What is "potonchan"

Potonchán, was a Chontal Maya city, capital of the minor kingdom known as Tavasco or Tabasco. It occupied the left bank of the Tabasco River, which the Spanish renamed the Grijalva River, in the current Mexican state of Tabasco.

Juan de Grijalva arrived to this town on June 8, 1518, and christened the river with his name and met with the Maya chief Tabscoob to whom, it is said, he gave his green velvet doublet.

Later, on March 12, 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived. Cortés, unlike Grijalva, was received by the natives in a warlike fashion, leading to the Battle of Centla. After the native defeat, Cortés founded the first Spanish settlement in New Spain, the town of Santa María de la Victoria, on top of Potonchán.