Spanish conquest of Honduras

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Spanish conquest of Honduras
Part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas
Lempira stabbing a conquistador during the Spanish conquest, painting by Armando Lara
Date 1524 – c. 1539 Location Honduras, Central America Result Spanish victory Territorial changes Incorporation of Honduras into the Spanish Empire
Belligerents
Spanish Empire, including Indian auxiliaries	Indigenous peoples of Honduras, including: Chorotega people Ch'ol Maya people Ch'orti' Maya people Jicaque people Lenca people Pech people Pipil people Sumu people
Commanders and leaders
Hernán Cortés Pedro de Alvarado Francisco de Montejo	Q'alel Sicumba Lempira

The Spanish conquest of Honduras was a 16th-century conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas in which the territory that now comprises the Republic of Honduras, one of the seven states of Central America, was incorporated into the Spanish Empire. In 1502, the territory was claimed for the king of Spain by Christopher Columbus on his fourth and final trip to the New World. The territory that now comprises Honduras was inhabited by a mix of indigenous peoples straddling a transitional cultural zone between Mesoamerica to the northwest, and the Intermediate Area to the southeast. Indigenous groups included Maya, Lenca, Pech, Miskitu, Mayangna (Sumu), Jicaque, Pipil and Chorotega. Two indigenous leaders are particularly notable for their resistance against the Spanish; the Maya leader Sicumba, and the Lenca ruler referred to as Lempira (a title meaning "Lord of the Mountain").

In March 1524, Gil González Dávila became the first Spaniard to arrive in what is now Honduras with the intention of conquest. He founded the first Spanish port upon the Caribbean coast, Puerto de Caballos, which became an important staging post for later expeditions. The early decades of the Spanish conquest of Honduras were beset by jurisdictional disputes between different Spanish colonies attempting to invade the territory, which resulted in conflict between rival expeditions launched from Mexico, Hispaniola, and Panama. The Spanish territory was reorganised as Higueras in the west, and Honduras in the east. As the Spanish became established throughout Central America, the colony of Honduras-Higueras became involved in territorial disputes with neighbouring colonies in Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.

From 1530, the colonists became the arbiters of power, installing and deposing governors. Spanish government in Honduras was riven by factionalism. As a response to the growing anarchy, the colonists requested that Pedro de Alvarado intervene. Alvarado arrived in 1536, put an end to the political infighting, and gained an important victory over Sicumba, a Maya leader in the Ulúa Valley. Alvarado founded two towns that later became important, San Pedro de Puerto Caballos (later to become San Pedro Sula) and Gracias a Dios.

In 1537, Francisco de Montejo was appointed governor. As soon as he arrived in Honduras, he cancelled the land distribution carried out by Alvarado. In that year, a great native uprising spread throughout Honduras, led by the Lenca ruler Lempira. Lempira held out for six months at his formidable stronghold at the Peñol de Cerquín ("Rock of Cerquín") before he was killed, during which time the uprising across Honduras threatened the existence of the Spanish colony. After Lempira's death, Montejo and his captain Alonso de Cáceres rapidly imposed Spanish dominion across most of Honduras; the main phase of the Spanish conquest was complete by 1539, although Olancho and the east were not brought within the Spanish Empire for some decades to come.