Setting the stage: caciques as political intermediaries in colonial Ebt·n -- Webs of power: cacique politicization in post-independence Yucatßn -- For God, glory, and taxes: caciques and the politics of taxation on the eve of Yucatßn's caste war -- War and the cacique: alliance making in caste war Yucatßn -- "Your majesty loves the Indians": the defensor and Maya commoners in the years of Maximilian's empire -- Of promises and dilemmas: the defensor and maya caciques in the years of Maximilian's empire