Cortés had sent Mexican allies to scout…

Cortés had sent Mexican allies to scout the Soconusco region of lowland Chiapas, where they met new delegations from Iximche and Q'umarkaj at Tuxpán; both of the powerful highland Maya kingdoms had declared their loyalty to the king of Spain.

Cortés' allies in Soconusco soon inform him that the K'iche' and the Kaqchikel ae not loyal, and are instead harassing Spain's allies in the region.

Cortés has dispatched Pedro de Alvarado with one hundred and eighty cavalry, three hundred infantry, crossbows, muskets, four cannons, large amounts of ammunition and gunpowder, and thousands of allied Mexican warriors.

Alvarado's army includes hardened veterans of the conquest of the Aztecs, and includes cavalry and artillery; there are also a great many indigenous allies from Cholula, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlaxcala, and Xochimilco.

When the army leaves the Basin of Mexico, it may have included as many as twenty thousand native warriors from various kingdoms, although the exact numbers are disputed.

By the time the army crosses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the massed native warriors included eight hundred from Tlaxcala, four hundred from Huejotzingo, sixteen hundred from Tepeaca plus many more from other former Aztec territories.

They arrive in Soconusco in early 1524.

Further Mesoamerican warriors were recruited from the Zapotec and Mixtec provinces, with the addition of more Nahuas from the Aztec garrison in Soconusco.

Alvarado is received in peace in Soconusco, and the inhabitants swear allegiance to the Spanish Crown.

They report that neighboring groups in Guatemala are attacking them because of their friendly outlook towards the Spanish.

Alvarado's letter to Cortés describing his passage through Soconusco is lost, and knowledge of events there come from the account of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who was not present, but related the report of Gonzalo de Alvarado.

By 1524, Soconusco has been completely pacified by Alvarado and his forces.

The conquistadors are all volunteers, the majority of whom do not receive a fixed salary but instead a portion of the spoils of victory, in the form of precious metals, land grants and provision of native labor.

Many of the Spanish are already experienced soldiers who had previously campaigned in Europe.

Other early conquistadors included Pedro de Alvarado's brothers Gómez de Alvarado, Jorge de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Alvarado y Contreras; and his cousins Gonzalo de Alvarado y Chávez, Hernando de Alvarado and Diego de Alvarado.

Pedro de Portocarrero is a nobleman who joins the initial invasion.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo is a petty nobleman who accompanies Hernán Cortés when he crosses the northern lowlands, and Pedro de Alvarado on his invasion of the highlands.

In addition to Spaniards, the invasion force probably includes dozens of armed enslaved Africans and free men.