Ah Itzá

Ah Itzá, the people of Itzá, denotes the royal lineage of the Itza Maya, whose kings all bore the name or title Kan Ekʼ, meaning serpent star. The Itza traced descent from the Chanes of the Chontal region and migrated through Bacalar into northern Yucatán in the tenth century, when they were associated with Chichen Itza.

Driven from Mayapan by the Xiu Maya around 1441 to 1446, the Itza withdrew to Lake Petén Itzá and built their island capital Nojpetén. There the Aj Kan Ekʼ ruled an independent kingdom while the rest of Maya lands fell to the Spanish.

Hernán Cortés met the Kan Ekʼ in 1525, and Franciscan missions were expelled in the early seventeenth century. The line ended in 1697, when Spanish forces stormed Nojpetén and carried the last Kan Ekʼ prisoner to Guatemala.