Lempira was a warrior chieftain of the Lencas of western Honduras in

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 Honduras. 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 langua ...

: ''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, 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 Comayagua () is a city, municipality and old capital of Honduras, located northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula and above sea level. The accelerated growth experienced by the city of Comayagua led the municipal authoriti ...

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 and Alonso de Cáceres, were unsuccessful until later in 1537.

History

Historical accounts of Lempira differ. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, 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, Ca ...

rule. The Spaniards, on instruction from their Governor, Francisco de Montejo, attacked Lempira at the

Peñol de Cerquín The Peñol de Cerquín (): "Rock of Cerquín") was a mountaintop Lenca fortress in southern Honduras during the Contact Period (1520–1540).Gelliot, Costa, Mercier, and Perrot-Minnot 2011, p. 1. The Peñol de Cerquín was a key Lenca stronghold d ...

, in what is now Lempira Department. 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 ''Haakbu ...

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 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 ...

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

Representation in other media

* In 1957 the Honduran writer Ramón Amaya Amador 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