After Cortés' expedition, the colonial Spanish largely tried to conquer Petén Basin, with several attempts mainly from Belize and Alta Verapaz, for generations until an expedition from Yucatán, Belize and Cobán in Alta Verapaz, succeeded in conquering the last independent Maya polities around 1697, such as Zacpeten (capital of the Kowoj Maya), the Itza Maya center of Tayasal, and other towns in the Lake Petén Itza region such as Quexil (modern Spanish name, in Maya: "Ek'ixil") and Yalain. ("see:" Spanish conquest of Yucatán).