Francisco de Montejo

Francisco de Montejo (fɾanˈθisko ðe monˈtexo; 1479 – 1553) was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America. Francisco de Montejo was born about 1473 to a family of lesser Spanish nobility in Salamanca, Spain. He never documented his parentage during his lifetime but his father was probably Juan de Montejo. His mother is unknown but her surname may have been Téllez. He had a brother, Juan, who served with him in the New World and a sister, Maria, whose son Francisco de Montejo would become an important conquistador in Yucatán. In 1513, Montejo joined an expedition being organized in Seville under the leadership of Pedrarias Davila who had received a royal appointment to govern Castilla de Oro, a new Spanish colony in Central America. Montejo was sent on ahead to Santo Domingo to recruit additional men for the colony. Later, Pedrarius sent him on an unsuccessful expedition to the region that would later become Nueva Granada. Montejo became disillusioned with opportunities under Pedrarius and left for Cuba where he participated under Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in the conquest of Cuba. The conquest was almost complete when Montejo arrived but he gained the favor of Velázquez and was rewarded with encomiendas and extensive grants of land. In 1518, when Francisco Hernández de Córdoba reported his discovery of new lands in the west, Montejo joined Juan de Grijalva's expedition to explore the coast of Yucatán. He invested his own money to help outfit the small fleet and was designated captain of one of the four ships. When they reached the Mexican coastline, Montejo became the first Spaniard to step ashore in the Aztec Empire and establish friendly relations with the Indians he encountered. On his return to Cuba, Montejo joined the Hernán Cortés expedition in an attempt to seize control of the newly-discovered lands. He became one of Cortés's most important lieutenants, serving as captain of one ship and its company of soldiers. He fought in the bloody campaign in Tobasco and was then sent north with two small ships to find a suitable site for a permanent town.