Hernán Cortés founded the town of La Natividad in 1524, roughly where
Puerto Cortés is today, and populated it with about 20 Spaniards who had been
previously been living in Nito and Naco. The name Puerto de Caballos (Port of
horses) is because when Hernán Cortés arrived on Honduras' coast from Mexico
and started unloading horses and cargo from the ships, several horses were
drowned. By 1533, a local native leader,