Archive Note
Wrecked off Yucatan in 1511, Guerrero learned Maya, married into a ruling house, and rose to a Maya war-leader, taking facial tattoos and pierced ears that signified his integration into Maya society. According to Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who recorded his words around 1568, when the Spanish under Cortes arrived and Geronimo de Aguilar urged him to rejoin them, Guerrero refused, saying he was married with three children, was held as a captain in war, and pointed to his worked face and pierced ears. He fought on the Maya side, the reverse of the tattooed-European curiosity later displayed in Europe. His quoted words survive only through the chronicler's report.