Royal Governor of Panama
Pedro Arias de Avila
(1440 ? 6 March 1531; often
Pedro Arias Davila
) was a Spanish soldier and colonial administrator. He led the first great Spanish expedition to the mainland of the
New World
. There, he served as governor of Panama (1514?1526) and Nicaragua (1527?1531), and founded
Panama City
(1519).
[1]
[2]
He died in 1531 aged around 90 or 91.
Family
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Pedrarias was the son of Pedro Arias and Maria Ortiz de Cota. He was born into a prominent and well-connected Spanish family. His grandfather, Diego Arias de
Avila
, was chief comptroller and a key adviser to King
Enrique IV
; his older brother was the Count of Punonrostro; and his uncle was the Bishop of
Segovia
, a wealthy man who left Pedrarias a fortune.
[3]
Early life
[
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]
As a boy, he was a
page
in the court of King
Juan II of Castile
. Physically imposing and athletic, he was nicknamed "the jouster" for his skill in tournaments and "the gallant" in reference to his extravagant wardrobe and spendthrift habits. In later life, he served in the
war against the Moors in Granada (1482?1492)
and distinguished himself as a colonel of infantry
fighting in North Africa
(1508?1511). When he returned to Spain, he received a promotion, a citation for valor, and another nickname: "the lion of
Bugia
".
[3]
Towards the end of 1485, he married an intimate friend of queen
Isabella I of Spain
, Isabel de Bobadilla y Penalosa, the daughter of
Francisco de Bobadilla
who was appointed to succeed
Christopher Columbus
as the second governor of the Indies in 1499.
A few years before 1513, he collapsed of some unrecorded illness. As he was about to be lowered to his grave, a tearful servant who was embracing the casket was astonished to hear movement inside. Incredibly, Arias was breathing and very much alive. Thereafter, he ordered an annual Requiem Mass sung for him in the cathedral at Torrejon, and stood in his own unused grave to listen to it. He took his coffin everywhere he went, even to the New World.
[4]
[
better source needed
]
In 1514, at the age of nearly seventy, he was made commander by King
Ferdinand II of Aragon
of the largest Spanish expedition (19 vessels and 1,500 men) hitherto sent to America.
America
[
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]
Tierra Firme
1513 -
Castilla de Oro
They reached
Santa Marta
in
Colombia
in July 1514. They then proceeded to
Darien
, where
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
ruled as governor.
Arias Davila superseded him and promised him his daughter in wedlock but he had Balboa judicially murdered at age 44 on 15 January 1519,
[5]
: 15
being thus a potential bridegroom but never a son-in-law. Arias Davila's daughter was known as "Maria de Penalosa" to honor her female ancestors, something by no means uncommon between the High Spanish Nobility at the time. In 1524, she married
Rodrigo de Contreras
, (
Segovia
, 1502 - 1558). They had 11 children. Maria died at
Ciudad de los Reyes
on 25 May 1573.
Another of Arias Davila's daughters, who was born when he was elderly, Isabel Arias or Isabel de Bobadilla (to mark the female ancestors of the family), was married in
Valladolid
,
Spain
, 1537, to his loyal lieutenant
Hernando de Soto
, the successful
conquistador
and explorer of
Florida
and
Mississippi
and
Governor of Cuba
.
In 1519, Arias Davila founded
Panama City
and moved his capital there in 1524, abandoning
Darien
. Davila sent
Gil Gonzalez Davila
to explore to the north. In 1524, he sent another expedition under
Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba
, who was executed there in 1526 by order of Davila, by then aged over 85.
The death of the New Governor, a change of position decided in Spain, Lope de Sosa, in 1520 before even landing and taking possession, the expeditions with military garrisons from Panama and Nata, to reduce the "disorders" promoted by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, a.k.a. Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, the diversion from New Governor of Castilla del Oro since 1526, now, more or less Panama, Pedro de los Rios, getting a nomination for himself as the new Governor of Nicaragua in 1527 show the energy of Davila, already approaching his nineties.
[
clarification needed
]
Maria Ortiz Cota, the mother of Davila, was the daughter of
Toledo
family member and Royal Treasurer Alonso Cota (died 1468) who was married to one Teresa Ortiz, their children being known however as "Ortiz Cota" under the Portuguese family style, whereas, following the Spanish succession style, they would have been known as "Cota Ortiz".
Moreover, he was a party to the original agreement with
Francisco Pizarro
and
Diego de Almagro
which brought about the discovery of
Peru
, but he withdrew (1526) for a small compensation, having lost confidence in the outcome. In the same year, he was superseded as Governor of Panama by
Pedro de los Rios
and retired to
Leon, Nicaragua
, where he was named its new governor on 1 July 1527. Here he lived for the rest of his life until his death on 6 March 1531. He left an unenviable record, as a man of unreliable character, and who was cruel and unscrupulous.
[6]
Through his foundation of
Panama
, however, he laid the basis for the discovery of
South America's
west coast and the subsequent
conquest of Peru
.
Notes
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]
References
[
edit
]
- Cook, Noble David (1998).
Born to Die
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 53?54.
- Patterson, Jack E. (2010).
Fonseca: Building the New World
.
ISBN
9781441494917
.
- Romoli, Kathleen (1953).
Balboa of Darien: Discoverer of the Pacific
. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
- Sauer, Carl Ortwin (1966).
The Early Spanish Main
. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Sherman, William L. (2008). "Avila, Pedro Arias de (c. 1440?1531)". In Kinsbruner, Jay; Langer, Erick D. (eds.).
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture
. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 409?410.
- Thomas, Hugh (2003).
Rivers of Gold
. New York: Random House. pp.
328-353
.
ISBN
9780375502040
.
- "Pedro Arias Davila"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
5 March
2024
.
Spanish references
[
edit
]
- Alvarez Rubiano, Pablo: Pedrarias Davila.
Contribucion a la figura del "Gran Justador", Gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua. Madrid, 1944.
- Cantera Burgos, Francisco:
Pedrarias Davila y Cota, capitan general y gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua: sus antecedentes judios. Universidad de Madrid, Catedra de Lengua Hebrea e Historia de los judios.
Madrid, 1971.
- Gitlitz, David M.,
Los Arias Davila de Segovia: entre la iglesia y la sinagoga
(Baltimore: International Scholars Publications, 1996.
- Mena Garcia, Carmen:
Pedrarias Davila o la Ira de Dios: una historia olvidada.
Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, 1992;
ISBN
84-7405-834-1
- Mena Garcia, Carmen:
Sevilla y las flotas de Indias. La gran armada de Castilla del Oro, 1513-1514.
Universidad de Sevilla, Fundacion cultural El Monte, Sevilla, 1998, 2ª edicion Sevilla, 1999;
ISBN
84-472-0459-6
- Mena Garcia, Carmen:
Un linaje de conversos en tierras americanas. Los testamentos de Pedrarias Davila, gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua. Leon, 2004;
ISBN
84-9773-137-9
External links
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