Juan de Grijalva (1490 – 1527) was a Spanish discoverer and conquistador who participated in various explorations during the early years of the Spanish conquest of America. Among the territories that he toured are Cuba, Yucatan, Tabasco, Veracruz and the Gulf of Mexico.
Born in Castilla, the biography of Juan de Grijalva is little known. It is known that he arrived in America very soon 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.
Later, Juan de Grijalva commanded an expedition to the coast of present-day Mexico. During his journey he explored Yucatán 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 to return to Cuba after a few months of exploration. There he fell out with Diego Velázquez, for which he placed himself under the orders of Francisco de Garay 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 the command of Pedrarias, he went to Central America to confront the indigenous people who were resisting the Spanish advance. In January 1527, Juan Grijalva died during one of the clashes with the natives.
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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.
Some sources affirm that Grijalva was also a relative of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, while others indicate 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 conquistadors subdued the indigenous peoples who 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 resided at the time.
Later, Juan de Grijalva participated in the foundation of Trinidad, a town where he had been named 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 begun to explore the Gulf of Mexico. This exploration is considered the discoverer of the Yucatan, despite the fact that some sources indicate the existence of Spanish survivors of shipwrecks 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 indigenous people and some samples of the riches 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 enthusiastic 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
The ships left from the port of Matanzas, in Cuba, on April 8, 1518. On April 3, they discovered a new island, the current Cozumel, which they named Santa Cruz de Puerta Latina.
Upon arriving in Yucatan, the expedition members toured 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 journey caused considerable damage to the ships, which is why they were forced to divert 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 Mayan capital city of the Tabscoob manor. There he met with the cacique, to whom he gave a green velvet doublet.
The explorer 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 baptized as Santo Antón. Finally, they reached Veracruz, where Grijalva decided to give the name of San Juan de Ulúa to the strip of land that is on the bay.
veracruz
The discovery of San Juan de Ulúa occurred on June 19, when the Spaniards landed in a natural port that they named 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 discrepancies 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.
However, the expedition encountered very hostile natives at the mouth of the Pánuco River and, furthermore, 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 arrived in Santiago de Cuba.
Aztec empire
One of the important events that took place during the exploration led by Juan de Grijalva was the discovery of the existence of the Aztec Empire.
After disembarking in Tabasco, the indigenous Maya-Chontales 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».
According to the chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the meeting during which the natives communicated to the Spaniards the existence of the Aztec Empire took place as follows:
“…they perfumed all of us 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 good will, that they had no more gold, that ahead, towards where the sun sets, there is a lot, and they said: Colúa, colúa, and Mexico, Mexico, and we did not know what Colúa was, not even Mexico.
Dismissal
When Juan de Grijalva arrived in Cuba, he found that Diego Velázquez had decided to seize command of future expeditions from him.
Although the reasons are not entirely clear, some historians claim that it was due to the decision not to establish colonies in the newly discovered lands. The governor based himself on the report that Pedro de Alvarado had presented to him 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 soldier 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 was to reach a garrison that had been previously 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 meet with 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.
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 head of the expedition had harassed continuously.
When Cortés found out about 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 intended 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 conquest expedition.
Honors
The Grijalva River bears the name of 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 flows 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 granted to him in 1538 for his work for the benefit 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 lastly, 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 Mexican government paid another tribute to Juan de Grijalva. On June 8, 2018, a bust of this Spanish explorer was unveiled 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 together 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 carried out.
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 from. It is known that he was together with Cortés in 1520.
He made some discoveries, such as the island of Sao Tome and…