Lempira was a warrior, chieftain of the Lencas of western

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

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 could not kill him. The Spaniards sent a messenger to tell him they wanted “peace”, but when Lempira showed up for negotiations, 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: ''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 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 parentag ...

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 Seville, 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,are an Indigenous people from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They historically spoke various dialects of the Lencan languages such as Chilanga, Putun (Potón), and Kotik, but today are nat ...

, 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

rule. The Spaniards, on instruction from their Governor,

, attacked Lempira at the Peñol de Cerquín, 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. The term ''arquebus'' was applied to many different forms of firearms ...

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'' (; standard abbreviation AGI; ), often simply called the Archive of the Indies, was created by Carlos III of Spain, Carlos III and inaugurated in 1785. It is housed in the former Consulado de mercaderes, merchan ...

Seville, Spain Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

. 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 The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

. 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 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 definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

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 movie based on Lempira was announced under the title of "''El señor de la sierra''". * In 2025, Baltimore Rock Opera Society opened an original rock opera based on Lempira titled "''Lempira: Oro y Sangre".''

References

External links