Antonio de Mendoza
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Antonio de Mendoza
Antonio de Mendoza (1490-1552) was a Spanish viceroy in Mexico and Peru who inaugurated the system of viceregal administration, which lasted nearly 3 centuries.
Antonio de Mendoza was born near Granada into one of the country's oldest and most famous families. He entered the service of Emperor Charles V, for whom he performed a number of successful diplomatic missions in Italy. He was then selected to become the first Spanish viceroy of New Spain in the New World, where he arrived in 1535.
Mendoza proved a prudent, firm, and hardworking viceroy. He had the difficult task of consolidating the royal authority, correcting the abuses of tyrannical officials, completing the pacification and conversion of the conquered Indians, and promoting the economic prosperity of the new colony to the maximum advantage of the royal treasury.
Conservative Regent
Mendoza showed a patriarchal concern for the natives and did much to secure improved treatment and legal status for them. Any sign of rebellion, however, he ruthlessly repressed. Nor did he subscribe to the views of liberal advocates of Indian rights such as Bartoloméde Las Casas, who persuaded the Crown to enact the New Laws of the Indies (1542), exempting the Indians from forced labor in the mines and on the lands of their Spanish masters. Convinced that this would only lead to economic chaos and drive the Spaniards to rebel, Mendoza suspended the New Laws until they were rescinded.
While suppressing an Indian rising, Mendoza's men had the good fortune to come upon the rich silver deposits of Zacatecas, which were to provide the Crown with one of its greatest sources of revenue from the New World. In addition to mining, the viceroy also encouraged the production of wheat, olives, silk, cloth, and cattle, and other such activities. His keen interest in exploration aroused the envy of Hernán Cortés, who had conquered Mexico and been rewarded with great estates there. Mendoza sent ships to explore the Pacific and in 1542 dispatched an expedition to the north under the command of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in a vain attempt to discover the fabled Seven Cities of Cíbola, which he believed to be a mightier empire than that of the Aztecs.
Viceroy of Peru
Worn out after 15 years of conscientiously discharging his varied duties, Mendoza requested permission to end his days in Spain. This was refused, and he was sent instead to Peru to consolidate the royal authority after a civil war among the conquistadores. One of his first acts there was to send his son to inspect and report on the conditions under which the Indians were working in the mines. Mendoza fell ill and died before he could introduce the reforms which he saw to be necessary but which needed to be tactfully implemented if the unruly Spaniards were not to be provoked to fresh unrest. He was remembered as a stern but humane and just administrator, genuinely concerned with the welfare of the people under his jurisdiction but loyally dedicated to the service of the Crown.
Further Reading
A full-length study of the viceroy's career and achievements is Arthur S. Aiton, Antonio de Mendoza, First Viceroy of New Spain (1927). For background see J. H. Parry, The Spanish Seaborne Empire (1966), and John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas (1970).
Mendoza, Antonio de (äntō'nyō dā māndō'thä), 1490?-1552, Spanish administrator, first viceroy of New Spain (1535-50) and viceroy of Peru (1551-52). Of noble family, Mendoza held high offices before going to Mexico, where his wise rule earned him the appellation "the good viceroy." He alleviated the condition of the indigenous people (though opposing enforcement of the New Laws of Bartolomé de Las Casas), fostered religion, and encouraged education. He brought the first printing press to America at the request of Bishop Zumárraga. He quelled numerous revolts, notably the insurrection of indigenous peoples in Nueva Galicia (called the Mixtón War) in which Pedro de Alvarado was killed. By fostering expeditions, especially those under Marcos de Niza and Coronado, he pushed exploration far northward. Industry and agriculture were also developed, bringing prosperity. In brief, he extended and consolidated the conquest begun by Hernán Cortés, and established the sure basis for Spain's long rule in Mexico. Efforts to discredit and oust him, originating with Cortés, ended in failure. In 1551 he took office as viceroy of Peru and again opposed enforcement of the New Laws. The audiencia, however, overruled him.
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Antonio de Mendoza
Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco, Marquis of Mondéjar, Count of Tendilla (Spanish: Antonio de Mendoza, Marqués de Mondéjar, Conde de Tendilla) (1495 – Alcala la Real, (Jaén); July 21, 1552, Lima), was the first viceroy of New Spain, serving from April 17, 1535 to November 25, 1550, and the second viceroy of Peru, from September 23, 1551 to July 21, 1552. Married to María Ana de Trujillo de Mendoza. Antonio was the son of the Second Conde de Tendilla, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones and Francisca Pacheco.
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Viceroy of New Spain
He became viceroy in 1535 and governed for 15 years, longer than any subsequent viceroy. On his arrival in New Spain, he found a recently conquered colony beset with Indian uprisings and rivalry among the conquerors. His difficult assignment was to govern in the king's name without making an enemy of Hernán Cortés, whom Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) and the Council of the Indies judged too rough to be made a duke and given any higher post than the Captaincy-General of New Spain, a post for which he was well suited. He was also directed to increase royal revenues and regulate the affairs of the Indians.
As viceroy, Mendoza commissioned the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to explore and establish settlements in the northern lands of New Spain in 1540-42, the expedition of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the western coastline of Alta California in 1542-43, and the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542-43. The Codex Mendoza is named for him. He probably commissioned it.
Don Antonio and Bishop Juan de Zumárraga were key in the formation of two institutions of Mexico: the Colegio de Santa Cruz at Tlatelolco (1536), where the sons of Aztec nobles studied the imposed Latin, rhetoric, philosophy and music, and the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (1552), modeled on the University of Salamanca, which trained young men for the imposed Church. These institutions were the first and second universities respectively to be established in the Americas, however, the indigenous peoples of the Aztec Empire had an education system in place before the colonization of their land. In 1536 he began the minting of silver and copper coins, known as macuquinas. Also under his instructions, the first printing press in the New World was brought to Mexico in 1539, by printer Juan Pablos (Giovanni Paoli). The first book printed in Mexico: La Escala Espiritual de San Juan Clímaco. On May 18, 1541 don Antonio founded the city of Valladolid (now Morelia, Michoacán).
In 1542 an insurrection of the Indians, called the Mixtón Rebellion threatened to push the Spaniards out of northwestern Mexico, bringing the area under indigenous control. The Viceroy himself had to take the field and bring all disposable manpower. The rebellion was quenched and the surviving Indians were harshly punished. By the viceroy's order men, women and children were seized and executed, some by cannon fire, some torn apart by dogs, and others stabbed.[1]
In 1544 the Emperor promulgated the New Laws abolishing slavery and gradually abolishing the encomienda. Mendoza, an ally of the encomenderos, was both unable and unwilling to enforce these laws in the face of rigorous opposition from the holders of the encomienda grants. When news reached Mexico of the civil war that had broken out in Peru over similar reforms, thought to undermine the rigorous encomienda system, he had the laws suspended and then revoked. In 1548 he suppressed an uprising of the Zapotecs.
During his term of office, Mendoza is credited with consolidating the sovereignty of the Crown throughout the Spanish conquests in New Spain and limiting the power and ambition of the first conquistadors. Many of the political and economic policies he established endured throughout the entire colonial period. He promoted the construction of hospitals and schools and encouraged improvements in agriculture, ranching and mining. His administration did much to bring stability and peace to New Spain.
He was succeeded as viceroy of New Spain by Luis de Velasco. It is reported that his advice to his successor was: "Do little and do that slowly."
Viceroy of Peru
On July 4, 1549 in Brussels, Emperor Charles V named Mendoza viceroy of Peru. He traveled overland from Mexico to Panama, and then by boat to Peru. He arrived and took up his new office on November 25, 1550. However, he soon became ill, and died in 1552. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Lima, along with that of the Spanish conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro.
Mendocino County, California and Mendocino National Forest are named in his honor.
Notes
- ^ Juan Comas, Historical Reality and the Detractors of Father las Casas, Juan Friede and Benjamin Keen (eds.). Bartolomé de las Casas in History: Toward an Understanding of the Man and his Work. Collection spéciale: CER. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. p. 493
References
- (Spanish) "Mendoza, Antonio de," Enciclopedia de México, v. 9. Mexico City, 1988.
- (Spanish) "Mendoza, Antonio de," Encyclopædia Britannica, v. 6. Chicago, 1983.
- (Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 1. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
- (Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.
External links
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| Preceded by Newly Established |
Viceroy of New Spain 1535–1549 |
Succeeded by Luis de Velasco |
| Preceded by Pedro de la Gasca |
Viceroy of Peru 1550–1551 |
Succeeded by Melchor Bravo de Saravia |
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