Hernandez de Cordoba Sights Yucatan

1517

A Spanish slaving expedition, blown off course from Cuba, stumbled onto a coastline of stone pyramids and brightly painted cities. Maya warriors cut most of the crew to pieces. The survivors crawled back with tales of riches, inflaming the young Hernan Cortes with ideas about mainland conquest. The encounter with Maya stone architecture overturned assumptions that mainland America held only simple village societies like the Caribbean's.