The film's story of the European that has reached a legend in America. Turned against his own people after he was sent to rob the New World

One of the most interesting stories in history is that of Gonzalo Guererro, a conquistador who wanted to plunder the new world. But he came to convert to the religion and culture of the Americans, helping them to fight the invaders. It was the fiercest enemy of his own people.

Gonzalo Guerrero Photo TheHistorianshut.com

History is sprinkled with fascinating stories, some invented, others as real as possible. From Ghilgameș to El Cid and the heroes of the twentieth century, there are stories known by almost everyone, inspirational and full of learning. Even many of them have become a subject of novel, film or musical compositions. Among these are a story little known to the general public, but just as fascinating. It is the epic of Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spaniard who came to plunder the new world and kill in the name of the king, but his life has taken a turn that no one would have expected and which rewrite the whole destiny.

A brave sailor from the land of conqueradors

Gonzalo Guerrero does not know much biogical data. The one who offered the most information about this fascinating character was the priest Jeronimo de Aguila, with whom Gonzalo was a prisoner at the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula, part of the Mexico. About Gonzalo Guerrero we also find from Francisco de Montejo, a Spanish nobleman who came to conquer the territories of Central America in the sixteenth century, on behalf of the Spanish crown. From what Jeronimo de Aguilar and Francisco de Montejo have confessed and told that this Gonzalo Guerrero was born somewhere at the end of the fifteenth century in Palos from Frontra, a locality in southern Spain, in Andalusia province. This place is said to have been a land of explorers and conqueradors, people of the sea and the war.

Guerrero is supposed to be born in the family of such a conqueristador. Certainly the young Spanish has left to seek adventure, fame and wealth in the New World. America was barely discovered by Columbus and aroused a special fascination. In 1511 we meet him in the area of ​​Central America, navigating between the ports just founded by the conquistadors in the name of the Spanish crown. He had left to discover new lands, to rob and conquer the native peoples. As the priest Jeronimo de Aguilar to Hernan Cortes, in 1519 or 1520, will tell him, the ship with Gonzalo Guerrero and 17 other sailors and soldiers failed on a sandbank between Colonia Darién, Panama and Hispaniola. Aguila said that he and seventeen other people on the shipwreck, including Guerrero, saved themselves in a rowing boat and tried to reach Cuba or Jamaica.

However, the strong storms and currents forced the small boat to float for 13 days on the ocean. Finally, desperate to remain without supplies, the nine survivors who had survived have seen the earth. It was a beach in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico today.

From slave to great Mayan general. The conqueror who found a new homeland

Also from the priest Jeronimo de Aguilar we also find the continuation of the story, as he was told to Hernan Cortes, the famous Spanish Conquistador, a conqueror of the Aztec Empire. The priest together with Guerrero and another seven sailors and conquerors managed to reach the beaches. They were happy to survive the ocean's anger. The joy, however, was short -lived. They had been on the territory of the Maya, a strong Meso -American civilization that mastered that territory. A group of Mayan warriors spotted it and the group of conquistadors was captured. They were handed over to the great Halach Uinic, the leader of the province of Ecab from the northern province of Quintana Roo, from today's Mexico. Halach Uinic, at the urging of the priests, decided to sacrifice some of the Spanish prisoners to improve the gods. It is known that the Meso -American peoples practiced bloody human sacrifices in the name of the gods. The others enslaved and put them in heavy work, slave.

One by one the captives gave way to diseases, overload and cruelty of the masters. Only Jeronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero survived. When it became clear that their lives were in danger again, they managed to escape and fled to the woods. Shortly after, they were caught again by the Mayan, but this time by the warriors of another Cacique (no, military leader), the leader of Xaman-Ha (no Playa del Carmen). The courage, dignity and especially Guerrero's stature impressed the Mayan leader. He offered the two prisoners to the governor of the city (no now chetumal), called Nachan Can. Chactemal was one of the biggest and most powerful Mayan cities of that period.

The transformation of Gonzalo Guerrero Photo Nuestrahistoria.com

While Aguillary has retained its culture and especially faith, Gonzalo Guerrero has become more and more fascinated by the Mayan culture (or maybe he just wanted to survive and escape the slave status). It is certain that Guerrero begins to follow the path of the Meso -Americans. He tattooed his body, drilled his ears and lower lip to introduce discs. Including the hair and arranged it like the Mayan. The only memory of his Spanish origin was the white skin and the beard he decided to keep. In a short time, due to the courage and especially the military skill, Guerrero gained trust to the Mayan. He escaped the slave status and became “Nacom”, that is, a Mayan warrior. He noticed in the intertrobal struggles and became a military leader.

He even got to marry the daughter of an important Mayan nobleman. Together with her she had three children. “When he was asked about Gonzalo Guerrero, he said he was married and had three children, that he was tattooed, that he had the ears and the lower lip, that he was a sailor and originally from Palos and that the Indians considered him very brave.”wrote the conqueror Bernal Diaz in the “true story of the conquest of the new Spain.” Bernal Diaz met the Aguillar, heard the stories and even led some expeditions to the new world. Including in the region where Guerrero had become a leader. “I consider me here a Cacique (no military deer) and a captain in time of war”confessed to Gonzalo Guerrero, to the Aguillary priest. The conqueror who came to conquer the New World has left himself conquered by a new culture.

The great white warrior, an enemy of his country

Although he could be saved and brought back to Spain, Guerrero did not want to hear. It had become part of the Mayan world. Here he had found his purpose. In March 1517, the expedition of Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba arrived in the city of Campeche in Yucatan. What happened there was a strange experience for the Spaniards. Just a few days earlier, the conquerors were attacked by the natives in an ambush, but in Campeche, the Mayan guests them to take a tour of the city. Bernal Díaz del Castillo was one of the approximately one hundred explorers who entered the city that day and would later write about his experiences in his text about the conquest of the new Spain. According to his report, the leaders in Campeche ordered the lifting of big prayers and explained by the Spanish gestures that they could visit the city until the fires are extinguished.

The conquerors admired the local fashion, architecture and culture before hurrying to leave the city as soon as the fires began to extinguish. After this visit, Bernal Diaz and other Spaniards remained amazed by one thing: part of the locals knew Spanish words. In 1519, Hernan Cortes came with a new expedition, with 11 ships and 500 people. Listening to what Bernal had told him, Hernan Cortes was convinced that there were Spanish prisoners in the area. Decided to redeem them. He hired a group of natives to ask them to look for and bring them to the Spanish prisoners. After 12 days, a big canoe appeared in Cozumel, an island on which Hernan Cortes had settled to be safe. From it, a man went down to rags, who seemed to be Spanish, accompanied by six natives. “He was wearing an old, very crushed pilgrim, and a shaken shawl to cover the intimate parts; and in the pilgrim there was an object that proved to be a very old prayer book.”wrote Bernal Diaz. When he met with the conquerors, the man spoke a prayer to God and to “Most Blessed Maria from Seville”which convinced him to be Spanish. He was the priest Jeronimo de Aquilar, the only shipwreck to return to his homeland. Not before serving Hernan Cortes as a translator in his conquest campaigns. Gonzalo Guerrero has refused redemption and announced that he stays with his new people.

Guerrero's statue of Akumal Photo Wikipedia

Moreover, Guerrero fully did his duty as the head of Mayan war, especially against the Spanish Conquistaders. The Spaniard became Mayan has learned their new people how to build effective fortresses, defense towers, how to turn to their unknown combat tactics. In addition, he taught him the weaknesses of the enemy. In the campaigns of 1526 and 1527, launched by the conqueror Francisco de Montejo, he was shocked to notice that the Mayans are effectively led by Guerrero. Instead of a rapid conquest of the Yucatan peninsula, the conquerors struggled for 20 years with the area defended by Guerrero and his Mayan warriors. While the Aztecs, the most powerful military force in the area, collapsed quickly under the strokes of Hernan Cortes's conquers, the Mayan communities on the East Coast were incredible. The Spaniards were convinced that they were helped by one of theirs.

A legend in Mesoamerica

It is assumed that Guerrero died in battle, along with his new people, against the conquerors, in the battle of Puerto Caballos, on today's territory of the state of Honduras, probably in 1546. Gonzalo Guerrero would have between 50 and 54 when he had fallen to his forehead, while he retired. It is said that the conquerors found his body. Although tattooed and with ornaments specific to the Mayan civilization, he still wore his famous beard. The statue representing Guerrero and his Mayan family can be seen today at Akumal and Chetumal. In addition, on the first floor of the government offices in Merida, Yucatan, is a painting of the famous artist Fernando Castro Pacacho, with Guerrero and his family.

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