included the 9,000 vassals of Nicarao, and 6,000 of Nicoya; González claimed that the total number of natives baptised by the expedition was 32,000. The overland expedition had collected a significant quantity of gold from the natives, amounting to 112,525 gold pesos, including that which had been collected while crossing Costa Rica. Rival plans, 1523 Gil González Dávila planned to return to Nicaragua as soon as possible, but faced interference from Pedrarias Dávila and from Panama City's treasurer, Alonso de la Puente. Pedrarias Dávila had learned of their discovery of gold and acted quickly to outfit a new expedition in late 1523. While the two explorers put in a claim to the Spanish Crown of the lands they had discovered, he planned to seize control of the newly discovered territories before the Crown could validate González and Niño's claims. The new expedition was a private enterprise under royal commission; the participants signed the two-year contract on 22 September 1523, with one third of the spoils to go to Pedrarias Dávila, and one sixth each to auditor Diego Marquez, treasurer Alonso de la Puente, lawyer Juan Rodríguez de Alarconcillo, and Francisco Hernández de Córdoba. Hernández de Córdoba was placed in command. Pedrarias Dávila sent one of his captains to Spain to recruit more men, and purchase horses, while in Panama he purchased Andrés Niño's ships, rigging, horses, and other items for 2,000 gold pesos. Meanwhile, González planned to return to Nicaragua by exploring a river route from the Caribbean Sea to Lake Nicaragua, thus avoiding Pedrarias Dávila's jurisdiction over Castilla de Oro completely. In the event, he landed further west and initiated the Spanish conquest of Honduras. Although González expedition was the first to set foot in Nicaragua, Pedrarias Dávila based his own claim upon the earlier discovery of the territory by Juan de Castañeda and Hernán Ponce de León, under his orders. Hernández de Córdoba in western Nicaragua, 1523–1525 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, under orders of Pedrarias Dávila, set out from Panama for Nicaragua in mid-October 1523, probably on 15 October. The expedition consisted of three or four ships, carrying over 200 men, including officers, foot soldiers, cavalry, and approximately 16 African slaves. His senior officers were Antón Mayor, Juan Alonso Palomino, Alonso de Peralta, Francisco de la Puente, Gabriel de Rojas, and Hernando de Soto. In 1524, Hernández founded the colonial towns of León and Granada. He founded Granada