HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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The First Spaniards in Yucatan. Although Fernando Cortes was the first
Spaniard to penetrate the region occupied by the Itzas, he was not, of
course, the first of his race to become acquainted with Yucatan and its
inhabitants. It will be remembered that Columbus received a hint of the
existence of Yucatan from some Indian traders at the Isla de Guanajo
(Isla de Pinos) in the year 1502. (Cogolludo, lib. i, cap 1.)[3.1]
Although he failed to find it, we may say that from July, 1502, Yucatan
was known to the Spaniards. The first Spaniards who actually coasted
the shore of Yucatan were Juan Diaz de Solis and Vicente Yanez Pinzon,
in the year 1506.

In 1511 or 1512 Vasco Nunez de Balboa, whose expedition was in Darien,
found it necessary to send to Hispaniola for supplies. He chose a
certain Valdivia for the errand, intrusted him with a caravel, and sent
him off. Valdivia was shipwrecked on Las Viboras, a reef near Jamaica,
and only about twenty of his men escaped. (Molina, p. 11 ff.;
Montesinos, vol. ii, p. 28 ff.; Landa, p. 15.) They were all captured