North America 1517: Spanish–Mesoamerican contact
4 March 1517
4 Mar 1517
The Conquistadors
1200–1492 Late Pre-Columbian Era
1492–1513 The Age of Columbus
1513–1604 The Conquistadors
1604–1821 NO MAPS FOR THIS PERIOD YET
1821–1842 Successors of New Spain
1842–1860 Manifest Destiny
1860–1865 American Civil War
1865–1898 Closing the Frontier
1898–1941 American Empire
1941–pres American Superpower
Spanish–Mesoamerican contact
Despite almost 25 years of Spanish colonial expansion in the Caribbean, open contact between the Spanish and the civilizations of Mesoamerica did not occur until 1517, when an expedition under Francisco Hernández de Córdoba encountered Maya boats off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Clashes broke out almost immediately and, after a difficult and violent month of exploration, Hernández limped back to Cuba, dying soon after. Even so, the news he brought back of wealthy and sophisticated Maya kingdoms roused excitement among the Spanish colonies.
