Guerrero's guerrilla tactics defeat Montejo at Champoton in 1530. Francisco Montejo attempted to conquer Yucatan from 1526 onward with 250 men and four ships Gonzalo Guerrero trained the Maya in hit-and-run guerrilla tactics Guerrero wrote fake letters to Spanish captains to lure them into ambushes
Gonzalo Guerrero was a Spanish castaway who led Maya armed resistance at Puente del Obispo in 1528, teaching them guerrilla tactics. Some sources claim guerrilla warfare was named after him—but the term actually comes from 19th-century Spain's resistance to Napoleon.
Key Facts
- Francisco Montejo attempted to conquer Yucatan from 1526 onward with 250 men and four ships
- Gonzalo Guerrero trained the Maya in hit-and-run guerrilla tactics
- Guerrero wrote fake letters to Spanish captains to lure them into ambushes
- At Champoton in 1530, Guerrero tricked Montejo's forces by feigning surrender then ambushing them
- Montejo's forces were nearly wiped out at Champoton
- From 1530 to 1535, Montejo failed to establish any foothold on the Yucatan mainland
- Guerrero died in 1536 defending Puente del Obispo against Pedro de Alvarado's forces
Related site: Puente del Obispo — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: The Conquistador who became a Maya War Captain by Archaeologist Ed Barnhart