Gonzalo Guerrero

Summary

Spanish explorer (died c. 1536) Gonzalo GuerreroBronze sculpture of Gonzalo Guerrero and family / 1974 untitled work by Raúl Ayala Arellano installed January 1975 in Akumal, Q. Roo, Mex. / 2005 photographBornlate 15th cent.Palos de la Frontera, SpainDiedc. 1536Sula Valley, HondurasAllegianceRankNakomBattles / wars1517 Hernández entrada1518 Grijalva entrada1527–1528 Montejo entrada1531–1533 Davila entrada1536 Alvarado entradaMemorialsvarsSpouse(s)Zazil Ha (c. 1510s)Children3 unnamed Gonzalo Guerrero (also known as Gonzalo Marinero, Gonzalo de Aroca and Gonzalo de Aroza) was a sailor from Palos, Spain who was shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico and one of the first mestizo children in the Americas, alongside Miguel Díez de Aux and the children of Caramuru and João Ramalho in Brazil. Little is known of his early life. Little is known of Guerrero's early life. He is presumed to have reached the New World aboard a Spanish expedition in the late 15th or early 16th century.[note 1] Shipwreck and enslavement 1511[edit] In 1511, Guerrero and fifteen other sailors were shipwrecked on the Las Viboras shallows off the coast of Jamaica, having been driven off course by a strong tropical storm. Lacking a seaworthy vessel and provisions, the survivors fashioned a makeshift raft and drifted for thirteen days across open sea until sighting the Yucatán Peninsula, though by this point, only ten of the survivors remained alive.[note 2] Guerrero and his nine surviving crew-mates were immediately apprehended by the Mayan militia of Waymil upon their landing. Some were ritually sacrificed, and the survivors were forced into slavery under various provincial aristocrats.[note 3] Transfer to Chetumal 1514[edit] In circa 1514, Guerrero entered the service of Nachan Can, halach uinich or governor of Chetumal, while G...