Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras (also known as Don Pedro de Alvarado and Tonatiuh by Mexican natives; born Badajoz, Spain, c.1495, died Guadalajara,
New Spain, 4 July1541) was a
Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala, [1] known for
his skill as a soldier, but his cruelty to native populations is debated.[1] His wife, Beatriz de la Cueva de Ubeda, became governor after his death, [2] but died September 1541 during the eruption of the Guatemalan "de Agua" volcano.[1]
Life and work
Pedro de Alvarado was a native of Badajoz and son of the commander of Lobon.[1]
Alvarado went to Hispaniola in 1510. He held a command in
the Juan de Grijalva expedition sent from Cuba against
Yucatán in the spring of 1518,[1] and returned in a few months, bearing reports of the wealth and splendour
of Moctezuma II's empire.
In 1519 he accompanied, as chief lieutenant and second in command, Hernán Cortés in the expedition for the conquest of Mexico.[1] Alvarado was being appointed to the command of
one of the eleven vessels of the fleet. He acted as Cortés's principal officer on the first occupation of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. He was left in command of the forces at
Tenochtitlan when Hernán Cortés had to move against Pánfilo de Narváez.[1] When the Spaniards had temporarily to retire
before the Mexican uprising, Alvarado led the rear-guard (July 1, 1520: see La Noche Triste) and the Salto de Alvarado — a
long leap with the use of his spear, by which he saved his life — became famous.
Sent out by Hernán Cortés with 120 horsemen, 300 footsoldiers and several hundred Cholula and
Tlascala auxiliaries, Alvarado was engaged in the conquest of the highlands of Guatemala from 1523 to 1527. At first, Alvarado
allied himself with the Cakchiquel nation, in his conquest of their traditional rivals, the
Quiché nation, but his cruelties alienated the Cakchiquel, and he needed several years to stamp
out resistance in the region. Pedro de Alvarado led the first effort by Spanish forces to extend their dominion to the future
El Salvador, in June 1524. Spanish efforts were firmly
resisted by the indigenous people known as the Pipil and their Mayan speaking neighbors. Led by a
war-leader who tradition calls Atlacatl, the indigenous people defeated the Spaniards and
forced them to withdraw to Guatemala. Two subsequent expeditions were required (the first in 1525,
followed by a smaller group in 1528) to bring the Pipil under Spanish control. Alvarado was
subsequently appointed governor of Guatemala by Charles I of Spain and
remained governor of Guatemala until his death.
In 1534, Alvarado heard tales of the riches of Peru, headed south
to the Andes and attempted to bring the province of Quito under his
rule. When he arrived, he found the land already held by Francisco Pizarro's
lieutenant Sebastian de Belalcazar. The two forces of Conquistadors almost came
to blows; however, Alvarado bartered to Pizarro's group most of his ships, horses, and ammunition, plus most of his men, for a
comparatively modest sum of money, and Alvarado returned to Guatemala.[1]
In 1532, Alvarado received a Royal Cedula naming him Governor of the Province of Honduras, which
at that time consisted of a single settlement of Spaniards in Trujillo, but he declined to act on it. In 1533, or 1534 he began to send his own work teams of enslaved africans and indians
into the parts of Honduras adjacent to Guatemala to work the placer gold deposits. In 1536,
ostensibly in response to a letter asking for aid from Andres de Cereceda, then acting Governor
of the Province of Honduras, Alvarado and his army of indian allies arrived in Honduras, just as the Spanish colonists were
preparing to abandon the country and go look for gold in Peru. In June, 1536, Alvarado engaged the indigenous resistance lead by
Çiçumba in the lower Ulua river valley, and won. He divided up the indian labor in
repartimiento grants to his soldiers and some of the colonists, and returned to Guatemala.
During a visit to Spain, in 1537, Alvarado had the governorship of Honduras reconfirmed in addition to that of Guatemala for next seven years. His governorship of Honduras was
not uncontested, however. Francisco de Montejo had a rival claim, and was installed by the Spanish king as Governor of Honduras
in 1540.
Alvarado fought to suppress a major revolt by the Mixtón natives of the Nueva Galicia region of Mexico in 1541. After an unsuccessful assault on the
fortified peak of Nochistlan, Alvarado was leading a retreat (at present day barranca de
Huentitan) when he was crushed by a horse that lost its footing. He died a few days later, on July
4, 1541, and was buried in the church at Tiripetio (in
present-day Michoacán). Four decades later, his daughter Leonor Alvarado Xicoténcatl paid to
transport his remains to Guatemala for reburial in the cathedral of the city of Santiago (now Antigua Guatemala).
After the death of Pedro de Alvarado, his wife, Beatriz de la Cueva de Ubeda, became governor of Guatemala,[2] but died
months later, in the September 1541 destruction of the city of Guatemala by the volcano called "de
Agua".[1]
Don Pedro is referenced in the Popol Vuh as Donadiu as the
K'iche'-Maya could not pronounce the name the Mexican natives bestowed upon the conquistador,
Tonatiuh.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i
"Pedro de Alvarado" (history), Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume I, published 1907, webpage (2006):
NewAdvent-PedroA.
- ^ a b "Conquistador and Colonial Elites of Central America" (list), Fabio Joseph
Flouty, University of California Irvine, webpage: UCI-CN.
References
- Samuel Z. Stone, The Heritage of the Conquistadors (genealogical diagrams), and also La Dinastia de los
Conquistadors.
External links
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