Francisco de Montejo

Francisco de Montejo (* around 1479 ; † September 8, 1553 in Salamanca ) was a Spanish conquistador .

Family environment

Monument to father and son Montejo, the conquerors of Yucatán and founders of the city of Mérida . It is located at the beginning of the street named after them in Mérida, Yucatán.

In his youth, Francisco de Montejo fathered a son, Ana de León, who was born in Seville in 1508 and had the same name as his father. Both father and son took part in the conquest of the Yucatán. To distinguish them from each other, the father was called "el Adelantado ", the son "el Mozo" (the boy). During a trip to Spain, Montejo married Beatriz de Herrera, who gave birth to a daughter (Catalina de Montejo y Herrera), and later had a second, unrecognized son, Juan Montejo ya Diego, with a woman of color.

Military career

In 1514 Montejo set out for "India" and arrived in Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola . In 1518 he took part in the expedition of Juan de Grijalva , in which he acted as captain and business partner because he delivered ships and provisions.

The itinerary was similar to Francisco Hernández de Córdoba's , but the current drove them away and they discovered Cozumel Island and sailed along the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula . There were several skirmishes with the Mayans during the expedition .

A year later, Montejo accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer Mexico. They followed the route Juan de Grijalvas and founded the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, today's Puerto de Veracruz . Together with Alonso Hernández Portocarrero, he was appointed mayor and councilor of the city on April 22, 1519, but only performed this task for a short time.

Francisco de Montejo was notable for his diplomatic skills, which led to Cortés sending him to Spain to brief the royal court of the results of the expedition. Together with Alsonso Hernández Portocarrero and the pilot Antón de Alaminos , he left for Spain on July 26, 1519. They brought the first travelogue Cortés 'and the part of the booty, the state of the king (the Quinto Real) to the interests of Cortés' against Charles V to represent. On December 8, 1526, Charles V gave Montejo the order to conquer the Yucatán and appointed him Adelantado and General Captain. In 1527 Montejo embarked from Sanlúcar de Barramedo with a course for America.

Pacification of Tabasco

Montejo the Elder reached Santa María de la Victoria, the capital of the province of Tabasco , in 1528 , where he began as mayor to pacify the province and conquer the Yucatán. When he arrived, the province was virtually out of control, the population had risen against the foreign rulers. The few Spaniards lived holed up in the city of Santa María de la Victoria. Montejo began with the reconquest, which finally led to the partial pacification of the areas in 1530.

After Montejo had been removed from his post as mayor in a first Real Audiencia , he was reinstated in 1535 because the locals had risen again. In order to get the constant uprisings in Tabasco and Yucatán under control, Montejo traveled again to Spain, where he managed to get Queen Joan I ( Joan the Mad ) to give him authority over Yucatán, Cozumel and Tabasco, i.e. the area between the Cupilco River in Tabasco and the Ulúa en Hibueras river in Honduras . After many losses, Montejo finally managed to partially pacify Tabasco in 1537. Now he turned his attention to the conquest of the Yucatán. His son Francisco de Montejo y León "el Mozo" was appointed mayor and governor Tabascos and continued the pacification of the province of Santa María de la Victoria. Complete pacification was only achieved in 1560, years after Montejo's death.

The conquest of the Yucatán

It took 20 years and three attempts to conquer the Yucatán. Montejo made the first attempt together with Capitán Alonso Dávila in the east of the peninsula, later he set up a garrison near Chichén Itzá . When he divided the troops and Dávila made with his part advances in Bacalar and Chetumal , the Mayans seized this opportunity and forced Montejo to move his men to Campeche . He asked the Spanish crown for help and Johanna I gave him in response the authority over the entire territory between the rivers Cupilco and Tabasco up to the river Ulúa in Hibueras. There was confusion when Montejo went on military expeditions to Central America, where he wanted to fight the Lencas, and met Pedro de Alvarado , who had been entrusted with the same task by the Viceroy of New Spain , Antonio de Mendoza . The conflict of interest was resolved with an exchange: Montejo got Chiapas , Alvarado got the area from Hibueras. However, since Pedro de Alvarado died in the 1541 Mixtón War and there was no successor as governor, Montejo was awarded this post again. To do this, he had to give up command of Hibueras and Chiapas.

His son Francisco de Montejo y Léon , called "el Mozo", he appointed mayor and governor of Tabasco and ordered him to pacify the area around Santa María de la Victoria (Tabasco). He then made him lieutenant general of Yucatán to carry out the third push to conquer the peninsula. His son founded the city of San Francisco de Campeche there in 1540 and Valladolid in 1542. In 1546, now at an advanced age, Montejo met in San Francisco de Campeche with his son and his nephew (who was also called Francisco de Montejo and was called "el Sobrino", that is, "the nephew" to distinguish it). The conquest of the Yucatán was successful, but the Mayas rose again and it was not until 1547 that the son and nephew were able to put down the uprisings.

Montejo the Elder fulfilled his duties as governor and colonel-general from 1546, but was charged with irregularities in his official business in 1550 and had to answer before the Consejo de Indias . The trial was never completed because Montejo died on September 8, 1553 in his hometown of Salamanca .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annette Ranz: Maya and Aztecs - Differences and Similarities between Two Mesoamerican High Cultures . GRIN Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-656-19214-5 , pp. 40 (60 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
2. ^ Abiel Holmes: The Annals of America: From the Discovery by Columbus in the Year 1492, to the Year 1826, Hilliard and Brown, 1829, p. 71