Panfilo de Narváez, Segovian born in 1470. He served the Governor of Jamaica, Juan de Esquivel, and then marched to the Hispaniola Isle where he was appointed lieutenant of Diego de Velázquez with whom he participated in the conquest and colonization of Cuba. When Cortés betrayed Velázquez, he sent him to
Tag: Expeditions
Esteban Gómez, exploration of the entire East Coast
Esteban Gómez, Portuguese navigator, was born in 1483 in Oporto (Portugal). In 1518 he was appointed pilot of Seville Contracting House, thus passing to serve the Spanish crown. He participated as a pilot of the nao Trinidad ('capitana' ship) in the journey of Fernando de Magallanes with the objective of
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, foundation of the first Spanish settlement in North America
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, born in Toledo (Spain) in 1475, was a oidor of the Royal Court of Santo Domingo (founded in 1511) and a sugar courier on the Hispaniola island. He traded with slaves and pearls that he obtained by financing expeditions to the coasts of the pearls in
Francisco de Garay, expeditions along the Gulf of Mexico coast
Francisco de Garay was an important figure in the Hispaniola island of those years. He arrived on the island on the second journey of Columbus. It was enriched with gold found near Santo Domingo and was related to María de Toledo, the wife of Diego Columbus. He was appointed Mayor
Ponce de león and the Discovery of Florida
Juan Ponce de León, born in Santervás de Campos (Valladolid - Spain) in 1460, arrived with Frey Nicolás de Ovando in 1502 at the Hispaniola island. He took part in its conquest and pacification and for this was granted the governorship of Higüey in the eastern part of it where
Preparations for the first voyage of discovery
On May 12th, 1492 Christopher Columbus departed from Granada in the direction of Palos, a place chosen for the departure since the Cadiz port was practically collapsed by the departure of Jews decreed by the Catholic Kings few days before. The other reason it was chosen is because it was
Christopher Columbus in Barcelona
Before arriving Christopher Columbus in Spain he was already thoroughly preparing how to expose his supposed successes in his journey of discovery of the new routes to Indias. To this end, he began by writing letters to his main sponsors: the Catholic Kings, to the notary public, the scribe Luis
Christopher Columbus’ project
The Cristobal Columbus was none other than to find a new route that reached the coasts of the Asian continent by sailing westwards, that is, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, in those times better known as the Oceans Sea or the Dark Sea. Fall of Constantinople The reason for the search for these
Christopher Columbus’ fifth and final voyage
Christopher Columbus made up to four trips before 1506 between Castile and the newly discovered territories. The first of these trips was the one known by all of Discovery in which they departed from Palos de La Frontera on August 3th, 1492 with 3 ships and 100 crew members returning
Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean
We are in the month of September 1513. Vasco Núñez de Balboa and 190 Spaniards depart from Darién direction to Careta, Caribbean region whose chieftain was an ally of the Spaniards and where a thousand more natives joined. From here, they entered the thick and green jungle in search of
The sad last days of Columbus in the New World: rebellions and civil wars
We continue with Christopher Columbus shipwrecked and forgotten along with his men in Jamaica during his Fourth trip to the New World. They had to contact someone as soon as possible to get out of there. They decided to send someone after the Hispaniola island. In mid-July 1503, he departed
Columbus’ Fourth Trip to the New World: First Expedition to Central America
After stay in Spain of almost fifteen months they had everything ready for the new and last voyage of Columbus to the New World. This expedition consisted of four caravels and one hundred and forty crew members, including his son Hernando, his brother Bartolomé and his nephew Andrea. They departed Cádiz
In Search of the continent
We find ourselves to April 24th, 1494, the situation in La Hispaniola islad is calm, Columbus and his people have advanced by its interior and discovered indications of the existence of gold in abundance. The settlement of the Isabela is developing and the great initial problems are more or less
Disaster at Fuerte Navidad
On the night of November 27th, the Castilian ships anchored in front of the place where they had built the fort almost a year earlier in the Hispaniola island. The darkness made it impossible to see if there were any dangerous elements in the water, so they decided to wait
Columbus’ second journey to America
The fleet of seventeen ships departed from the bay of Cádiz at dawn of September 25th,1493, heading for the Canary Islands where they had planned to make a stop to replenish water, feed and collect some animals. On October 2th they arrived in Gran Canaria and on October 5th they