History of Honduras - Conquest Period

Conquest Period

Honduras was first sighted by Europeans when Christopher Columbus arrived at the Bay Islands on 30 July 1502 on his fourth voyage. On 14 August 1502 Columbus landed on the mainland near modern Trujillo. Columbus named the country Honduras ("Depths") for the deep waters off its coast.

In January 1524, Cortés directed captain Cristóbal de Olid to establish a colony for him in Honduras. Olid sailed with a force of several ships and over 400 soldiers and colonists. He sailed first to Cuba, to pick up supplies Cortés had arranged for him, where Governor Velázquez convinced him to go and claim the colony he was to found as his own. Olid sailed from Cuba to the coast of Honduras, coming ashore east of Puerto Caballos at Triunfo de la Cruz where he initially settled and declared himself governor.

Hernán Cortés, however, in 1524, got word of Olid's insurrection and sent his cousin, Francisco de las Casas, along with several ships to Honduras to remove Olid and claim the area for Cortés. Las Casas, however, lost most of his fleet in a series of storms along the coast of Belize and Honduras. His ships limped into the bay at Triunfo, where Olid had established his headquarters.

When Las Casas arrived at Olid's headquarters, a large part of Olid's army was inland, dealing with another threat from a party of Spaniards under Gil González Dávila. Nevertheless, Olid decided to launch an attack with two caravels. Las Casa returned fire and sent boarding parties which captured Olid's ships. Under the circumstances, Olid proposed a truce to which Las Casas agreed, and he did not land his forces. During the night, a fierce storm destroyed his fleet and about a third of his men were lost. The remainder were taken prisoner after two days of exposure and without food. After being forced to swear loyalty to Olid, they were released. However, Las Casas was kept a prisoner, soon to be joined by González, who had been captured by Olid's inland force.

The Spanish record two different stories about what happened next. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas writing in the 17th century, records that Olid's soldiers rose up and murdered him. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de Nueva España, recalls that Las Casas captured Olid and beheaded him at Naco.

In the meantime, Cortés had marched overland from Mexico to Honduras, arriving in 1525. Cortés ordered the founding of two cities, Nuestra Señora de la Navidad, near modern Puerto Cortés, and Trujillo, and named Francisco de las Casas Governor. However, both las Casas and Cortés sail back to Mexico before the end of 1525, where Francisco was arrested and sent back to Spain as a prisoner by Estrada and Alboronoz. Francisco returned to Mexico in 1527, and returned again to Spain with Cortés in 1528.

On April 25, 1526, before returning to Mexico Cortes appointed Hernando de Saavedra as governor of Honduras and left instructions to treat the indigenous people well. On October 26, 1526, Diego López de Salcedo, was appointed by the emperor as governor of Honduras, replacing Saavedra. The next decade was marked by clashes between the personal ambitions of the rulers and conquerors, which hindered the installation of good government. The Spanish colonists rebelled against their leaders, and the indigenous people rebelled against their masters, and against the abuses their new masters imposed on them.

Salcedo, seeking to enrich himself, had serious clashes with Pedrarias, the Governor of Castilla del Oro, who for his part, wanted to have Honduras as part of his domains. In 1528, Salcedo arrested Pedarias and forced him to cede part of his Honduran domain, but Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor rejected the agreement. After the death of Salcedo in 1530, the settlers became arbiters of power. Governors hung and removed. In this situation, the settlers asked Pedro de Alvarado to end the anarchy. With the arrival of Alvarado in 1536, chaos decreased, and the region was under authority.

In 1537, Francisco de Montejo was appointed governor. He set aside the division of territory made by Alvarado upon arrival in Honduras. One of his principal captains, Alonso de Cáceres, was responsible for quelling the indigenous revolt, led by the cacique Lempira in 1537 and 1538. In 1539 Alvarado and Montejo and had serious disagreements over who was governor, which caught the attention of the Council of India. Montejo went to Chiapas, and Alvarado became governor of Honduras.

During the period leading up to the conquest of Honduras by Pedro de Alvarado, many indigenous people along the north coast of Honduras were captured and taken as slaves to work on Spain's Caribbean plantations. It wasn't until Pedro de Alvarado defeated the indigenous resistance headed by Çocamba near Ticamaya, that the Spanish began to conquer the country in 1536. Alvarado divided the native towns and gave their labor to the Spanish conquistadors in repartimiento. Further indigenous uprisings near Gracias a Dios, Comayagua, and Olancho occurred in 1537–38. The uprising near Gracias a Dios was led by Lempira, who is honored today by the name of the Honduran currency.