The location of Xelha was used as a base by Spanish forces, during the ultimately unsuccessful first expedition (1527–28) led by the conquistador Francisco de Montejo (the Elder).

[1] Montejo, who had obtained a charter from the Spanish Crown in 1526 to pacify the Yucatán Peninsula,[2] crossed over from the island of Cozumel to make landfall at Xelha's lagoons, a short distance from a local Maya village.

[4] Eventually Montejo's forces stabilised sufficiently for him to mount explorations from his temporary encampment, heading out with some 125 men north towards Ecab near Cape Catoche.

[5] The fortuitous arrival at that point of another of his ships from Santo Domingo with provisions and reinforcements prevented further disaster, and an expedition was sent out to the south towards the Maya township of Chetumal.

This also failed to gain any foothold, and within eighteen months of Montejo's first landfall in Yucatán, the encampment at Salamanca de Xelha and the eastern coast were abandoned.