PXL_20250416_190455697

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:49:22 +0100

In 1526, Capitan Francisco de Montejo obtains the right to conquer, colonize and govern Yucatán from the Emperor Charles V. The warlike spirit of the Mayans turns the conquest into a long and difficult venture that lasts for 20 years. In 1527, from Cozumel, Montejo tries to make inroads into the peninsula from the east and he founds some villages which he has to abandon the following year due to Mayan hostility. Between 1530 and 1535, together with his son also named Francisco de Montejo, he tries, unsuccessfully, to fight Indian opposition from the center and the east.

Alonso Dávila, one of his captains, explores the chieftaincies of Uyamil and Chactemal, founding a village named Villa Real near to the present-day Chetumal, but hounded by the Indians he has to retreat. At the end of 1540, the Montejos undertake a new and effective campaign which culminates in 1541 with the surrender of the main chieftaincies in T-hó (Mérida). Only the chieftaincies of Uyamil and Chactemal remain to be conquered. Montejo commisions Gaspar Pacheco to carry out the final conquest who, along with his son Melchor and his nephew Alonso, enters upon a cruel and relentless campaign to crush the Maya which he achieves in 1546. In 1544, on top of the corpses and rubble of Bakhalal, he founds the Villa de Salamanca de Bacalar.