The town was historically the main center of what is now the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, and it acted as the de facto capital for the Maya during the Caste War of Yucatán.

After the Spanish began to occupy nearby areas, the Xiu Maya state in the western half of the Yucatán Peninsula chose to ally with the newly-neighboring Empire.

The province of Uaan remained largely unknown to the Spanish, but its provincial capital of Chable (meaning 'anteater') was mentioned several times in the books of Chilam Balam as a cycle seat.

Exactly three days after Ay's death, the eastern Maya, now identified as Uiz'oob (meaning 'loincloths'), rose up in a general revolt which nearly drove the Yucatecos entirely out of Chan Santa Cruz.

[citation needed] The capital, Noh Kah Balam Nah Chan Santa Cruz, was founded in about 1850 near a sacred cenote, a natural well providing a year-round source of holy water.

Alongside associated buffer and splinter groups, this state was the core of a broader indigenous independence movement that controlled virtually all of the old Iz'a territories.

[clarification needed] These lands included the eastern, central, and southern portions of the Yucatán peninsula, extending from Cape Catoche down towards what is now northwestern Belize and northeastern Guatemala.

In contrast to the Yucatecans and the Mexicans, the British found it both practical and profitable to maintain good relations with the Maya free state for some years.

[citation needed] All this changed after the Maya laid siege to and conquered Bacalar, originally the Mayan holy city of Bak Halal (meaning 'decanting water').

With both legal pretext and a convenient staging area in the western side of the Yucatán peninsula, Chan Santa Cruz was occupied by the Mexican army in 1901.

Following General May's death, the remaining Maya officials initiated contact with the United States government through the archaeologist and American spy Sylvanus Morley.

This was likely a continuation of native beliefs that reemerged when the Spanish colonists' civil war released the Maya from the Yucatán Hispanic population's religious repression.

[citation needed] When Friar Jacobo de Testera arrived, leading the first of the Franciscan Missions to the Maya in the second half of the 16th century, he began a Mayan encyclopedia project.

[8] Usually translated as a collection of historical and mythological texts, this book contains a great deal of information on the ancient Maya Calendar and the priests who maintained it.

Previously, the maestros cantores (village lay assistants), who were sons of Maya priests, often acted as members of their fathers' profession as well.

[clarification needed] East is red, north is white, west is black, south is yellow, sky is blue, earth is green and the center is clear.

A balam (Jaguar) is a patron of a village, town, region, or state which acts as an agent and protector of the social unit in question.

[clarification needed] The Crusoob also celebrate a Mass and Novenas, which always include offerings of corn tortillas and often feature tamales, meat, fruit, atole, pepper, chocolate, a dessert, and an alcoholic beverage.

[citation needed] The shrines of the "talking crosses" remain a vital part of local culture in former lands of Chan Santa Cruz in the 21st century.

[citation needed] The Maya free state formally declared independence in the "Proclamation of Juan de la Cruz" (El Proclamo in Spanish).

In addition to military service requirements — as the constitution was written in time of war — and support for the indigenous church, equal and fair treatment was promised to Maya people (and those of any race) who consented to the sovereignty of the new state.

[citation needed] Most Maya Cruzoob religious officials were — and are — unpaid, or are paid by donations from wealthy or devout members of the community.

Subsequent attempts to revive the generalship have failed to garner the support of the community as a whole, and the military survives primarily as an honor guard for the Maya Church.