JUAN DE GRIJALVA: BIOGRAPHY AND EXPEDITIONS - HISTORY - 2024

Juan de Grijalva (1490 - 1527) was a Spanish discoverer and conqueror who participated in various explorations during the first years of the Spanish conquest of America. Among the territories he toured are Cuba, Yucatán, Tabasco, Veracruz and the Gulf of Mexico.

Born in Castilla, Juan de Grijalva's biography is little known. It is known that he arrived in America very early and that he accompanied his uncle, Pánfilo de Narváez to the island of Hispaniola. In 1811 he was in Cuba, where together with Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, he participated in the conquest of the Caribbean island.

Juan de Grijalva, via Wikimedia Commons

Later, Juan de Grijalva commanded an expedition to the coasts of present-day Mexico. During his tour he explored Yucatan and Tabasco until he reached Veracruz. In addition to discovering several rivers, Grijalva was the first to learn of the existence of a great empire that dominated the interior of the territory: the Aztec.

Grijalva ordered a return to Cuba after a few months of exploration. There he antagonized Diego Velázquez, for which he placed himself under Francisco de Garay's orders to carry out a new expedition. In this case, the destination was the territories of the current state of Veracruz, the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida peninsula.

His last expedition began in 1524. That year, under Pedrarias, he went to Central America to confront the indigenous people who resisted the Spanish advance. In January 1527, Juan Grijalva died during one of the confrontations with the natives.

Early years and youth

Juan de Grijalva was born in the town of Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia (Castilla), in 1490. There are hardly any data on his first years of life, but it is known that in 1508 he was already on the island of Hispaniola, where he was under the shelter of Pánfilo de Narváez, his uncle.

Illustration by Pánfilo de Narváez

Some sources affirm that Grijalva was also a relative of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, while others point out that their close relationship was only due to the fact that they came from the same Castilian town.

In Cuba

Grijalva's life as an explorer began when he was 21 years old. In 1511 he left with Diego Velázquez Cuellar for Cuba to participate in its colonization.

With Velázquez in command, the conquerors subdued the indigenous peoples that inhabited the interior of the island. When Velázquez had to leave to celebrate his wedding, Grijalva assumed command of Santiago de Cuba, where some 50 Spaniards were then living.

Portrait of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conqueror of Cuba

Later, Juan de Grijalva participated in the founding of Trinidad, a town of which he had been appointed encomendero in 1514.

In 1518, Diego Velázquez had become governor of Cuba and chose Grijalva to take over the captaincy of a new expedition.

A year earlier, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba had started exploring the Gulf of Mexico. This exploration is considered as the discoverer of the Yucatan, despite the fact that some sources point out the existence of Spanish shipwreck survivors in the territory.

Hernández de Córdoba and his men were victims of an ambush, but they were able to return to Cuba with two captured natives and some samples of the wealth that existed in Yucatán.

The death of Hernández de Córdoba, which occurred just a few days after returning to Cuba, did not prevent the next expedition to the Gulf coast from beginning to be organized.

Expedition to the coasts of Mexico

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, governor of Cuba, was delighted when he heard Hernández de Córdoba's account of the discovery of Yucatán and its riches. The governor immediately began to prepare a new expedition, for which he assigned four ships and 240 men.

Before the death of Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva received command of the new expedition to the Gulf of Mexico.

Yucatan peninsula

Juan de Grijalva's expedition to Cozumel, Yucatán and San Juan de Ulúa in 1518 - Source: Jaontiveros / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

The ships left the port of Matanzas, in Cuba, on April 8, 1518. On April 3, they discovered a new island, present-day Cozumel, which they christened Santa Cruz de Puerta Latina.

Upon reaching Yucatán, the expedition members traveled along its northern coastline, as well as part of the Gulf coast. One of the landings ended in a great battle against the indigenous people of Chakán Putum, whom they defeated with great bloodshed.

The route was badly damaged in the boats, so they were forced to deviate and cross a strait.

Discovery of Tabasco

Juan de Grijalva continued his journey and on June 8, 1518 he discovered present-day Tabasco and the river that has been baptized with his name, the Grijalva.

After navigating the river, the expedition reached Potonchán, the capital Mayan city of the Tabscoob manor. There he met with the chief, who gave him a green velvet doublet.

Meeting between Juan de Grijalva and the Mayan chief Tabscoob. Potonchán, 1518.

The scout and his men rested for a few days and stocked their supply ships. Then they headed north and discovered the Dos Bocas River, first, and an indigenous settlement called Ayahualulco.

Their next destination took them to the Tonalá River, which they christened Santo Antón. Finally, they reached Veracruz, where Grijalva decided to give the name of San Juan de Ulúa to the spit of land over the bay.

Veracruz

The discovery of San Juan de Ulúa occurred on June 19, when the Spanish landed in a natural port that they baptized as Santa María de las Nieves. Juan de Grijalva, despite the requests of some of his captains, did not want to found a colony in the place.

There are disagreements among historians about the reasons that led Juan de Grijalva to confront one of his lieutenants, Pedro de Alvarado. Some sources claim that the disagreements were caused by Alvarado's decision to separate from the expedition, while others claim that it was due to Grijalva's refusal to found a colony.

The result was that Grijalva sent Pedro de Alvarado back to Cuba with part of the mutiny. In addition, he entrusted him with the mission of informing the governor and getting reinforcements to continue the journey north.

Portrait of Pedro de Alvarado

However, the expedition encountered very hostile natives at the mouth of the Pánuco River and, in addition, provisions were beginning to run low after five months of travel. Juan de Grijalva decided to follow the advice of his pilot Antón de Alaminos and ordered to head back to Cuba. On September 21, 1518, the ships reached Santiago de Cuba.

Aztec empire

One of the important events that took place during the exploration commanded with Juan de Grijalva was the discovery of the existence of the Aztec Empire.

After disembarking in Tabasco, the Mayan-Chontal Indians informed Grijalva of the existence of a great empire “towards where the sun sets”. The natives affirmed that in the interior there was "a very powerful empire rich in gold."

Portrait of Bernal Díaz del Castillo

According to the chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the meeting during which the indigenous people communicated to the Spanish about the existence of the Aztec Empire took place as follows:

«… They smoked us all and presented certain gold jewels such as diadems and other jewels such as lizards, and three bead necklaces (…) and they brought some of the blankets they use and told us to receive them in goodwill, that they had no more I pray that forward, towards where the sun sets, there is a lot, and they said: Colúa, colúa, and México, México, and we didn't know what Colúa was or even Mexico ».

Dismissal

When Juan de Grijalva arrived in Cuba, he found that Diego Velázquez had decided to take command of future expeditions from him.

Although the reasons are not entirely clear, some historians claim it was due to the decision not to have established colonies in the newly discovered lands. The governor relied on the report that Pedro de Alvarado had presented when he returned to the island.

Despite this setback, Grijalva was not willing to stay ashore and placed himself under the command of Pedro Arias de Ávila, also called Pedrarias Dávila. This Castilian military man was organizing an expedition to Central America.

Expedition to the Florida peninsula

In 1523, Juan de Grijalva embarked on an expedition led by Francisco de Garay. The destination was to continue exploring the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Florida peninsula.

This expedition had to reach a garrison that had previously been established by Diego de Camargo in the vicinity of the Pánuco River. However, the Huastecos had attacked that garrison and the Spanish had to abandon it and rejoin the forces of Hernán Cortés, who was then in Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.

Francisco de Garay put his son in command of the expedition while he went to meet Cortés in Mexico City.

Hernan Cortes. Source:

Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando

While this was happening, Juan de Grijalva and other captains led a mutiny against Garay's son. For this they had the support of the indigenous people, whom the leader of the expedition members had continuously harassed.

When Cortés learned of the situation, he sent Gonzalo de Sandoval to control the situation. Juan de Grijalva and the rest of the mutineers were sent back to Cuba.

Death

In 1527, Juan de Grijalva joined an expedition led by Pedrarias Dávila that sought to conquer Honduras and Nicaragua.

That same year, in Olancho, Honduras, Juan de Grijalva was killed during one of the confrontations with the indigenous people that took place during that expedition of conquest.

Honors

The Grijalva river is named after the Castilian explorer. It has a channel of approximately 600 kilometers and an area of ​​51,569 square kilometers. The source of the Grijalva river is in the Ecija valley, in Guatemala, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico, specifically in Tabasco, one of the areas that was discovered by the Grijalva expedition.

Another of the honors that Juan de Grijalva received, after his death, was a coat of arms. It was awarded to him in 1538 for his work on behalf of Spain. The delivery of coats of arms to the conquerors was a frequent custom and had been given since the Middle Ages.

The shield had three fields: one with a silver tower, another with a gold griffin, and finally, one with an eight-pointed gold star. In the upper part it had a helmet and on this the figure of a lion extending its hands.

2018

In 2018 the government of Mexico paid another tribute to Juan de Grijalva. On June 8, 2018, they unveiled a bust of this Spanish explorer in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of his arrival in what is currently known as the state of Tabasco.

The governor of Tabasco was present at that ceremony along with the Spanish embassy in Mexico. To remember his important work, a tour similar to the one Grijalva did through the area in 1518 was made.

Family

It is known that some members of the Grijalva family group were also in America. The first of them was his uncle Pánfilo de Narváez.

There is also a record of Fernando de Grijalva, a native of Cuéllar, the same city where Juan was a native. It is known that he was together with Cortés in 1520.

He made some discoveries, such as Santo Tomé Island and the coasts of Tehuantepec. The last thing that was known about Fernando de Grijalva is that he went to help Francisco Pizarro and never returned.

It was also written about a Francisco de Grijalva who was sailing with Hernán Cortés at the same time.

Rodrigo de Grijalva was in Cuba in the same way in 1519, but he went together with Pánfilo de Narváez to New Spain in 1520.

There is also the doubt that Juan de Grijalva was related to Diego Velázquez because they were both born in Cuéllar, Spain.

References

1. Ruiza, M., Fernández, T. and Tamaro, E. Juan de Grijalva. Obtained from biografiasyvidas.com
2. Royal Academy of History. Juan de Grijalba. Obtained from dbe.rah.es
3. For all of Mexico. Biography of Juan de Grijalva. Obtained from paratodomexico.com
4. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Juan de Grijalba. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. The Biography. Biography of Juan de Grijalba (1490-1527). Retrieved from thebiography.us
6. Kicza, John E. Grijalva, Juan De (c. 1489–1527). Retrieved from encyclopedia.com