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- The Spanish recaptured Tenochtitlán in 1521, and in 1522 Alvarado became the city’s first alcalde (mayor or principal magistrate). In 1523 Alvarado conquered the Quiché and Cakchiquel of Guatemala, and in 1524 he founded Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala (Ciudad Vieja; present Antigua, Guatemala).
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The sources describing the Spanish conquest of Guatemala include those written by the Spanish themselves, among them two of four letters written by conquistador Pedro de Alvarado to Hernán Cortés in 1524, describing the initial campaign to subjugate the Guatemalan Highlands.
- Early Life
- Mexico & The Aztecs
- Guatemala & The Maya
- El Salvador & The Pipiles
- South America, Honduras, & Home
- Death
Pedro de Alvarado y Mesía was born around 1485 in Badajoz, Spain. Alvarado first came to prominence when he voyaged to Spain's first colony in the Americas, Hispaniola (modern Dominican Republic/Haiti) in the Caribbean in 1510. In 1518, he was part of the expedition sent by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465-1524), the Governor of Cuba, to explore th...
Alvarado was a professional soldier and second-in-command of the expedition led by Cortés which landed on the Mexican coast in 1519. Cortés and his conquistadors made their way to Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec civilization, after first defeating the Tlaxcalans. The Tlaxacalans then became allies when Cortés promised them spoils from victor...
In December 1523, Alvarado led a land expedition to explore the southern part of Mexico and beyond. The idea was to eventually link up with a fleet led by Cristóbal de Olid and so thoroughly incorporate this part of Central America into the colony of New Spain. Reaching Guatemala in 1524, Alvarado was able to take advantage of the smallpox epidemic...
Meanwhile, Alvarado had pressed on deeper south in June 1524 into what is today El Salvador. He defeated the Pipiles Indians at a battle near Acajutla but did not manage to control the region. The rainy season was not helpful, and two fortified cities, Cuscatlán and Izalco stood firm against Spanish attacks. Alvarado was badly wounded in the campai...
Alvarado seems to have been unable to resist the lure of action and adventure, and in 1534, he joined an expedition to link up with Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) in South America or, more accurately, to grab what he could of the collapsing golden Inca Empire before Pizarrodid. Pizarro was having some problems subduing an Inca last stand led by t...
Alvarado died in June-July 1541 near Guadalajara, Mexico. He had been killed from injuries sustained when his horse unseated him into a ravine and then fell on top of him while he was giving aid to his fellow conquistador Cristóbal de Oñate who was battling a local uprising in Nochistlán. This untimely end happened a few weeks before Alvarado had b...
- Mark Cartwright
Feb 28, 2024 · Almost exactly 500 years ago Hernán Cortés dispatched his brother-in-arms Pedro de Alvarado from newly subdued Tenochtitlán to conquer Guatemala. Violent and monumentally willful, Alvarado was a key lieutenant in the Spanish Crown’s conquest of Cuba in 1511 and Cortés’ deputy in defeating Moctezuma’s empire in 1521.
Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador who helped conquer Mexico and Central America for Spain in the 16th century. He also served as governor of Guatemala (1527–31, 1537–41). He died while attempting to quell an Indian uprising in central Mexico. Learn more about Alvarado.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
1523 - 1524. The conquistador Pedro de Alvarado leads the conquest of the Maya in Guatemala. Jul 1524. The Battle of Utatlan in which the last Maya resistance is crushed by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. Traditional date of the end of the Maya Civilization . 1525 - 1528. The conquistador Pedro de Alvarado leads the conquest of El Salvador.
- Mark Cartwright
- Publishing Director
The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonisation of the Americas, in which the Spanish conquistadores and their allies gradually incorporated the territory of the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Pedro de Alvarado passed through Soconusco with a sizeable force in 1523, en route to conquer Guatemala. Alvarado's army included hardened veterans of the conquest of the Aztecs, and included cavalry and artillery; [57] there were also a great many indigenous allies from Cholula , Tenochtitlan, Texcoco , Tlaxcala , and Xochimilco .
