Gonzalo Guerrero: The Spanish soldier who became a Mayan warrior
Born in Spain in the early 16th century, he served as a soldier in the Spanish army and participated in the Spanish conquest of the Americas. However, his life took an unexpected turn when he was shipwrecked off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in 1511 and was taken captive by the Maya.
Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya lord, married a maya princess and raised three of the first mestizo children in the Americas.
After battle that occurred in late June 1536 between Pedro de Alvarado and a local Honduran cacique named Çiçumba, the naked and tattooed body of a Spaniard was found dead within Çiçumba's town of Ticamay. According to Cereceda, this Spaniard had come over with 50 war-canoes from Chetumal early in 1536, to help Çiçumba fight the Spanish who were attempting to colonize his lands. The Spaniard was killed by an arquebus shot. Guerrero was approximately 66 years old when he died.