Adventurer, Warrior, and Legend: The Life of Gonzalo Guerrero
Few people in history can be said to have had a legacy as consequential as Gonzalo Guerrero, the Spanish Conquistador who turned Maya chief and father to a new people. Significant gaps exist in what we know about Gonzalo Guerrero’s life, but what we know is remarkable, considering the man lived 500 years ago.
From Spain to captivity
Gonzalo Guerrero was born in the late 15th century in Palos de la Frontera, Spain, a land of explorers and conquistadors. Like many men of his time, he sought adventure and fortune across the Atlantic. In 1511, while sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo, his ship wrecked off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, likely south of what today is the state of Quintana Roo. Guerrero and a handful of survivors, including the famous chronicler Jerónimo de Aguilar, washed ashore, only to be captured by the local Maya.
After the shipwreck and their capture by the Maya, Gonzalo Guerrero, Gerónimo de Aguilar, and eight other survivors were enslaved and, by 1514, entered the service of Nachan Can, halacha munich (governor) of what today is known as the city of Chactemal, now Chetumal.
While Aguilar clung to his Spanish identity and later served as Hernán Cortés’ interpreter, Guerrero took a different path, embracing the Maya way of life, earning his place among them through bravery and skill. Over time, not only did he become a full member of Maya society, but also a respected war captain, his body adorned with tattoos and his ears pierced in the Maya fashion — a far cry from the European soldier he once was. Though Guerrero is remembered more, it would be a disservice to Gerónimo de Aguilar not to acknowledge his role as one of the most important chroniclers of this period.
Guerrero, the family man
Having embraced his new life, Guerrero came upon a woman, Zazil Há, who happened to be the daughter of the Maya chief Na Chan Can. Their union would produce three children, likely the first mestizos, descendants of mixed European and Mesoamerican ancestry. Given that most people in Mexico and Mesoamerica are mestizo, this is a rather big deal.
When the famous Conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived on the Yucatán Peninsula in 1519, he heard rumors about Guerrero and other surviving Spaniards from the shipwreck. Cortés attempted to recruit them, but Guerrero refused, famously saying to Jerónimo de Aguilar, “Brother Aguilar, I am married and have three children, and the Indians look on me as a cacique (chief) and captain in wartime. You go, and God be with you. … But my face is tattooed and my ears are pierced. What would the Spaniards say if they saw me like this?”
Forced to pick sides
Having refused the summons of Cortés and the Spanish crown, Guerrero had effectively defected and was labeled a traitor. Chronicles of the era depict Guerrero fighting with the Maya at several locations, including Chetumal, Xaman Há (contemporary Playa del Carmen), and as far afield as Ticamaya in Honduras, where Gonzalo Guerrero fell in battle in 1536. Despite being covered in tattoos and wearing the battle regalia of the Maya, Guerrero was easily identifiable because of his thick beard — a feature uncommon among Mesoamerican peoples. Word of the fall of Guerrero spread through the ranks of both the Maya and the Spanish forces, making its way first to the Spanish governor of Honduras and then to Hernán Cortés, who had by then taken the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan over 10 years before during La Noche Triste on June 30, 1520.
A powerful legacy
Gonzalo Guerrero is remembered in Mexico, especially in Yucatán, as an important historical figure, but perhaps more as a symbol of the righteousness of the Maya’s defence of their homeland. Despite the fall of Yucatán and much of the American continent to the Spanish, Mesoamerica retains much of its ancestral traditions and ways of life. However, these were forever changed through the influence of the Spanish, the Christian faith, and centuries of bondage. Statues, murals, and other public works across the Yucatán Peninsula depict Gonzalo Guerrero and Zazil Há as proud symbols of resilience and the progenitors of the mestizo people.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer, adventure leader, and PhD candidate. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds multimedia, philosophy, and translation degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada and Norway.
