Francisco de Montejo y León

Francisco de Montejo (; 1479 – 1553) was a Spanish conquistador in Mexico and Central America. Early years Francisco de Montejo was born about 1473 to a family of lesser Spanish nobility in Salamanca, Spain. He never documented his parentage during his lifetime but his father was probably Juan de Montejo. His mother is unknown but her surname may have been Téllez. He had a brother, Juan, who served with him in the New World and a sister, Maria, whose son Francisco de Montejo would become an important conquistador in Yucatán. In 1513, Montejo joined an expedition being organized in Seville under the leadership of Pedrarias Davila who had received a royal appointment to govern Castilla de Oro, a new Spanish colony in Central America. Montejo was sent on ahead to Santo Domingo to recruit additional men for the colony. Later, Pedrarius sent him on an unsuccessful expedition to the region that would later become Nueva Granada. Montejo became disillusioned with opportunities under Pedrarius and left for Cuba where he participated under Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in the conquest of Cuba. The conquest was almost complete when Montejo arrived but he gained the favor of Velázquez and was rewarded with encomiendas and extensive grants of land.