Captain Juan de Grijava - San Miguel de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 20° 31.199 W 086° 56.640
16Q E 505838 N 2269025
A statue of Captain Juan de Grijava, who first claimed Cozumel for the Spanish king, is located facing the Two Cultures Monument on the located on the Malecon, Avenida Rafael E. Melgar in San Miguel de Cozumel, Mexico.
Waymark Code: WM106QR
Location: Quintana Roo, Mexico
Date Posted: 03/09/2019
Views: 0
A life size bronze statue of the Spanish explorer who discovered and claimed Cozumel for Spain in 1518, Captain Juan de Grijava, stands on a 8' high two tiered stone platform. Juan de Grijava is wearing a broad brimmed hat, a long frock coat, and knee-length boots. He has chains around his neck, carries a walking stick in his right hand, and a sheathed sword hangs from his left side as he is looking across the plaza towards the Two Cultures Monument.
Below in an inscription from the writings of Spanish chronicler Bernal Diaz del Castillo quoting Captain Juan de Grijava as he discovered Cozumel and a brief description of how Cozumel was discovered. As well as other inscriptions about the events of 1518.
Fue a dias del mes de Mayo cuando avistamo as a Tierra Nueva
y por ser dia de la Santa Cruz as ile llamamos
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Cronista de la Conquista
El capitan Juan de Grijava al mando de 4 navies descubrio Cozumel para
el mundo Occidental el 3 Mayo 1518. Un ano mas Tarde Hernan Cortez
iniciaria la conquista de Mexico desdeestas mismas playas.
It was in the days of May when I saw New Land
and because it is the day of the Holy Cross, we call it
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Chronicler of the Conquest
Captain Juan de Grijava in command of 4 navies discovered Cozumel for
the Western world on May 3, 1518. One year later Hernan Cortez
and I would begin the conquest of Mexico from these same beaches.
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Juan de Grijalva was born around 1489 in Cuéllar, Spain. In 1518, Captain Juan de Grijalva was an early explorer of the coastline of Mexico from Cozumel west along the Gulf Coast to the Tabasco region of southern Mexico. He later sailed with Cortez as his interpreter during Cortez's expedition to conquer Mexico. Grijalva was killed by natives in Honduras on January 21, 1527.