For the conquest of this imagined El Dorado, he prepared a small armament, under the command of Diego Velasquez, an ambitious and covetous leader, who, together with his lieutenant, Narvaez, soon established the Spanish authority in the island, of which he was appointed Governor.
Columbus, after coasting the shores of Cuba for a great distance, had always believed that it constituted a portion of the continent, but it was soon discovered that the illustrious admiral had been in error, and that Cuba, extensive as it appeared to be, was, in fact, only an island.
In February, 1517, a Spanish hidalgo, Hernandez de Cordova, set sail, with three vessels, towards the adjacent Bahamas in search of slaves. He was driven by a succession of severe storms on coasts which had hitherto been unknown to the Spanish adventurers, and finally landed on that part of the continent which forms the north-eastern end of the peninsula of Yucatan, and is known as Cape Catoché. Here he first discovered the evidence of a more liberal civilization than had been hitherto known among his adventurous countrymen in the New World. Large and solid buildings, formed of stone;—cultivated fields;—delicate fabrics of cotton and precious metals,—indicated the presence of a race that had long emerged from the semi-barbarism of the Indian Isles. The bold but accidental explorer continued his voyage along the coast of the peninsula until he reached the site of Campeché; and then, after an absence of seven months and severe losses among his men, returned to Cuba, with but half the number of his reckless companions. He brought back with him, however, numerous evidences of the wealth and progress of the people he had fortuitously discovered on the American main; but he soon died, and left to others the task of completing the enterprise he had so auspiciously begun. The fruits of his discoveries remained to be gathered by Velasquez, who at once equipped four vessels and entrusted them to the command of his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, and on the 1st of May, 1518, this new commander left the port of St. Jago de Cuba.