Francisco de Montejo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Francisco de Montejo
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A monument of Montejo in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.
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Francisco de Montejo y Álvarez
c. 1479 Salamanca, Crown of Castille
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| Died | c. 1553 (aged 73–74) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | Conquistador |
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Francisco de Montejo y Álvarez (Spanish: [fɾanˈθisko ðe mõnˈtexo]; c. 1479 – c. 1553) was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America.
Contents
Early years
Francisco de Montejo was born in 1479 in Salamanca, Spain, to Juan de Montejo and Catalina Álvarez de Tejeda. He left Spain in 1514, and arrived in Cuba in time to join Juan de Grijalva's expedition along the coast of Yucatán and the Gulf of Mexico. There he had the rank of captain, and command of 4 ships. On his return to Cuba, he joined the Hernán Cortés expedition, and helped found the city of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz with Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero. Cortés sent Francisco and Alonso as proctors to King Charles of Spain in 1519 to report on the expedition. While in Spain, Montejo married Beatriz de Herrera.
Captain General of Yucatán
In December 1526, the Spanish King, Charles V, issued a royal decree naming Montejo Adelantado and Captain General of Yucatán. He returned to Yucatán in 1528, and attempted to conquer it from its east coast at Tulum and Chetumal, but was driven back by fierce resistance from the Maya living along this coast. In 1530, he decided to try conquering Yucatán from the west, and began by pacifying what is today the modern Mexican state of Tabasco. He continued this attempted conquest of western Yucatán from 1531 until 1535, when his forces were driven from Yucatán despite some prior successes.
Governor of Honduras, Return to Yucatán, and death
In 1533, Montejo received a royal decree giving him permission to conquer Puerto Caballos and Naco in Honduras. This put him in conflict with Pedro de Alvarado, who had received a similar decree in 1532 and later declared in 1536 that he had conquered and pacified the province of Honduras. Alvarado continued to serve as the Governor of Honduras until 1540, although he was recalled to Spain in 1537. In 1540, the Spanish King awarded the Governorship of Honduras to Montejo, and he traveled to Gracias a Dios to install an administration loyal to him.
It would fall to Montejo's eponymous son, nicknamed "El Mozo" (born 1508, died 1565), to conquer Yucatán. He founded the city of San Francisco de Campeche in 1540, and Mérida in 1542. In 1546, the elder Montejo assumed the title of Governor and Captain General of Yucatán. However, by 1550, complaints about Montejo caused him to be recalled to Spain, where he died in 1553.
Montejo was survived by his son, "El Mozo," and a daughter, Catalina Montejo y Herrera.
See also
In Spanish: Francisco de Montejo para niños
