Editing Spanish conquest of Yucatán (section)

== First encounters: 1502 and 1511 ==
[[File:Bartholomew Columbus.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Bartholomew Columbus]] came across a [[Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec Maya]] canoe in the [[Gulf of Honduras]]]]
On 30 July 1502, during [[Fourth voyage of Columbus|his fourth voyage]], [[Christopher Columbus]] arrived at [[Guanaja]], one of the [[Bay Islands Department|Bay Islands]] off the coast of [[Honduras]]. He sent his brother [[Bartholomew Columbus|Bartholomew]] to scout the island. As Bartholomew explored the island with two boats, a large canoe approached from the west, apparently en route to the island. The canoe was carved from one large tree trunk and was powered by twenty-five naked rowers.<ref>Clendinnen 2003, p. 3.</ref> Curious as to the visitors, Bartholomew Columbus seized and boarded it. He found it was a [[Maya peoples|Maya]] trading canoe from [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]], carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo that included [[Maya ceramics|ceramics]], [[Maya textiles|cotton textiles]], yellow stone axes, flint-studded war clubs, [[Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica|copper]] axes and bells, and [[cocoa bean|cacao]].<ref>Perramon 1986, p. 242.<br>Clendinnen 2003, p. 3.</ref> Also among the cargo were a small number of women and children, probably destined to be sold as slaves, as were a number of the rowers. The Europeans looted whatever took their interest from amongst the cargo and seized the elderly Maya captain to serve as an interpreter; the canoe was then allowed to continue on its way.<ref>Clendinnen 2003, pp. 3–4.</ref> This was the first recorded contact between Europeans and the Maya.<ref>Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 758.</ref> It is likely that news of the piratical strangers in the [[Caribbean]] passed along the [[Trade in Maya civilization|Maya trade routes]] – the first prophecies of bearded invaders sent by [[Kukulkan]], the northern Maya [[Feathered Serpent (deity)|feathered serpent god]], were probably recorded around this time, and in due course passed into the books of [[Chilam Balam]].<ref>Clendinnen 2003, p. 4.</ref>

In 1511, the Spanish caravel ''Santa María de la Barca'' set sail along the [[Central America]]n coast under the command of Pedro de Valdivia.<ref name="deDíosGonzález08p25GómezMartínJune13p56">de Díos González 2008, p. 25.<br>Gómez Martín June 2013, p. 56.</ref> The ship was sailing to [[Santo Domingo]] from [[Darién Province|Darién]] to inform the colonial authorities there of ongoing conflict between conquistadors [[Diego de Nicuesa]] and [[Vasco Nuñez de Balboa]] in Darién.<ref name="GomezMartinJune2013p56">Gómez Martín June 2013, p. 56.</ref> The ship foundered upon a reef known as Las Víboras ("The Vipers") or, alternatively, Los Alacranes ("The Scorpions"), somewhere off [[Jamaica]].<ref name="deDíosGonzález08p25GómezMartínJune13p56"/> There were just twenty survivors from the wreck, including Captain Valdivia, [[Gerónimo de Aguilar]] and [[Gonzalo Guerrero]].<ref>de Díos González 2008, pp. 25–26.</ref> They set themselves adrift in one of the ship's boats, with bad oars and no sail; after thirteen days during which half of the survivors died, they made landfall upon the coast of [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]].<ref name="deDíosGonzález08p25GómezMartínJune13p56"/> There they were seized by [[Halach Uinik]], a [[Maya peoples|Maya]] lord. Captain Valdivia was [[Human sacrifice in Maya culture|sacrificed]] with four of his companions, and their flesh was served at a feast. Aguilar and Guerrero were held prisoner and [[Cannibalism in the Americas#Caribbean|fattened for killing]], together with five or six of their shipmates. Aguilar and Guerrero managed to escape their captors and fled to a neighbouring lord who was an enemy of Halach Uinik; he took them prisoner and kept them as slaves. After a time, Gonzalo Guerrero was passed as a slave to the lord Nachan Can of [[Chetumal Province|Chetumal]]. Guerrero became completely Mayanised and served his new lord with such loyalty that he was married to one of Nachan Chan's daughters, Zazil Ha, by whom he had three children. By 1514, Guerrero had achieved the rank of ''nacom'', a war leader who served against Nachan Chan's enemies.<ref>de Díos González 2008, p. 26.</ref>