Martín de Ursúa

Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi, Count of Lizárraga and of Castillo, was a Spanish conquistador in Central America during the late colonial period of New Spain. Born in Olóriz, Navarre, he is noted for leading the 1696–97 expeditionary force which resulted in the fall of the last significant independent Maya stronghold, Nojpetén, located on an island in Lake Petén Itzá in the northern Petén Basin region of present-day Guatemala. He served as governor of the Yucatán until 1708, when he was named Governor-General of the Philippines. Around the time that he was named to that post, he was made a knight of the Order of Santiago. He died in Manila in 1715.