HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

Back Forward Menu

misled by the seeming docility of the natives, flattered himself that
he had an easy task before him.


Montejo and his Men Go along the Shore of Yucatan. Skirting the eastern
shore of Yucatan, the fleet arrived at a point near the first site of
Valladolid, where all the soldiers landed, leaving the seamen to guard
the ships and supplies. What seemed a sufficient number of horses,
munitions, and provisions was taken. As usual on such occasions, the
first thing to be done was to take formal possession of the land for
the King of Castile. Accordingly appropriate ceremonies were carried
through, and the standard bearer, Gonzalo Nieto, unfurled the royal
banner. Cogolludo is very definite as to the region in which the
conquest of Yucatan had its beginning. Valladolid,[4.2] not Bakhalal or
Campeche, is, he says, the site of the first operations. He quotes as
his authority on this point the Bachiller Valencia, a native of
Valladolid, whose Relacion was made in 1639. Coni, a village in the