Covering four square miles of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, the Mayan city of Chichen Itza’s origins remain shrouded in mystery, despite the wealth of archaeological curiosities discovered in and around its numerous temples, pyramids and sacred spaces over the past two hundred years.

Though the earliest artifacts recovered from the city date to 610 AD, it is undoubtedly older. Though never definitely proven, the prevailing theory surrounding Chichen Itza’s patchwork history goes like so: after surviving for half a millennium as a strictly Mayan settlement, the Toltec, an aggressive warrior tribe migrated north in 1000 AD. The city was invaded, the native Maya were conquered and new gods were installed in their temples.

By 1200 AD, Toltec civilization had run its course and Chichen itza was suddenly abandoned. In the second quarter of 13th century, a new community of Maya from nearby Campeche - calling themselves the Itza – had overtaken the deserted capital. This was a common practice for the nomadic peoples of the region; nonetheless, it is the Itzas’ name that remains linked with the city today.

The Itza continued to multiply in number for the next century, eventually founding the neighboring city of Mayapan. However, the rise of rival tribe called the Xiu in the late 15th century led to the destruction of Mayapan and forced the Itza to flee their reclaimed city - the second wholesale abandonment of Chichen Itza in as many centuries.

What the city lacked in permanent residents, however, it more than made up with for grand structures that still fascinate today. By far its most impressive is the Castillo, also known as the Pyramid of Kukulkan. As the main structure at Chichen Itza, the pyramid dominates the skyline at 78 feet and rises upwards through a series of nine platforms – each one a symbol of a different level of Mayan heaven. Entrance to the pyramid is gained through the four stairways that surround it on all sides. Each consists of 91 steps – a number that when multiplied by four and added to a one representing the platform at the temple’s summit, produces 365, the number of days in the year and proof positive of the Maya’s impressive calendar keeping skills.

From the top of vaunted pyramid, temple priests could view processions to the Sacred Cenote, the dreaded Well of Sacrifice. Spanning roughly an acre across, men, women and children were flung into the massive hole as sacrifices to the long forgotten Mayan gods. Despite the site’s grim connotations, it has proven to be treasure trove for would-be explorers; the cave’s depth and isolation has protected hundreds of skeletons and telltale artifacts from the ravages of time.

These are just two of Chichen Itza’s forboding and historic installations. Others include a fully restored Mayan ball court, a Temple of the Jaguar with strong links to the early Toltec settlers, an observatory and a bevy of smaller pyramids and holy sites. Without question, there are enough unsolved questions at Chichen Itza to keep scholars guessing for several more centuries.

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The Americas presented to the European conquerors a vast area for expansion of their riches, military power, and territorial rights. After Columbus traveled the West Indies and opened the unknown area to further exploration by Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors, Portugal and Spain decided to divide their colonial rights between their respective countries along a vertical longitudinal line 970 miles west of the Cape Verde islands with the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494. This agreement between the two greatest exploring powers of the 15th century essentially split the non-Christian world so that Spain obtained rights to the lands west of the line while Portugal claimed all eastern lands including India, the East Indies and Brazil. Portugal’s claim to the Brazilian coast went unexplored for decades due to the unwelcoming natural terrain of the land and the dangerous native people. By 1530, the Portuguese conquerors managed to develop feudal plantation colonies along the coast of Brazil, thus establishing a foothold in that continent.

The Spaniards meanwhile traveled in force to the West Indies in search of gold and other riches and by 1512 had conquered the larger of the islands of the West Indies. The Spanish quest for gold would remain unquenched however, until they set foot on the mainland of South America where they discovered gold and precious metals, finally achieving the objective of their original quest. With the discovery of gold, the Spanish Conquistadors began to exploit their newly discovered land by establishing colonies and mining operations and the general subjugation of the native populations. In the process the Spaniards decimated the Inca, Aztec, and Maya empires that had been in power and returned to Europe with the treasures of the New World. Spanish colonial rule would last for another 300 years before the growing unrest and desire for self-autonomy among the Spanish colonies resulted in their independence from the Spanish crown.

The colonial efforts of the British rested in the small islands of the West Indies and later the colonies in North America. The islands inhabited by the native Carib and Arawak people ensured a steady stream of profits, as the English exploited their land with the production of sugar after the introduction of this crop in 1637. With the development of plantation systems in Brazil and the West Indies, the British and Portuguese invested themselves in the slave trade and commenced another chapter in the colonies’ history of labor exploitation.

The struggle of the Spanish, Portuguese and British colonies in seeking their independence from the Spanish crown had an enormous impact on the native populations, the natural resources of the fertile lands and contributed to the cultural inequalities that exist today.

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In the beginning of the Age of Exploration and Discovery, Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and the islands of the Caribbean at the end of the 1400s and introduced the era of colonization in these territories by European powers. Areas in the Americas under Spanish and Portuguese control included most of South and Central America, and large parts of North America, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean.

The expeditions initially organized for the exploration and the opening of trade routes were followed by expeditions whose main goal centered on the conquest and subjugation of native peoples for access to their regions’ natural resources. The Spaniards were foremost in this expansionist thrust into South and Central America and established a lasting foothold through a growing religious, military, and commercial presence. In Central America, the kingdom of Guatemala (encompassing present-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) was initiated under Spanish governance but largely organized and managed by Spanish entrepreneurs who maintained control of the area through their business activities and strengthened their own positions with the profits and influence they earned. The merchant class had the advantage of Spanish political support behind them and exploited production means in the new territories through political and coercive forces.

Provinces in Central America were ruled by a small quantity of governors, mayors or corregidores (magistrates.) Governorships were also military positions and so these were assigned only in the provinces threatened by outside forces. Eventually the position of mayor and corregidor became interchangeable. Towards the end of the 17th century only four governors, eight mayors, six magistrates and six exchequers, governed all of Guatemala’s eighteen provinces.

The strong economic and entrepreneurial aspect of the Spanish presence in Central America took advantage of the already established traditions of production. Spinning, weaving, cotton and cacao cultivation were indigenous traditions and these, supplemented with the larger-scale production of indigo and gold and silver mining fed naturally into the Spanish economic system without disrupting existing societal structures.

However, by the 19th century the mercantile aspect of the colonies, guided by private business interests and property-owners, came to be the greatest threat to the monarchy’s representation in Central America. The magistrates that before had been sponsored by the Spanish crown grew in power to the extent that they no longer needed the king’s auspices and were better able to represent their own interests in the New World than that of their European leadership in the Old World. Inevitably the colonies established in Central America, like those in South America, would rebel and claim independence from Spain.

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It was February 24, 1917 when the British government presented then American president Woodrow Wilson with the now famous Zimmermann telegraph. Although not the only factor, the telegraph’s message, along with the increase in German submarine warfare, would take America out of its traditional and seemingly steadfast policy of isolationism and hurl it full force onto the world stage.

The war to end all wars, also known as World War I, had begun in 1914 with the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by Serbian freedom fighter, Gavrilo Princip. The international incident brought the dizzying map of European alliances into a war nobody had expected. The main players became Germany, Russia, England and France although nearly every European country as well as their allies from other continents took part in the devastating warfare. America declared itself to be neutral. 

Despite fantastic trade and friendly relations with most European countries, the United States had little desire or indeed means to be involved in a war. After the Mexican American War in 1848 and the crippling bloodshed of the American Civil War, Americans had little desire to involve themselves in the conflicts of other nations. Friends with both England and Germany, to take sides would mean a drop in trade as well as a commitment the country may not be fit to undertake.

Woodrow Wilson was enjoying his second term as the president after campaigning on a platform of keeping the country out of the war. This college professor turned governor made for a balanced president, drawing on both the academic and real world experiences to run his administration. Having lost his wife in 1914 and remarried in 1915, Wilson had experienced a lot of personal ups and downs but managed to keep the country out of the European war claiming that as long as Germany and her allies did not attempt to interfere with American trade or travel, there really was little reason to involve the nation in a war that was not theirs.

In 1915 the British luxury liner, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by German u boats, at a cost of over a hundred American lives. Most of the public had determined with whom their sympathies lay but Wilson still resisted involvement.

By early 1917, the British were feeling the pinch of battle, low on troops, supplies and morale. German subs filled the waters surrounding the proud island and trench warfare in France was taking its toll in bodies and spirit. Help was needed in order for the Allies to successfully defeat Germany and her forces.  In January of that year British code breakers stumbled across the Zimmermann telegraph.

“FROM 2nd from London # 5747.
“We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal or alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President’s attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace.” Signed, ZIMMERMANN.”

Arthur Zimmermann was the then foreign minister of Germany and he sent the intercepted message to von Eckhardt who was the German Ambassador to Mexico. It would take the British almost a month to present the intercepted note to President Wilson. Some claim it was to protect intelligence sources, others that it was to allow anti-German feelings to increase with the onset of their plan of all out submarine warfare.  To date, no clear and decisive motive has been made. The effect however of the telegraph was powerful and Wilson called on congress to declare war on Germany in April of 1917 officially ending American neutrality.

World War I remains a stain on modern history with over 20 million lives lost in four years. Its bitter end and settlement treaties sparked the Second World War which again through America into a war that was not their own. Hitler never officially declared war on America.  By World War II, the United States had clearly shown where its alliances lay. Even today, the British and American governments have a “special relationship” supporting each other in military actions across the globe.

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In an era when America is considered a global policeman with a mission to bring democracy on all four corners of the world, it is sometimes difficult to imagine that once such involvement would have been considered inconceivable. But it was less than a century ago when all that changed as the infamous Zimmermann telegraph landed on President Wilson’s desk.