Chakan Putum

Chakán Putum was a Putún Maya chiefdom at the mouth of the Champotón River on the southwestern Gulf coast. Its port linked the Chontal towns of Tabasco to the rest of Yucatán.

In 1517 its warriors routed Francisco Hernández de Córdoba's Spanish expedition on the beach; over fifty Spaniards died and Córdoba later died of his wounds. Juan de Grijalva stormed the town in 1518, with some 200 Maya killed. In 1538 Lorenzo de Godoy moved San Pedro Tanoche to the river mouth and renamed it Salamanca de Champotón, a permanent Spanish foothold.