Juan Galindo

Juan Galindo (* 1802, † 1839 in Tegucigalpa ) was a Central American independence fighters Spanish -English- Irish origin. He is best known for exploring the Mayan ruins.

The son of a Spanish official in Costa Rica ( in what was then New Spain ), already joined at a young age of the independence movement and made at the siege of Omoa, which he led, a name. Omoa, a port city in what is now Honduras, was at this time the last Spanish stronghold in Central America.

Galindo worked after gaining independence from Spain (1823 ) as an official of the Central American Confederation. There he distinguished himself in surveying, cartography, topography and the study of local customs.

As a loyal follower of the liberal Francisco Morazán, first head of state of Honduras, after the last president of the Central American Federation, he was involved in the latent raging civil war and fought in numerous battles. As 1839 Nicaraguan units overran Tegucigalpa, Galindo was killed in battle.

Galindo also devoted himself to the study of the Mayan ruins, especially in Palenque and Copan. Unlike other Altamerikanisten his time Galindo was the first, representing the (correct ) theory that the Mayan buildings were not built by an ancient civilization, but by the ancestors of the indigenous people of Central America, the Mayans.

• Military person
• Altamerikanist
• Geograph (19th Century )
• Born in 1802
• Died in 1839
• Man