, the English invited Yucatec and Cruzob authorities to discuss a peace treaty to end the war in Yucatan.

The deputy governor of Yucatan, Teodocio Canto, and Cruzob commandants Crecensio Poot, Aniceto Dzul and Juan Chuc met in Belize and arrived at an outline of the treaty. Unfortunately, in the celebration that followed the tacit agreement, Canto and Dzul got into a fight. The agreement was off.

But the English government continued its diplomatic efforts to conclude a boundary treaty with Mexico and in July 1897, Mexico ratified the treaty. Mexico recognized the Rio Hondo and the Blue Creek as its southern boundary with Belize and the English agreed to prohibit the arms trade with the Maya. In turn, Mexican President Porfirio Diaz sent General Bravo to strengthen Yucatan’s troops to smite the Cruzob a final blow. A railroad was built reaching the Cruzob capital. The Cruzob had nowhere to go except deeper into the forest. Huge tracts of lands were issued to large lumber companies. A floating fort named “Chetumal” was posted at the mouth of the Rio Hondo to block any weapons from reaching the Cruzob. The People of the Cross vowed to have nothing to do with Mexicans, their priests, or their schools. The year was 1901.