page_title: Spanish conquest of Honduras
section_title: Pedro de Alvarado, 1536
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish conquest of Honduras / Pedro de Alvarado, 1536
caption_attribution_description: Español: Archivo General de Indias. Tomás Povedano (1906) pinta a Pedro de Alvarado (†1541), gobernador de Guatemala. Óleo sobre lienzo.
context_page_description: The Spanish conquest of Honduras was a 16th-century conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas in which the territory that now comprises the Republic of Honduras, one of the five states of Central America, was incorporated into the Spanish Empire. In 1502, the territory was claimed for the king of Spain by Christopher Columbus on his fourth and final trip to the New World. The territory that now comprises Honduras was inhabited by a mix of indigenous peoples straddling a transitional cultural zone between Mesoamerica to the northwest, and the Intermediate Area to the southeast. Indigenous groups included Maya, Lenca, Pech, Miskito, Sumu, Jicaque, Pipil and Chorotega. Two indigenous leaders are particularly notable for their resistance against the Spanish; the Maya leader Sicumba, and the Lenca ruler referred to as Lempira.
  In March 1524, Gil González Dávila became the first Spaniard to arrive in what is now Honduras with the intention of conquest. He founded the first Spanish port upon the Caribbean coast, Puerto de Caballos, which became an important staging post for later expeditions.
context_section_description: In this political instability, the colonists requested help from Alvarado; Their request initiated a period of negotiations between Alvarado and Francisco de Montejo, which resulted in Montejo attempting to renounce his governorship claim over Honduras-Higueras in favour of Alvarado, and Alvarado considering the transfer of his own governorship of Chiapas to Montejo in exchange. Permission was sought from the Crown, which refused the exchange and required Montejo to take up his governorship of Honduras-Higueras. News of this refusal, due to the slow pace of communications with Spain, arrived after Alvarado launched his relief expedition.
  Alvarado was attracted by reports of gold, and also wished to prevent the complete abandonment of the territory by the Spanish. He invaded Higueras in 1536, with 80 well-armed soldiers of mixed infantry and cavalry, accompanied by about 3000 indigenous Guatemalan auxiliaries; Many of the auxiliaries were Achi Maya warriors with a particularly fearsome reputation. He also brought Indian and African slaves to work the mines, as well as livestock to assist the colonisation effort. His route took him past a strong native fortress called the Peñol of Cerquín, where native warriors had amassed to resist the Spanish. Alvarado, seeing the strength of the fortress and aware of the pressing need to relieve Buena Esperanza, decided not to storm the fortress and pushed onwards to assist his countrymen.
caption: Pedro de Alvarado
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2302", "Image ImageLength": "3211", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 21.2 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2020:06:30 11:36:38", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5643", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2302", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3211"}