Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán conquistador)

Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Spanish: [fɾanˈθisko eɾˈnandeθ ðe ˈkoɾðoβa]; c. 1467 in Córdoba – 1517 in Sancti Spíritus) was a Spanish conquistador from Córdoba, known for the ill-fated expedition he led in 1517, in the course of which the first European accounts of the Yucatán Peninsula were recorded. He died from wounds he suffered during the expedition after battling against Mayans.

1517 Expedition

Together with some 110 discontented Spanish settlers in early colonial Cuba, Hernández de Córdoba petitioned the governor, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, for permission to launch an expedition in search of new lands and exploitable resources. This permission was granted after some haggling over terms, and the expedition consisting of three ships under Hernández de Córdoba's command left the harbor of Santiago de Cuba on February 8, 1517, to explore the shores of southern Mexico. The main pilot was Antón de Alaminos, the premiere navigator of the region who had accompanied Christopher Columbus on his initial voyages; The pilots of the other two ships were Juan Álvarez and Camacho de Triana.

During the course of this expedition many of Hernández' men were killed, most during a battle near the town of Champotón against a Maya army. He himself was injured, and died a few days after his return to Cuba. Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a member of the expedition and wrote about his journey. This was the Europeans' first encounter with what they considered an "advanced civilization" in the Americas, with solidly built buildings and a complex social organization which they recognized as being comparable to those of the Old World. They also had reason to expect that this new land would have gold.