Pinzón–Solís voyage
Spanish expedition to the Bay of Honduras, 1508–1509.
In 1508–1509, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Juan Díaz de Solís commanded a Spanish expedition to the Bay of Honduras. This voyage likely represents the first European exploration of the bay’s western side, including the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala, western Honduras, and possibly southern Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Quick Facts
- Country
- Spain
- Leader
- Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Juan Díaz de Solís
- Start location
- Sanlúcar de Barrameda
- Start date
- end March – end June 1508; presumed
- End location
- Seville
- End date
- 29 August 1509
- Goal
- to discover a western passage to la Especiería
- Ships
- San Benito, La Magdalena
Facts from the source article.
Prelude
The Catholic Monarchs had expected news of a western passage to la Especiería since Columbus's first voyage, but none came. On 13 March 1505 and again on 23 August 1506, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Amerigo Vespucci were specially commissioned to find such a passage, yet these commissions could not be fulfilled. In March 1508, Ferdinand II of Aragon convened the most distinguished navigators at Burgos to advise him. On 23 March 1508, Pinzón and Juan Díaz de Solís were jointly commissioned via capitulación to undertake the venture in seas north of Veragua, with Pinzón in charge of military matters and Solís of maritime ones. They went to Seville on 25 March 1508 to enlist the carabela San Benito and the nao La Magdalena, along with pilot Pedro de Ledesma and veedor and escribano Alonso Páez. The total cost of rent, wages, and provisions is thought to have been almost two million maravedis.
Voyage
Scarce little is known of the voyage's itinerary, and what is known is contradictory. The date of departure from Sanlúcar de Barrameda is not exactly known, though preparations were finalised by May 1508. Some accounts, including first-hand ones by Ledesma and Pinzón, describe an itinerary that partly traced Columbus's fourth voyage from Cape Gracias a Dios west toward the Bay Islands, then branched west toward Amatique Bay and north toward Cape Catoche. Ledesma reported that they discovered lands above Veragua to the north, from the island of Guanaja northward up to 23 degrees and 30 minutes, called Chavañin y Pintigua. Pinzón reported discovering from the island of Guanaxa to the province of Camarona, and a great bay named Gran baya de la Navidad, as well as the syerras de Carya. If these accounts are correct, the voyage reconnoitred the southern and western coasts of the Bay of Honduras, including present-day Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Other accounts, however, describe an itinerary that only traced Columbus's fourth voyage from Cape Gracias a Dios west to the Bay Islands. Ferdinand Columbus, who examined the route as charted by Ledesma, deemed it a duplicate of his father's fourth voyage. The return is better known: Pinzón and Solís reached Santo Domingo in May 1509, watered for a few days while their ships were searched, then crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Seville on 29 August 1509, offloading diverse objects of guanines and various native Indians they had impressed, enslaved, or abducted.
Aftermath
The voyage failed to discover a western passage to the Spice Islands, shifting Spanish efforts away from the Caribbean coasts of Middle America. Upon disembarking, Pinzón accused Solís of irregularities contravening their capitulación, leading to Solís's detainment. Solís was found not guilty and awarded 34,000 maravedis in compensation, while Pinzón and Ledesma received posts at the Casa de la Contratación.
Legacy
The first print map to feature intelligence from this voyage is thought to be the Peter Martyr map, drafted on 4 December 1514 by Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca and Pietro Martire d'Anghiera. Though the discovery of the Yucatán Peninsula is popularly credited to a 1517 expedition by Hernández de Córdoba, some scholars assign it to this voyage. The voyage is credited with discovering some 300 nautical leagues of coastline north and northwest of the Bay Islands, between 16° 28' N and 23° 30' N.
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