North America 1517: Spanish–Mesoamerican contact
4 March 1517
4 Mar 1517
Spanish–Mesoamerican contact
Despite almost 25 years of Spanish colonial expansion in the Caribbean, open contact between the Spanish and the civilizations of Mesoamerica did not occur until 1517, when an expedition under Francisco Hernández de Córdoba encountered Maya boats off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Clashes broke out almost immediately and, after a difficult and violent month of exploration, Hernández limped back to Cuba, dying soon after. Even so, the news he brought back of wealthy and sophisticated Maya kingdoms roused excitement among the Spanish colonies.
