Category: Events - Page 2 - Mexica: A History Podcast

Francisco Hernandez Cordoba in the Yucatan

The first expedition to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was led by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba. He and 110 men on three vessels departed Cuba on February 9, 1517 and within weeks had spotted pyramids, people and farms in places like Isla de Mujeres and El Meco. There is some debate as to what and where Cordoba saw, but it seems they came in at Isla de Mujeres and from there possibly spotted the pyramids at El Meco, which they dubbed “El Gran Cairo” or the Great Cairo for its resemblance to Egypt.

The expedition moved on North, toward a place where they would come to call Cape Catoche. Here they were met by 10 large canoes, according to Bernal Diaz. After some friendly gesturing, as there were no Maya-Spanish translators yet, they had 30 men aboard the ship. The Spanish gave them beads. The Maya men left but indicated they’d be back tomorrow.

On March 5, 1517, 12 canoes arrived and beckoned the Spanish to come ashore with promise of food and water. Cordoba agreed it seemed a decent wager and took his men ashore. The apparent Maya leader led the Spanish inland, friendly all the time, Diaz claims.

With a loud shout the Maya leader ordered a heavy projectile attack on the Spanish and a cloud of arrows, spears and stones assaulted them, wounding 13, according to Diaz. As the Maya warriors advanced for hand to hand the Spanish technological advantage became clear as their swords slashed at the Maya, claiming 15 lives.

The Spanish were able to fight their way back to the boats and make it to the ships out at sea. Within days two men would succumb to their injuries and were buried at sea. The Spanish seized some low quality gold and captured two Maya men. One of the men, baptized as Melchior, would become a translator for the Cortes Expedition.

The Expedition moved East along the coast until they reached Campeche. Exhausted and feeling the effect of severe dehydration the men put ashore with their leaky casks. Here they were greeted by 50 people and invited to town. It was here the Spanish saw human sacrifice for the first time. Dreadlocked priests covered with knotted blood came out and waved incense over the Spaniards. The increasing agitation of the crowd soon made clear the Spanish needed to leave. Fearing another attack they did so.

Map of Francisco Hernandez Cordoba’s ill-fated expedition to the Yucatan.

Battle at Chompoton

Days later the Spanish saw a town and, driven by thirst, unloaded the casks again and began to fill them at a maize farm. Soon hordes of warriors began to appear and surround them. But the Maya warriors departed at nightfall.

The pre-dawn hours brought the distant noise of rallying warriors, drums and shouting. The warriors would soon be upon them. The dawn light brought a terrible sight for the Spanish as Maya divisions were lining up along the coast, behind them, on all sides. And more warriors were pouring in.

First the arrows and stones poured in wounding up to 80 of 108 men, according to Diaz. Next came the hand to hand combat with the two handed wood and obsidian swords of the Maya against Spanish steel blades. Despite their arms advantage, more than 50 Spaniards were killed in the battle and the men were driven to their boats, the remaining men barely escaping with their lives.

Cordoba and his Spaniards escape by sea from Maya warriors at Chompoton, Mexico.

In the end the battle lasted one hour, two Spaniards were captured alive, 50 men were killed on the battlefield; every soldier, Diaz says, received multiple arrow wounds. Five more men would succumb to their wounds in the following days.

Following the calamitous battle, the men decided to head for Cuba but had to scuttle one ship due to a shortage of men to sail. They sailed along the coast for awhile looking for water, eventually crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Florida where they found life-saving water, had another skirmish with Indigenous warriors there before making back to Cuba.

Cordoba would soon die of his wounds in Cuba. Besides Bernal Diaz, several other men from the Cordoba Expedition would go on to participate in the Grijalva and Cortes Expeditions, including the pilot Anton de Alaminos, Juan Alvarez “El Manquillo,” and a priest named Alonso Gonzalez.

Cholula Massacre

As Cortes moved closer to the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan, he passed through Cholula. This town of about 30,000 (de las Casas) was a sort of religious capital in the region, comparable to Mecca or Jerusalem. The people of Cholula were allied with Moctezuma and were enemies of Tlaxcala where Cortes had been received. The Spanish account paints Cortes in a desperate situation, pinned in an enemy city and reacting defensively. Other accounts, both indigenous and European, tend to call it a massacre.

The Massacre at Cholula as depicted on the Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

The Cortes Narrative

After brief negotiations that Cortes felt were short of his esteem, he marched on Cholula with 1,000 Tlaxcala warriors (Cortes, 2nd Letter). Cortes was met with much fanfare and was admitted to Cholula. According to Spanish accounts and those of the Tlaxcala storytellers, Moctezuma and the leaders of Cholula had cooked up a scheme to trap the Spanish in the city and destroy them. Cortes’s Cempoalan allies noted trenches dug, and rock piles on rooftops and they reportedly saw women and children being led out of the city. In another account La Malinche, the indigenous female translator, was approached by a Tlaxcala woman who, in an offer of sanctuary, confided in her the plot to kill the Spanish.

Convinced of the oncoming assault, Cortes called a meeting of all the men of matter in the Cholula region. Once they had gathered he explained their treachery to them and ordered a musket fired. This was the sign for the Spanish and their allies to begin the assault on the Cholulans. Cortes claims 3,000 were killed in a two-hour slaughter.

Cortes and Diaz explain it was a natural pre-emptive strike against an obviously hostile force. The Tlaxcala stories also justify their actions, including the mutilation and murder of one of their messengers before the attack. It seems a logical place for Moctezuma’s allies to make a stand if you were going to try and expel these invaders once and for all.

La Matanza de Cholula, Felix Parra, 1877.

The majority of the Tlaxcala army had waited outside the city and once the battle had begun entered Cholula. The Tlaxcala force fought through the streets toward the Spanish, who had already begun slaughtering people. For almost two days the Tlaxcala army pillaged and burned Cholula until even Cortes was taken by pity for the people of Cholula. He ordered the pillaging to end and demanded all the captives taken by the Tlaxcalans be returned.

Cortes was a cunning and brutal leader and he either anticipated the attack or simply intended to send a brutal message. And it seems to have worked as word spread far and wide of the destruction of the Cholula nobility by the invaders.

Other Accounts

Other accounts are not so clear on a sneak attack by the Cholulans and refer to it as an outright massacre. The Conquistador turned Mercedarian friar Francisco de Aguilar said the people killed were water-bearers and temames. Diego Duran also noted they were bringing supplies and highlights the incident as a dark point he must write about. The historian and early civil rights advocate Bartolome de las Casas called it a staged “massacre” and a “punishment” by Cortes to spread terror. Las Casas also said it was mostly temames, the most humble and respected worker in Mesoamerica, who made up the bulk of the victims.

The Florentine Codex describes the massacre as planned by the Spanish, but notes there was no Cholulan scheme, saying they were unarmed and were “treacherously and deceitfully slain.”

Within a few days the Spanish had moved out of Cholula toward Tenochtitlan, news of their terror well ahead of them. Cortes ordered the people of Cholula to resume their lives as before. Which they did, but forever tainted by the destruction brought by the Spanish.

Estimates from various accounts range from 2000 to 6000 victims with not a single Spanish casualty.

Battle of Cintla

The Battle of Cintla, fought between Cortes’s Spanish and Maya in mid-March, 1519, is significant for several reasons. Most notably this is the first cavalry battle fought on the mainland of the Americas. It also was the first major conflict for Cortes, and a decisive victory over the Chontal Maya of Tabasco.

Cortes, after several days of fighting with local Chontal Maya, orders his horses brought ashore and dressed for the first time. The next day, which Diaz says is “Lady Day,” Cortes orders 13 cavalrymen, artillery and an infantry force to advance to a place called Cintla. Leading the main infantry was Diego de Ordaz , with between 300 and 400 men, including foot soldiers, crossbowmen and musketeers. The artillery was under the command of a man named Mesa.

Map of Cintla — Map from The Battle and Ruins of Cintla, by Daniel G. Brinton.

On the march inland they came across the Maya force ready for battle (Diaz p. 75). In full battle dress, drums blaring, arrows and stones began to come at the Spanish. Diaz says immediately almost 70 Spanish were wounded and one killed. It seems the Maya abandoned hand to hand efforts and were most interested in raining projectiles against the steel blades. But this seems to have been quite ineffective, historically.

Cortes and the cavalry were delayed in arriving, possibly as long as two hours, as Diaz notes the delay was worrisome. But soon enough Cortes arrived and flanked the Maya force from behind. At that the infantry under Diego de Ordaz charged and the Maya forces quickly fell into disarray and fled.

Casualty counts vary, but for the Spanish it appears two Spaniards were killed, and the wounded ranged between 20 and 70. Dead for the Chontal Maya is estimated between 200 and 800.

After the battle Cortes established a cross and a town called Santa Maria de la Victoria, which stood for a few years before being abandoned. The regional chief Tabscoob also granted 20 slave women to Cortes, one of which was the famous Malintzin, or La Malinche.

For more read The Battle and Ruins of Cintla.