6 
Introduction 
Río de las Palmas (Río Grande). The ever alert Cortés, who had already 
conquered Mexico and had established a settlement at the mouth of the 
Río Pánuco, would brook no rival in that quarter; before the end of the 
year Garay died a prisoner of Cortés, and the latter’s jurisdiction over 
the Tampico region remained unquestioned. 
At the same time that Garay was attempting to settle Vitoria Garayana 
interest in the Florida region was developing. On the basis of claims 
established in 1521 Lucas Vásquez de Ayllon was in 1523 named adelan¬ 
tado and governor of a vast region lying north of Florida. In 1526 a 
temporary settlement called San Miguel de Gualdape was founded by 
Ayllon on the Atlantic coast in the neighborhood of 33 0 N., but after the 
death of the leader the expedition went to pieces and the survivors re¬ 
turned to Santo Domingo. The same year Panfilo de Narváez was given 
the right to explore, conquer, and settle that region extending from 
Florida to the Rio de las Palmas, which region was at the same time of¬ 
ficially designated as the jurisdiction of Rio de las Palmas. Reaching the 
Tampa Bay region in 1527, and thinking that he was near the Rio de las 
Palmas, Narváez with over 300 followers marched inland. Unfortu¬ 
nately missing connection with the fleet that was to have co-operated with 
the party inland, and becoming discouraged, the 252 survivors finally set 
out in September in improvised boats from St. Marks Bay for Pánuco. 
After days of hardship two boats, bearing over eighty men, of whom 
Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and Andrés Dorantes 
were the best known, were cast on the Texas shore. Following eight years 
of servitude and wandering these three men, accompanied by a negro 
slave, Estevánico, finally reached Culiacán, which was at that time the 
northernmost Spanish outpost in the west. Aside from being the first to 
traverse the continent so far north, these men brought reports that were 
to lead the Spaniards still further to the north. 
Mention has been made of the fact that the year following the Grijalva 
expedition Hernando Cortés landed at San Juan de Ulua with a force that 
had been recruited in Cuba. Under the original plans, Cortés and Gov¬ 
ernor Velásquez were to have been partners in the undertaking, but as the 
result of a break between the two Cortés left Cuba in February, 1519, 
with over 500 followers in open defiance of his superior. Landing at 
San Juan de Ulua in April, 1519, he founded the municipality of Villa 
Rica de la Vera Cruz. From there, having been chosen by the municipality 
as governor and chief justice of the land—pending confirmation by the 
crown—and acknowledging only the superior authority of the king, 
Cortés set about to overthrow the empire of the Montezumas, with its 
capital located inland at Mexico-Tenochtitlán. The sinking of his ships; 
the alliance with the revolutionary element of the empire and with the 
Tlascalans, hereditary enemies of Montezuma; the massacre of the per¬ 
fidious Cholulans; the imprisonment of Montezuma in his own capital; 
the defeat of Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Governor Velásquez to arrest 
Cortés; the winning over to his side of all of Narváez’s force; and, finally, 
the recapture of the City of Mexico on August 13, 1521, following its 
enforced abandonment on June 13, 1520—all these constitute a series of 
well-known high-handed acts by which Cortés achieved his ambition. 
