Francisco de Montejo (; 1514–1572), known as "the Nephew" () was a Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

At 13 years old, he embarked with his uncle,

Francisco de Montejo Francisco de Montejo (; 1479 – 1553) was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America. Early years Francisco de Montejo was born about 1473 to a family of lesser Spanish nobility in Salamanca, Spain. He never documented his parentage ...

"the Older" () and his cousin, Francisco de Montejo y León "the Younger" (), toward to the conquest of Yucatán in 1527. On May 28, 1543 he founded the town of

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

(now part of the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...

) on the banks of the Chouac-Ha lagoon. A year later, the town was moved further inland to the site of a

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

town, Zací. Valladolid is still known in the contemporary

Yucatec Maya language Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...

as Saki, the modernized spelling of Zací. In the third phase of the conquest of Yucatán, he attended the first garrison in San Pedro Champotón, a locality in which the native people began to pay tribute to the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

. Because "El Adelantado" and "El Mozo" were pooling resources and soldiers, the offensive of the campaign took a long time to start, and their position was endangered by Maya

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

s. Anticipating that the caciques would conspire against the Spaniards, "El Sobrino" kidnapped the principal lords of the area and led them to his cousin in

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

, where they renewed vows of obedience to the crown. The name of Champotón would change from "San Pedro" to "Salamanca de Champotón" after this incident. Finally, with resources obtained, "El Sobrino" began the third and final campaign of the conquest, moving from the west to the east of the peninsula alongside "El Mozo" and other captains sent by "El Adelantado." "El Sobrino" was usually at the forefront of these military campaigns."Conquista y Colonización de Yucatán", capítulos XI y XII de Robert S.Chamberlain, Ed. Porrúa 1974 "El Sobrino" lived his final years in Mérida, where he died as a councilman in 1572, at the age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montejo, Francisco de Spanish conquistadors Governors of Yucatán (state) 16th-century Spanish people People of New Spain 1514 births 1572 deaths Colonial Mexico Spanish colonial governors and administrators People from Valladolid, Yucatán