But Columbus was not to find Mexico.
Another daring and cruel Spanish captain, named Cortez, discovered the land, conquered it for Spain, stripped it of its gold and treasure, and killed or enslaved its brave and intelligent people.
After meeting this canoe, Columbus steered for the distant shore.

He coasted up and down looking for a good harbor, and on the seventeenth of August, 1502, he landed as has been told you, near what is now the town of Truxillo, in Honduras.

There, setting up the banner of Castile, he took possession of the country in the name of the king and queen of Spain.
For the first time in his life Columbus stood on the real soil of the New World.

All the islands he had before discovered and colonized were but outlying pieces of America.

Now he was really upon the American Continent.
But he did not know it.