Hernández de Córdoba expedition

[1] The generally-deprived conquistadors had yet to find that which had been promised them since the earliest Columbian voyages, namely, western maritime passage to the East Indies, Amerindians to force into encomienda or enslavement, and above all, copious amounts of gold.[7] Tola de Habich favours an approach to some northerly cape on the mainland, rejecting as most improbable accounts of (i) an arrival to some northeasterly island, (ii) to Eccampi, (iii) to the province of Yucatán, and (iv) a forthwith coasting to Campeche.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 [non-Mesoamerican Central and] South America.[15][n 3] Similarly notable is the Spaniards' reported awe or terror upon reaching the Catoche town, their task suddenly looming large and foreboding compared to what they had expected.[20] Tola de Habich deems a cordial, even admiring, welcome likely, with residents and the batab coming up to shore to witness the fleet's entry, and the Spanish seizing the moment with a grand gun salute.[21] Sources describe at least five different menus for the welcome banquet afforded to the Spaniards, though all accounts suggest a great feast of many courses, heavy on fowl, game, maize, and seasonal fruits, though curiously lacking fish, greens, and beverages.[28][n 6] Elated to find a source of fresh water, the much dehydrated men reportedly all disembarked with their pipas and arms aboard the brig and bateles, leaving the sailors and large ships a league offshore.[29] On land, the Spaniards, used to kindly receptions at Punta Mujeres, Cape Catoche, and Campeche, were now rather coldly received by armed locals who indicated their arrival was unwelcome.[31] Nightfall apparently crept up on the landed party, forcing the men to camp ashore for what must have been a tense night under the watchful eye of their aggrieved hosts.[32] The men next awakened at dawn to a growing audience of a great many locals dressed for battle, 'with cotton armour down to their knees, and bows and arrows, and spears and bucklers, and swords like two-handed montanes, and slingshots and stones, and plumes of the kind they usually don, and their faces masked in black and white.[42] The governor was similarly quick to claim credit for the discovery, successfully petitioning for the title of adelantado of Yucatán, granted him on 13 November 1518 in Zaragoza, which authorised his conquest and settlement of the Peninsula.[48] Similarly, Victoria Ojeda, following Marshall H Saville, rejects Isla Mujeres as the first landing point, deeming Cape Catoche as the likelier place.For instance, while it is popularly regarded as the first non-Amerindian discovery of the Yucatán Peninsula, Victoria Ojeda notes the feat might rather be attributed to the 1508–1509 Pinzón–Solís voyage, or the 1511 stranding of Gonzalo Guerrero, Jerónimo de Aguilar, and company.[56] Similarly, some scholars ascribe first non-Amerindian contact with the Maya civilisation to the 1502 Honduran leg of Columbus's fourth voyage, or the aforementioned 1511 stranding.[58] The Cape Catoche settlement, Great Cairo, attained mythic proportions in the collective memory of 16th century Spanish society, becoming a vast city 'five times greater than Paris,' dotted with 'many rich palaces.