Pedro de Alvarado

For the 16th-century tlatoani (ruler) of Texcoco known also as Pedro de Alvarado Coanacochtzin, see Coanacoch. For the Mexican miner owner of the Palmilla mine in Chihuahua Pedro Alvarado(Mexican miner), see Pedro de Alvarado (disambiguation).

Don Pedro de Alvarado
Don Pedro in a contemporary rendition
Born	ca. 1485 or ca. 1495 Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain,
Died	July 4, 1541 (aged c. 46–56) Guadalajara, New Spain

Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras (born Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain, ca. 1485 or ca. 1495, died Guadalajara, New Spain, 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala.^[1] He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of Mexico led by Hernan Cortes. He is considered the conquistador of most of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras). Although renowned for his skill as a military, Alvarado is known for cruelty against humanity, because of his treatment of native populations, genocides along the subjugation of Central America. Historiography portrays that indigenous people, both Nahuatl-speakers and speakers of other languages, called him Tonatiuh, meaning "sun" in the Nahuatl language. Yet he is also noted to have been called "Red Sun" in Nahuatl, which opens for a variety of meaning. Whether this epiphet signifies Don Alvarado's red hair, an esoteric idea attributed to him, or both, is disputed.

Early life

Don Pedro de Alvarado

Pedro de Alvarado was born in 1485 in the town of Badajoz, in Extremadura. He was the son of Diego Gómez de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval, born in Badajoz in 1460, who was also the Commander of Lobón,^[1] Puebla, Montijo and Cubillana, Alcalde of Montanchez, Trece of the Order of Santiago, Lord of Castellanos, a Maestresala official instructor of Henry IV of Castile and General of the Frontier of Portugal. Pedro de Alvarado's mother was Diego's second wife, Leonor de Contreras y Gutiérrez de Trejo. His first wife, Teresa Suárez de Moscoso y Figueroa, had died two years before.

Americas

Alvarado went to Hispaniola in 1510 with all his younger brothers Gonzalo, Jorge, Gómez, Hernando and Juan and their uncle Diego de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval. 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.

Expedition to Mexico

In 1519 Alvarado accompanied Hernán Cortés in his expedition to Mexico,^[1] commanding of one of the eleven vessels in the fleet and also acting as Cortés' second in command during the expedition's first stay in the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. Relations between the Spaniards and their hosts were tense, especially given Cortés' repeated insistence that the Aztecs desist from idol worship and human sacrifice; in order to ensure their own safety, the Spaniards took the Aztec king Moctezuma hostage. When Cortés returned to the Gulf coast to deal with the newly arrived hostile expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, Alvarado remained in Tenochtitlan as commander of the Spanish enclave, with strict orders to make sure that Moctezuma not be permitted to escape.^[1] During Cortés' absence, relations between the Spaniards and their hosts went from bad to worse, and Alvarado ordered a preemptive slaughter of Aztec nobles and priests observing a religious festival. When Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan, he found the Spanish enclave under siege. After Moctezuma was killed in the attempt to negotiate with his own people, the Spaniards determined to escape by fighting their way across one of the causeways that led from the city across the lake and to the mainland. In a bloody nocturnal action of July 1, 1520 known as La Noche Triste, Alvarado led the rear-guard and was badly wounded. According to some sources, Alvarado used his lance to vault across a gap in the causeway; this feat has come to be known as the Salto de Alvarado ("Alvarado's Leap").

Remains of the "Castillo de Alvarado", Chamela, Jalisco

Conquest of Guatemala and El Salvador

Pedro de Alvarado was sent out by Hernán Cortés with 120 horsemen, 300 footsoldiers and several hundred Cholula and Tlaxcala 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. Alvarado's cruelties to native populations are depicted in various sources, including the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, wherein is documented that he enslaved natives, and murdered them by means such as hanging, burning, and throwing them to dogs.^[2]

Pedro de Alvarado led the first effort by Spanish forces to extend their dominion to the nation of Cuscatlan (El Salvador), in June 1524. These efforts established many towns such as San José Acatempa in 1525 and Esquipulas in 1560. Spanish efforts were firmly resisted by the indigenous people known as the Pipil and their Mayan speaking neighbors. Despite Alvarado's initial success in the Battle of Acajutla, the indigenous people of Cuscatlan, who according to tradition were led by a warlord called Atlacatl, defeated the Spaniards and forced them to withdraw to Guatemala. Pedro de Alvarado was wounded on his left thigh, remaining handicapped for the rest of his life. He abandoned the war and appointed his brother, Gonzalo de Alvarado, to continue the task. Two subsequent expeditions were required (the first in 1525, followed by a smaller group in 1528) to bring the Pipil under Spanish control. In 1525 the conquest of Cuscatlan was completed and the city of San Salvador was established.

Alvarado was subsequently appointed governor of Guatemala by Charles I of Spain and remained governor of Guatemala until his death. He was made Adelantado de La Florida and Knight of Santiago in 1527, and also Governor of Guatemala. In that year he married in Spain to Francisca de la Cueva, a Dame of Úbeda and niece of the Duke of Alburquerque. She died shortly after their arrival in America.

Peru

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]

Governor

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 Native Americans 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 led 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. Then, ten years after widowing, he married a sister of his first wife, Doña Beatriz de la Cueva, who outlived him.

Later life and death

Alvarado developed a plan to outfit an armada that would sail from the western coast of Mexico to China and the Spice Islands. At great cost, he assembled and equipped 13 ships and approximately 550 soldiers for the expedition. The fleet was about to set sail in 1541 when Alvarado received a letter from Cristóbal de Oñate, pleading for help against hostile Indians who were besieging him at Nochistlán.^[3] The siege was part of a major revolt by the Mixtón natives of the Nueva Galicia region of Mexico. Alvarado gathered his troops and went to help Oñate. In a freak accident, he was crushed by a horse that was spooked and ran amok.^[4] He died a few days later, on July 4, 1541, and was buried in the church at Tiripetio, a village between Patzcuaro and Morelia (in present-day Michoacán).

Four decades after Alvarado's death, his daughter Leonor de Alvarado Xicoténcatl paid to transport his remains to Guatemala for reburial in the cathedral of the city of Santiago (now Antigua Guatemala).

Alvarado's death, depicted in the indigenous Codex Telleriano-Remensis. The glyph to the right of his head represents his Nahuatl name Tonatiuh "Sun".

Family

After the death of Pedro de Alvarado, his wife, Doña Beatriz de la Cueva, of Úbeda, became governor after his death,^[5] but died in September 1541 during the mudflow of the Guatemalan "Agua" volcano.^[6]

Alvarado had no issue from both his marriages. But more than his wives his vital companion was Luisa de Tlaxcala (also called Xicoténcalt or Tecubalsi, her original names after Catholic Baptism), an Indian Noblewoman, daughter of the Tlaxcaltec Chief Xicotenga. Luisa was delivered by her father in 1519 to Hernán Cortés as a proof of respect and friendship, and in turn he gave her in guard to Pedro de Alvarado, who quickly became her lover. Luisa followed Pedro in his adventures, and despite never being recognized as his legitimate wife, she had numerous possessions and was respected as a Dame, both for her relationship with de Alvarado and for her noble origin. She died in 1535 and was buried at the Guatemala Cathedral.

With Luisa de Tlaxcala he had three children:

• Leonor de Alvarado y Xicotenga Tecubalsi, born at the newly founded city of Santiago de los Caballeros, who married Pedro de Portocarrero, conquistador trusted by his father-in-law, whom he accompanied during the conquest of Mexico and Guatemala. Portocarrero participated in numerous battles against the Indians.

Leonor married a second time^[7], to Francisco de la Cueva y Guzman. The Alvarado fortune remained with their descendants for generations to come, in Villacreces de la Cueva y Guzman, governors of this part of Guatemala.

• Pedro de Alvarado, who disappeared at sea when travelling to Spain
• Diego de Alvarardo, El Mestizo, who died in 1554 in the civil wars of Peru

By other women, in concealed and occasional love affairs, he had two other children:

• Gómez de Alvarado, without further notice
• Ana (Anita) de Alvarado.

References in modern culture

C. S. Forester's 1937 novel The Happy Return, set in Central America in 1808, features a character El Supremo who claims to be a descendant of Alvarado by a (fictional) marriage to a daughter of Moctezuma.

Pedro de Alvarado is a character in the opera La conquista (2005) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero, which depicts the major episodes of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521 and the subsequent destruction of the Aztec civilization.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras

													16. Fernando Sánchez or Sánz del Varado
										8. Garci Sánchez de Varado or de Alvarado
													17. María González de Aguilar
							4. Juan de Alvarado
													18. Alvaro Dávila
										9. Leonor de Bracamonte
													19.
				2. Diego Gómez de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval
													20.
										10.
													21.
							5. Catalina Mexía y Sandoval
													22.
										11.
													23.
	1. Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras
													24.
										12. Fernán Núñez de Contreras or Fernando Martínez de Contreras, el Viejo
													25.
							6. Gonzalo de Contreras y Carvajal
													26. Alvar García de Bejarano or de Orellana, Señor de Orellana la Nueva
										13. Sarra or Sara de Carvajal
													27. Mencía González de Carvajal
				3. Leonor de Contreras y Gutiérrez de Trejo
													28. Gutierre González de Trejo, 7. Señor de Grimaldo, Almofraque y Carchuelas
										14.
													29. Violante Gutiérrez de la Cerda
							7. Isabel Gutiérrez de Trejo y Ulloa
													30.
										15.
													31.

See also

• Black Legend
• Iximche
• La Noche Triste
• Q'umarkaj
• Spanish Conquest
• Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
• Tecún Umán
• The massacre in the Main Temple, Tenochtitlán

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Conquered Conquistadors", Florine G.L. Asselbergs, First Edition, published 2004
2. ^ Asselbergs 2004: 163,214
3. ^ Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Ch.203.
4. ^ Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Ch.203.
5. ^ "Conquistador and Colonial Elites of Central America" (list), Fabio Joseph Flouty, University of California Irvine, webpage: UCI-CN.
6. ^ Asselbergs 2004: 105
7. ^ According to the illustrious 17 century historian father Domingo Juarros in his Compendio de la historia de la cuidad de guatemala, pagina 347.

References

Asselbergs, Florine G.L. (2004). Conquered Conquistadors: The Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, a Nahua vision of the conquest of Guatemala. CNWS publications series. Leiden, Netherlands: Research School CNWS. ISBN 978-90-5789-097-0. OCLC 491630572. 

Bandelier, Adolph Francis (1907). "Pedro de Alvarado". In Charles G. Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, Condé B. Pallen, Thomas J. Shahan and John J. Wynne (eds.). The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church. vol. I (New Advent online reproduction ed.). New York: Robert Appleton Company. OCLC 1017058. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01372d.htm. 

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (1963) [1632]. The Conquest of New Spain. Penguin Classics. translated by J. M. Cohen (6th printing [1973] ed.). Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044123-9. OCLC 162351797. 

Ignacio Beteta. OCLC 2187421.  (Spanish)

Internet Archive). A statistical and commercial history of the kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America: containing important particulars relative to its productions, manufactures, customs, &c. &c. &c. With an account of its conquest by the Spaniards, and a narrative of the principal events down to the present time: from original records in the archives; actual observation; and other authentic sources. translated by John Baily (translation of Compendio de la historia de la ciudad de Guatemala, 1st English ed.). London: John Hearne. OCLC 367922521. http://www.archive.org/details/astatisticaland00bailgoog. 

Recinos, Adrián (1986). Pedro de Alvarado: Conquistador de México y Guatemala (2nd ed.). Guatemala: CENALTEX Centro Nacional de Libros de Texto y Material Didáctico "José de Pineda Ibarra". OCLC 243309954.  (Spanish)

Stone, Samuel Z. (1975). La dinastía de los conquistadores: La crisis del poder en la Costa Rica contemporánea. Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, Costa Rica: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana. OCLC 1933264.  (Spanish)

Stone, Samuel Z. (1990). The heritage of the conquistadors: Ruling classes in Central America from the Conquest to the Sandinistas (6th edition, fully revised and expanded ed.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-803-24207-7. OCLC 20393173. 

External links

• Works by or about Pedro de Alvarado in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Alvarado family genealogy (Spanish)
• Alvarado y Contreras family genealogy (Spanish)