Santa Maria de la Nueva Valladolid de Comayagua was founded on orders from the conqueror of Yucatan, Don Francisco de Montejo. He instructed his captain to build a city in a place equal in distance between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the cities of Guatemala and Leon, Nicaragua. On Dec. 8, 1537, Captain Caceres took possession of the land where the city is built today. After Spain granted Honduras its independence, Comayagua became the capital of the new nation.