There is little information about the development of the Tehuantepec area during the colonial period, especially economically. However, one of the first colonial shipyards El Carbón, was established at the mouth of the Rover Tehuantepec. Timber was plentiful in the area, but other shipbuilding supplies had to be brought from Veracruz, on the Atlantic coast. The route up the navigable Coatzacoalcos River then on land to El Carbón to was the most straightforward route to the Pacific coast. This is the route that would later be proposed for a canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and was later followed by the Tehuantepec Railway. At the end of 1532, two ships were built to become part of the flotilla of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza but they wrecked on the coast of what is now Jalisco. More ships were built for exploration and trade along the coasts between California and Peru. Casaban and Junco (2020) give details of several of these ships from a document of 1535. However, soon after Hernán Cortés and other colonial authorities lost interest in the economic development of this area in favor of other areas. However, a main road called the Camino Real de Tehuantepec which connected it to other parts of what is now Oaxaca. The Spanish town of Tehuantepec was officially established by Dominican brothers Gregorio de Beteta and Bernardo de Alberquerer in 1538 and received a royal seal from Charles V in 1543. The church and monastery were constructed starting in 1544. By 1550, the city had forty nine neighborhoods.