First Mention of Copán

Date: March 8, 1576 • Location: Copán, Honduras

A Spanish colonial officer wrote a letter to King Philip II containing the first known mention of the Maya ruins of Copán in present-day Honduras.

Philip II, sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent, was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also jure uxoris King of England and Ireland from his marriage to Queen Mary I in 1554 until her death in 1558. Further, he was Duke of Milan from 1540. From 1555, he was Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands.