Claim: Bacalar, the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality, was a city of the Maya civilization in Pre-Columbian times and was the first city in the region which the Spanish Conquistadores succeeded in taking and holding in 1543.
Evidence: Bacalar (Spanish: [bakaˈlaɾ (listen)) is the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality (until 2011 a part of Othón P. Blanco Municipality) in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Chetumal, at 18° 40' 37" N, 88° 23' 43" W. In the 2010 census the city had a population of 11,084 people. Bacalar was a city of the Maya civilization in Pre-Columbian times. This was the first city in the region which the Spanish Conquistadores succeeded in taking and holding in 1543.