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Hi everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is
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Estoria's Unknown, a podcaster. We talk about Latin American history.
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Sometimes it's horrible and deals with tybe topics like racism, corruption,
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and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance,
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power and community. And today is about resistance and power.
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Woho and colonization. Okay, okay, I'm ready. Yeah. So when
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we learn about the colonization of the Americas, and I'm
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using that in quotations quote quote yeah, quote quote, it's
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always with the words of conquest and the conquistalles or
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the conquistadors. But as you know, not here, not in
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this house, in this podcast. Yes, today I'm telling you
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the story of one colonizer and has failed attempt at
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the colonization of Yucatan. Okay, I love a feled attempt,
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I know, I love a failure. I'm calling this Francisco Ernandez,
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failed colonizer. And yes, it's a behind the bastos, because
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any colonizer is automatically as a failed basto, a loser,
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if you will, loser. So there's not a lot of
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info out there on him specifically, so like really, really,
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it's not a behind the because that's like a deep
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dive into a person and the horrible things they did. Right,
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and this is like the only thing out there about
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him is that he was Spanish. He was a conquistello
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slash colonizer, and he put together this failed expedition and
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that's literally all really, So other than him being from
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Cordoba and the Luisa esp Espanya, that's really all there is. Ispana.
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He was part of a group of colonizers that colonized Cuba,
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and he was a rich enslaver in Cuba, which I
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think they had another name for it, but I was
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like whatever, I'm not calling it that, Like, the Spanish
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had another name for Guba. Yeah, originally it was called
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something else. You know how they had like long ass
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names for everything. Yeah, So that's what he was, a
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rich enslaver. And in fifteen sixteen, he, together with another
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two very rich enslavers, decided to put together an expedition
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known today as the Dnandez de Cordoba Expedition, the Failure
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of an expedition. So each of these three enslavers slash
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colonizers contributed one thy five hundred to two thousand castellanos
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for this voyage and it was supposed to go to
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the Lukeyan Archipelago. The hell is that this is a
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group of islands. Oh I say, I'm like, I know,
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it's like a place I think, but I didn't realize. Okay, Yeah,
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so it's made up of the Bahamas, Turks and Turks
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and Caicos and then the north of Cuba. It's that
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set of islands, Okay. And this expedition had one sole purpose,
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can you guess, to find go to capture and slave
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more people. I probably should have realized that. Let's pretend
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I knew that all along. I mean, it was gonna
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be one of two. You were half like I was
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gonna say, to find to find what mermaids the local
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population of the now colonized Cuba this and I think
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we all know this by now. But the indigenous people
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were enslaved first, and then you know, eventually they had
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to bring in Africans. And this is the start of
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the what is it called the North North Transatlantic transatlantic Yeah, yeah,
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slave trade where they trafficked people to enslave them, like
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the Spanish literally started it. And it was because they
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were killing off the indigenous population and they needed more
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people to enslave. So this was already happening. They had
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just been in Cuba for three years and the indigenous
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population they were dying in great numbers due to either
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the violence of the colonizers or their diseases. So they
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the Spanish, needed more people to enslave, and with the
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blessing of the crown, through Diego of Alaska's the Quayad,
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who also contributed a ship, they had approval, they had
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the permission to do this. He was the so they
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go of Alaska Zaquayad was the appointed first governor of
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Cuba and he led the first expedition that got them there.
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So that's who he is, and so he gave them
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permission to do more of this because he's like, well
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where we to hear and we need more enslaved people,
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so let's do it. So Francis Francis gordanaz Cordova was
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named the captain and by the time they were ready
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to go, they had a crew of sailors, soldiers, a
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chaplain of notary enslaved Cubans, three ships and provisions. The
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main pilots so you know, the person driving the ship
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if you will, what they call it pilot, and all
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those sorts of captain because the captain was Francisco and oh, okay,
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so I think he has the title of captain because
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he's in charge of the whole thing and then each person.
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And again, I know driving is the wrong word, but
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like sailing, they're sailing. Yeah. So the main pilot was
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Anton Almos and he had been on a voyage with
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another famous colonizer, Christopher Columbus. Yes, how did you know, Lucky? Yes? Okay, wow.
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And then the pilots of the other two ships were
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Juan Alvarez and Cacho Triana. That sounds like a fake name, right,
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And most of the crew had been Oh this is
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the name. So most of the crew had been in
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Castilla del Oro. This is what they're calling. Oh, they
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called Cuba Castillo de Oro. Yes, interesting, Castilla Delro Castilla.
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So most of the crew had been in Castilla de
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Loro for three years, and they were complaining that none
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of them had done anything worth telling. Okay, like what
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do they mean by that? Good? That means you're not
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working havoc. Yeah, And honestly, there's nothing more dangerous than
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a board colonizer, right, I'm thinking of It really came
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to like a board, ninety year old overseas in the military,
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who you know, Like, I don't know the same thing.
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Violence is bordering in there, yeah yeah, harboring, Yeah, harboring,
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that's the right word. So there is debate on the
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exact time of departure from Cuba. They're barely leaving, they
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haven't done anything yet, but they want a story worth telling, Okay,
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So there's debate on the exact time of the departure.
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Some sources say February fifteen, seventeen, others say February eighth,
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specifically of that year. But they left Havana and they
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went along the Cuban coast up to Gapez and Antone,
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and again I was like, what are these names? Because
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we can encounter this in the Spookitales episode that's going
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to come out where I was like, what's a gaye?
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So a gap? It is a coastal landform that is
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high then has a sheer drop that extends into a
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body of water that is characterized by high breaking waves
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and rocky shores. It turned out halfway. I don't know
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if that is God. So like there's like a steep
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clip cliff, yeah yeah, in shorts, Yes, intummation, yes, and
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so from this Gape san Antone, then they went out
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to sea, and now they're not in the coast of
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Cuba anymore. They're out in the elements. And so this
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is possibly the twentieth and or twenty first of furbigory.
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Now and this is where things get even murkier. Some
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people say they had a fixed and planned route that
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was just supposed to take them basically on the other
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side of like Cuba, the edges where they hadn't been yet,
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or like other nearby islands where they were looking for
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locals to enslave. Others say they didn't ever have like
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a planned route, but most likely that was their destination,
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not where they ended up. So then there was a
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storm that blew them off course. Others say it was
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in a storm but strong currents. Others say that the
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ship there was never a storm that steered them off course.
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They purposely went somewhere else, okay. So no stories, okay,
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conflicting stories. Point is they ended up somewhere else than
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where they intended to be, Yukatan, okay. So they were
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trying to get to the other side of Kuba and
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they ended up in Yukatan Yukatan. Yes, yeah, okay, and
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they were either either this was intentional or they were
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veered that way by a storm something happened. So then
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again things don't there's not there's different stories here, but
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they either all this is either taking place over a
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course of four days, six days, twenty one days, or
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even up to forty like wow, that many different accounts
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and none can be like verified for sure. Okay. But
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at some point early March, this expedition made it to
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the Yukatan Peninsula accidentally or intentionally, when that's how the
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story goes. And so again, like so many other things
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about this whole tail, it's also contested what their first
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stop was. Some sources say a place called Kape, others
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say Punta the Yukata or Punta muherrees, but most historians
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land that at the consensus that it's Kape where they landed.
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And so you know, they're not supposed to be here.
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They've been rerided from their original voyage, and so they
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spotted some land and docked because they needed to recollect themselves,
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gathered supplies and shit, right, so they land dock whatever
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their ships and so from their ships six miles in land,
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they can see a large town. And up to this
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point in the colonization of the Americas, they had not
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encountered a city this big, at least this group hadn't.
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So they were like, wow, what's that They named a
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great guitle That's not what it was, So it was
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already a place. Yeah, So they decided to go take
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a look at this quote unquote new discovery. And the
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most agreed upon dates of them meeting with the indigenous
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Maya of this region is March fourth, fifteen seventeen. So
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as they're thinking we should go check out that large city,
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it looks amazing, they're approached by indigenous Maya in these
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canoes called pirogus and so there's ten canoes of them
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and I think it's kau canoe. Oh thanks, And it's
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one of those words there's fucking you and there. How
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am I supposed to know that? I only know that
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because I think one time we were like looking at
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a canoe or kayak to use, and then we went
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to like Taho and then yeah, I'm pretty sure it's okay, Okay,
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Well they're approached by ten canoes. Okay, that sounds right. Yeah. Yeah,
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And this first encounter with the Maya on these canoes
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is peaceful. They exchanged green beads and gifts and stuff,
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and allegedly this is where the name Yukatan comes from.
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So the Spanish asked the Maya what is this land,
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and the Maya were answering, I don't understand you, and
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the Spanish heard yukatan and then like otan. Really they
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were most likely saying, our house is our homeland. Oh
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probably yeah. There's another book called the History of the
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Indians of New Spain written in fifteen forty one by
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Frey Couribio Benavente, and he wrote the following, because speaking
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with those engines of that coast, to that which the
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Spaniards asked, the Indians responded, tank tatan, which means I
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don't understand you. I don't understand you. The Christians corrupted
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the word and not understanding what the Indians meant, said
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Yukatan is the name of the land. And the same
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happened with the kape by the land they are, which
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they named Kape of Koto, and Koto in that language
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means house. There's yet another version. Again, so many different versions,
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because the Spanish they don't know what they're doing. They
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only know one thing, and that's violence. That's something to colonize. Yeah,
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Francisco Lopeze Gomara, he wrote that the Maya were saying yogatan,
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which means language, and so they weren't saying this is Yugatan.
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They were saying Yogatan, like do you speak Yogatan maybe,
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and so either way, the Spanish didn't know what the
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Maya were saying, and they were like, this is Yugatan
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and that's how things went down, and it's Yugatan today, right,
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And they were just going around they mean things whatever
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they wanted. Of course, the Spanish were allowed to go
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check out the city and they were amazed at what
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they were seeing. The pyramids, the temples, the golden ornaments
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that the people were wearing. These were all things that
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they had not seen before. And at this point of
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the journey they considered going back to Gouga to return
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with a stronger fleet to find gold because of the
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people who were wearing gold, then it's coming from somewhere.
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But instead curiosity got the best of them and they like,
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we're going to explore more in hope to finding more
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gold themselves instead of coming back with more people. So
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from here this peaceful encounter they had with the people here.
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They went back to their ships and they headed south.
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Instead of like re routing back to where they were
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supposed to originally go, they were like, let's keep exploring
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this area. So they headed south and again, so many
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contradicting stories, but there's another account of what actually happened
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here in this first encounter with them. So others say,
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some say, what I just said, that's what happened. It
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was a peaceful encounter. The Spanish returned and then they
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headed south. Others say that there was a battle, and
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so this first encounter or the second, okay, the first, yeah.
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So this account states that the first ten pirogus or
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canoes that went to meet the Spanish promised to return
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the next day with more things to give to the Spanish,
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and they did. But when they returned, the shore was
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full of natives and it was an ambush, and the
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Spanish were attacked with slings, stones, arrows, and pikes, and
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they were outnumbered. So they ran back to the ship,
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but they did manage to capitre two men who received
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the names Huali Nigo and Melcho Reco, who would then
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become their first interpreters and so like they did have
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these two interpreters with them, But the peaceful version of
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the story claims that Julia Nigo and Melcho Reco were
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part of the ten canoes that approached them first and
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just like begged them to take them to work with them. Mmm.
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I feel like the truth is somewhere in the middle,
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but also I believe that account less same same, but
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they did have these two interpreters with them, So yeah,
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and then you know, they go back to the ships
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and so from this point they're moving only by day
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because anton de Alaminos, the main captain or the main pilot,
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it believe you got that was an island and that
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they had to like move slowly so they wouldn't miss