Juan de la Cámara

Born into the noble de la Cámara family, he arrived in the New World in 1539 and played a key role in founding Mérida, the second Spanish city in the Yucatan peninsula.

The establishment of a cadet branch within the de la Cámara family marked the beginning of a lineage with notable descendants who played significant roles in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and continued to be influential in Yucatecan society even after Mexican Independence.

Juan de la Cámara's descendants became part of the old Mexican nobility, holding positions in various fields and owning notable properties, including long-time ownership of Cancún.

As the younger son of a noble family, Juan de la Cámara sought to make his own fortune in the Americas which were being explored and settled by the Spanish and Portuguese in the early sixteenth century.

Montejo, who headed an army of approximately 400 Spanish soldiers,[3] appointed Juan de la Cámara as one of his chief military commanders, despite his youth.

Thus, the western region of Yucatán was conquered without significant resistance, facilitating the establishment of Spanish authority and paving the way for subsequent colonial developments in the area.

Another theory suggests that the nickname arose because from colonial times through the mid-19th century, Mérida was a walled city designed to protect the predominantly European population (peninsulares and criollos) from periodic uprisings by the indigenous Maya people, ultimately culminating with the caste war of Yucatán (1847 - 1901).

The Spanish crown awarded Juan de la Cámara encomiendas, including the towns of Cahabon, Ixtutz, Euán (Tixkokob), and Sinanché.

[1] As noted by García Bernal:"The genealogical study of various landowning families reveals the extent to which they constituted a distinct social caste within Yucatecan society.

This pattern underscores a closed society that fervently defends its conquistador origins, solidifying this heritage through intermarriage with families boasting similar ancestry.

The Coat of Arms of the de la Cámara family were granted by Ferdinand III in 1227. This copy is found in the Livro do Armeiro-Mor , a Portuguese armorial dating from 1520 which included the heraldry of the most important European royal and noble families .
In 1542, Juan de la Cámara co-founded Mérida , the second Spanish city in the Yucatán peninsula . The Cathedral , shown here, was built by the Spanish between 1561 and 1598.