Cortés continues around the tip of the…
April 1519 CE
Cortés continues around the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula after leaving Cozumel and lands at Potonchán, where there is little gold.
Located on the left bank of the Tabasco River, which is christened the Grijalva River by the Spaniards, and according to the chronicles of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a league from the coast, Potonchán is the capital of the cacicazgo of Tabasco, and is one of two principal cities of the Chontal Maya, along with Itzamkanac, capital of the cacicazgo of Acalán.
However, unlike Itzamkanac, which is located in the middle of the jungle, Potonchán is a maritime port and fluvial, which allows it to have an intense commercial exchange both with the towns of the Yucatán Peninsula and with those of the central High Plains.
The Chontal Maya take full advantage of their environment, using the rivers as routes of transportation and communication with different Mayan cities and provinces.
They are good navigators and merchants and control many maritime routes around the Yucatán Peninsula, from the Laguna de Términos in Campeche to the center of Sula in Honduras.
At a point located between the current states of Tabasco and Campeche, the Mexica port of Xicalango is found, with which Potochán has fought countless wars for control of the territory.
The last of these great wars had been won by Potonchán just before the year 1512.
In tribute, the people of Xicalango had presented several young women to the chief Tascoob, one of which is Malintzin (famed as "La Malinche"), who is given to Cortés, along with nineteen other young women, after he defeats the the forces of Potonchán in the Battle of Centla in 1519.
He he converts all twenty to Christianity.
La Malinche, his future mistress and mother of his son Martín, knows both the Nahuatl language and the Chontal Maya, thus enabling Cortés to communicate with the Aztecs through Aguilar.
After the native defeat, Cortés founds the first Spanish settlement in New Spain, the town of Santa María de la Victoria, on top of Potonchán.