A group of shipwrecked Spaniards washed onto the coast of the Yucat n Peninsula in 1512, leading to first contact between the Spanish and the Maya. Two men survived the ordeal: Jer nimo de Aguilar, who became a translator for Hern n Cort s in his conquest of the Aztecs, and Gonzalo Guerrero, who, as legend has it, embraced the Mayan way of life and skillfully led the opposition to the Spanish take-over of the Yucat n.