Lempira was a warrior chieftain of the

Lencas The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...

of western

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

during the 1530s, when he led resistance to Francisco de Montejo's attempts to conquer and incorporate the region into the province of

. Mentioned as ''Lempira'' in documents written during the Spanish conquest, he is regarded by the people as a warrior hero whom the conquistadors feared, since they couldn’t kill him. The Spaniards sent a messenger to tell him they wanted “peace” but when he showed up they captured him, dismembered his body, and buried him in undisclosed locations so no one could pay him respects.

Etymology

Jorge Lardé y Larín argues that the name ''Lempira'' derived from words of the

Lenca language Lencan is a small family of nearly extinct indigenous Mesoamerican languages. Languages There are two attested Lencan languages, both extinct (Campbell 1997:167). * Salvadoran Lencan was spoken in Chilanga and Potó (thus the alternative lang ...

: ''lempa'', meaning "lord" as a title of hierarchy, ''i'' meaning "of", and ''era'', meaning "hill or mountain". Thus, Lempira, means "lord of the mountain" or "lord of the hill". When the Spaniards arrived in Cerquin, Lempira was fighting against neighboring chiefs. Because of the Spanish threat, he allied with another Lenca subgroup, the

Cares The Cares is a river in Northern Spain that flows through the autonomous communities of Asturias and León until it joins the Deva River and flows into the Atlantic Ocean at the Bay of Biscay. It forms the Tina Mayor estuary, the natural bo ...

, and united the different Lenca tribes. Based at Cerquin hill, he organized resistance against the Spanish troops in 1537, managing to gather an army of almost 30,000 soldiers, from 200 villages. As a result, other groups in the valleys of Comayagua and

Olancho Olancho is the largest of all the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department covers a total surface area of 24,057 km² and has an estimated 2015 population of 537,306 inhabitants. The departmental capital is Juticalpa, ...

also took up arms. Spanish attempts to stop him, led by

Francisco de Montejo 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 ...

and

Alonso de Cáceres Alonso de Cáceres y Retes (Alcántara, late fifteenth century - ?) was a Spanish conquistador and governor-captain of Santa Marta, who traveled extensively throughout the Americas from Mexico, south through Central America, and as far as Peru. ...

, were unsuccessful until later in 1537.

History

Historical accounts of Lempira differ.

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1549 – 28 March 1626 or 27 March 1625) was a chronicler, historian, and writer of the Spanish Golden Age, author of ''Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del mar ...

, whose account was published in ''Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos ...'' (1626), in Sevilla, Spain, identifies Lempira as a war captain appointed by Entipica, leader of the Cares, a subgroup of the Lenca. Herrera reports that Lempira, whose name means something like "Lord of the Mountains" in

Lenca The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...

, commanded over 30,000 soldiers from over 200 different Lenca towns. In 1537, there were widespread indigenous uprisings in Honduras, and the Cares were one group that revolted against

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

rule. The Spaniards, on instruction from their Governor,

, attacked Lempira at the Peñol de Cerquín, in what is now

Lempira Department Lempira is one of the 18 departments in Honduras. located in the western part of the country, it is bordered by the departments of Ocotepeque and Copán to the west, Intibucá to the east, and Santa Bárbara to the north. To its south lies th ...

. According to Herrera, Lempira retreated to a fortified hilltop where he resisted the Spaniards for many months. Finally, the Spaniards lured him out to talk, and a concealed Spanish soldier with an

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

shot and killed him. On seeing this, Herrera reports, the Lenca surrendered. This is essentially the official version that is taught to Honduran children in school. In the 1980s, the Honduran historian Mario Felipe Martínez Castillo discovered a very different account of Lempira in a document entitled ''Méritos y Servicios: Rodrigo Ruiz, Nueva España'', written in 1558 in Mexico City. The manuscript is located in the

Archivo General de Indias The Archivo General de Indias (, "General Archive of the Indies"), housed in the ancient merchants' exchange of Seville, Spain, the ''Casa Lonja de Mercaderes'', is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history ...

in Sevilla, Spain. That document, Patronato 69 R.5, tells the story of Rodrigo Ruiz and his service in the conquest of Honduras under Francisco Montejo. It includes his account of killing Lempira. The document is in the form of a series of questions, answered by witnesses to the conquest which Rodrigo Ruiz gave to the Spanish king. It is his effort to gain a pension as payment for his services. Ruiz wrote the questions, one of which is translated in part as follows:

Rodrigo Ruiz Rodrigo Patricio Ruiz de Barbieri (born May 10, 1972) is a former Chilean professional footballer and current manager of Los Cabos United. Club career He played for Unión Española, Regional Atacama, Toros Neza, Santos Laguna, Pachuca, Vera ...

described his other service to the

Spanish Crown , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

. Witnesses to this 100-page document attested that Ruiz recounted his service accurately and told the truth. Ruiz asked for a pension of 1000 pesos for his service. The modern Honduran

preserved in their oral history Lempira elements that match the Ruiz story, such as Lempira's belief that wearing Spanish clothing made him impervious to Spanish bullets, and that the chief died in combat, not through ambush.

Legacy and honors

In 1931, Honduras renamed its

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

in honor of Lempira. In 1943, Honduras renamed the Gracias Department as the

Representation in other media

* In 1957 the Honduran writer

Ramón Amaya Amador Ramón Amaya Amador (April 29, 1916 – November 24, 1966) was a Honduran journalist, author, and political activist, known for his most recognizable works "''Prision verde''" and "''Cipotes"''. Biography Amaya was born in Olanchito in the depa ...

wrote a novel featuring Lempira, entitled ''El señor de la sierra'' (The Lord of the Mountains). * In 2016 the filming of a film based on Lempira was announced under the title of "''El señor de la sierra''"

References

External links