The Hernández de Córdoba expedition was a Spanish maritime voyage to the northern Yucatán Peninsula, in the Maya Lowlands, led by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in early 1517. The campaign was authorized by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, governor of Spanish Cuba, in 1516, and likely set out to kidnap Amerindian islanders of the Lucayan or Bay archipelagos for enslavement in newly found Cuban encomiendas, though discovery of uncharted territory may have been a further aim. Hernández de Córdoba failed to do the former, so the trip proved little profitable for the vecinos of Spanish Cuba who had funded it, but the expedition was nonetheless deemed an immediate success for meeting its secondary objective, as the company brought back reports of vast lands inhabited by a rich and advanced people, namely, the Maya civilization. The voyage is commonly regarded as the peninsula's non-Amerindian discovery, and as the first contact between the Maya and an Old World people, though both achievements have been disputed in scholarly literature. It involved the first instance of armed conflict between the Maya and the Spanish, and so is considered a precursor campaign to the Spanish conquest of the Maya. Its findings prompted the Grijalva expedition in 1518, and this in turn led to the Cortés expedition in 1519, which notably morphed into the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire to 1521.
A number of historical sources provide accounts of the Hernández de Córdoba expedition, and generally agree on a broad outline, but disagree on various specific points or minutia, which are thus still debated in literature today. Broadly speaking though, the Spanish company first landed in Ekab and then in Kanpech, both Postclassic Maya polities in northern Yucatán, and were twice made welcome. Presuming their luck would hold, and in need of fresh water, they next called at Chanputun, main port of an eponymous polity. Here, the thirsty expeditioners were emphatically not welcome, such that their continued presence quickly devolved into open hostilities, during which half the men were killed and the rest seriously wounded. This disastrous loss brought the Spanish expedition to a close, and is noted in popular culture as an early instance of Maya resistance to Spanish rule.
Background
Towards the middle years of the 1510s, Spanish colonies in the New World dotted only a few of the Antilles and some mainland coast in the southern Caribbean. The conquistadors who peopled these early settlements generally led a life of deprivations though, having not yet found that which had been promised since the earliest Columbian voyages, namely, a western maritime route to the East Indies, scores of Amerindian slaves and tributaries for their encomiendas, and above all, copious amounts of gold. The first had proven elusive, and the second and last scarce, as the territory the Spanish then controlled lacked rich gold seams for fruitful mining, whereas their mere contact (via virgin soil epidemics) and warfare (via mass killings) invariably decimated pre-existing populations, leaving the conquistadors relatively few subjects for encomienda.
In 1516, three wealthy vecinos of Spanish Cuba, namely Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Cristóbal Morante and Lope Ochoa de Caicedo, being apparently short on tribute or labour in their estates, resolved to outfit a slaving expedition to the Lucayan (just off northern Cuba) or to the Bay (far southwest of Cuba) islands. Each vecino reportedly contributed between 1,500 and 2,000 castellanos for the undertaking, while Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar further contributed a small brigantine and the needed authorisation as governor of the Spanish province with jurisdiction. With Hernández de Córdoba named captain, the organizers then enlisted Bernardino Íñiguez as veedor, Alonso González as chaplain, a certain Morales as notary, and Antón de Alaminos, Camacho de Triana and Juan Álvarez as pilots, along with a further number of Spanish conquistadors. They also secured two larger caravels, hired the necessary crew (Spanish and Amerindian islanders), and outfitted and victualled the flotilla, such that it was readied for departure by early 1517.
Expedition
There are quite a few primary and secondary sources on the Córdoba expedition, but they agree only on the broad strokes of the campaign, and of those that provide particular details (only some do), they rather fail to agree on said points, or even contradict each other on them. This is the case, for instance, for the flotilla's departure from Cuba. Most accounts agree that this occurred in 1517, but only the crónicas de Indias of Bartolomé de las Casas (a second-hand account) and Bernal Díaz del Castillo (a first-hand account) date it to February, and only the latter fixes a precise date, saying Córdoba departed from Havana on 8 February. According to Castillo, Córdoba hugged the Cuban coast for twelve days, until reaching the island's westernmost point at Cape San Antón, from where they put out to sea on 20 or 21 February.
At this point though, historical sources differ greatly. All accounts agree that the flotilla now crossed the Yucatán Channel, (unknowingly) heading towards the northeastern part of the Yucatán Peninsula, which at the time was encompassed by Ekab, a Postclassic province (kuchkabal) of the northern Maya Lowlands. Some say this bearing had been fixed prior to departure, while some claim it had not been. And of the latter, some say the ships came upon a storm which blew them off course and into the channel, but others assign blame to strong currents, whereas the rest report that the flotilla was intentionally steered into the channel when Córdoba decided to deviate from their predetermined course. The Spanish expeditioners did, in any case, sail southwest from San Antón, and sighted land in four, six, 21 or 40 days. Castillo, the only chronicler to report precise dates, claims a treacherous crossing of 21 days, such that Córdoba would have reached the peninsula on 13 or 14 March. That said, Castillo also reports 4 March as the date when five dugout canoes, crewed by Maya rowers, approached from Cape Catoche to meet the Spanish at their nearby anchorage, such that Córdoba must have arrived by 3 or 4 March at the latest. Given such uncertainty, historian Fernando Tola de Habich favours an arrival to the peninsula simply "in the first days of March 1517".
Northern prong
As with details regarding their Cuban departure, there is likewise much disagreement among historical sources regarding the Córdoba expedition's exact point of arrival in the northeastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula, in northern Ekab. Tola de Habich favours an approach to some northeastern cape on the mainland, rejecting as most improbable accounts of an initial stop in a nearby island, in Eccampi, in the province of Yucatán, and a non-stop coasting direct to Campeche from the Yucatán Channel. To them, the northeastern headland which Córdoba first sighted and approached was probably either Catoche, the unidentified Punta de Yucatán, or else the unidentified Punta Mujeres, where this last point is singled out as likeliest. At any rate, it is certain that the men first approached the northeast part of the peninsula, then disembarked at Catoche in northern Ekab, and then coasted westwards, rounded Punta Boxcohuo to enter the Bay of Campeche, and finally reached Campeche, port capital of the Kanpech province.
Again, as with details regarding their arrival to Yucatán, what exactly took place between first approach and Campeche is uncertain. According to Tola de Habich, Córdoba likely landed at Punta Mujeres and there came upon "a small salt-harvesting town, perhaps abandoned, where they found a small Maya temple with golden figurines of goddesses; from here they surely espied a larger town at some nearby headland, which prompted the fleet towards it: this was the town called Cairo by Peter Martyr, an appellation repeated by Castillo in his chronicle, adding the adjective Gran". The historian situates Gran Cairo in Catoche, and describes the momentous encounter between civilizations as follows. Gran Cairo "was also a small salt-harvesting town with some thatched, limestone houses, a temple, a minuscule pyramid, and a few clothed men, women, and children, who would have been flabbergasted at the coastal approach of strange ships from which disembarked a people so foreign in appearance, clothing, and language. It was an encounter worthy of astonishment for the Spaniards [too] because of the new things they now discovered of the New World, having prior known only of the simple and rustic life of the inhabitants of the Antilles and of the Caribbean coast of South America".
Accounts of the Córdoba company's time in Gran Cairo are quite varied; nevertheless, a few common threads emerge, including a chance encounter with local fishermen, a stroll through the settlement to observe its novel ways and means (gold ornaments, masonry buildings, monumental temples and pyramids, and so on), and "shock or awe at what the Spanish saw". Particularly notable here is the anecdote regarding the toponym Yucatán, purportedly uttered by locals (in Yucatec) to mean 'we do not understand you' when the expeditioners asked them (in Spanish) what they called their land. At this point, Córdoba is thought to have pressed two Gran Cairo fishermen for service, christened Melchor and Julián by the newcomers. Their crew thus augmented, there was now reportedly talk of returning to Cuba to prepare a stronger fleet, as after Gran Cairo, their task now loomed large and forbidding compared to what they had expected, but "their curiosity got the better of them, as well as their hope of finding more gold and, undoubtedly, the sense that they had nothing to lose" (in Tola de Habich's words). And so, from Catoche, the flotilla set off along the shore to the west, encountering no resistance, and possibly no other coastal towns either, coasting along the Chik'in Che'el, K'in Ch'el, Kehpech, Chak'an and Kanul provinces (in that order).
Western prong
The westward leg from Catoche took 15 days (per Castillo) or 110 nautical leguas (per Martyr), and saw the Córdoba expedition reach Campeche on the día de san Lázaro (per all historical sources), which possibly fell on 29 March in 1517. Their reception in the said Kanpech port is variously described though. To Tola de Habich, a cordial or even admiring welcome seems likely, with residents and the batab (cacique Lázaro to the Spanish) probably coming up to shore to witness the caravels and brigantine enter their harbour, and the Spanish no doubt seizing the moment with a grand gun salute for their audience. Upon dropping anchor, the captain and either a small number or all of his men (officers or combatant conquistadors) boarded ship's boats to come ashore, leaving the (non-combatant) crew behind on the vessels, as per custom then.
Córdoba and his men disembarked and found in Campeche a large port town of, reportedly, close to 3,000 houses, presumably of limestone, in addition to at least one temple and some shrines, and perhaps a small pyramid. As with their arrival, however, accounts of the voyage are not fully agreed on the details of the expeditioners' first night in town, though they do broadly agree that they were banqueted by local authorities, and that they were given a tour of a local temple. The welcome feast is said to have been a grand affair of multiple courses, heavy on fowl (notably ocellated turkey), game, maize and seasonal fruits, though curiously light on fish, greens and beverages. Having dined and rested to their hearts' content, the Spanish were then apparently invited to tour what would have been Campeche's most important site, its main (or only) temple. Tola de Habich quotes Casas and others "to get a clear idea of what they saw and what it meant to them", saying as follows. In the temple (or en route to it), the Córdoba company "saw a tower or tower-like structure, squared, made of stone and whitewashed, with stairs ... Atop sat a large idol with two lions or tigers which seemed to devour the idol by the flanks, and a serpent or animal of over 40 feet long and as wide as a thick ox which swallowed a fierce lion; all stone very well carved. Everything was awash in the blood of men who had been executed or sacrificed there". The tour would likely have occasioned a repeat of the shock and awe the Catholic men first experienced in Gran Cairo, says Tola de Habich, though this time more so tinged with fear or dread, given the "demonic" statuary and purported indications of fatal human sacrifice, possibly their first brush with such practices. In spite of this, the Spaniards sojourned a few days in Campeche, possibly prompted by their hosts' hospitality, and thereafter continued on their way.
The Córdoba flotilla then coasted due south for some ten or fifteen nautical leguas, and next sighted a port town which is variously called Moscobo, Champotón, Nochopobón and Potonchán in historical sources. Historians since have most often identified this place as either Potonchán (on Río Grijalva in Chontal territory then, west of Laguna de Términos, site of modern Frontera, Tabasco) or Champotón (on Río Champotón in the Chanputun province, east of Términos, site of modern Champotón, Campeche), but geographer José N. Iturriaga recently argued that only the latter is correct. Upon spying the river, the Spanish company reportedly all boarded the brigantine and boats, with their arms and pipas ('barrels or casks') for fresh water, being apparently much dehydrated by this point, and again left the crew behind on the two larger ships (caravels), which were anchored about one nautical legua offshore. Ensuing events onshore though, as narrated in historical sources, are "very strange and on many points quite incomprehensible". Nevertheless, Tola de Habich accepts the following series of events as most likely.