| Capitán Gómez de Alvarado | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gómez de Alvarado y Contreras |
| Nickname | El Viejo |
| Born | 1482 |
| Died | September 1542 (aged 59–60) |
| Place of birth | Badajoz, Crown of Castile |
| Place of death | Vilcashuamán, Viceroyalty of Peru |
| Allegiance |
 Spanish Empire |
| Years of service | 1510–1542 |
| Battles/wars | |
Gómez de Alvarado y Contreras (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈgo.mez ðe alβaˈɾaðo i konˈtre.ɾas]; 1482 – September 1542) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer. He was a member of the Alvarado family and the older brother of famous conquistador Pedro de Alvarado.[1]
Gómez participated in the Spanish colonization of the Americas from 1510 until his death in 1542. He held the rank of captain of the cavalry and served in the Spanish campaigns against the Aztec Empire, the Maya in Guatemala and El Salvador, and the Inca Empire. He died of an illness shortly following the Battle of Chupas in 1542. He founded the Peruvian city of Huánuco in 1539.[2]
Early life and family[]
Gómez de Alvarado y Contreras was born in 1482 in Badajoz, Extremadura, Crown of Castile. He was a member of the Alvarado family, a notable Spanish family of conquistadors. His parents were Pedro Gómez de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval and Leonor Contreras Carvajal y Gutiérrez.[1] His siblings were Jorge (b. 1460), Pedro (b. 1485), Sarra (b. 1485), Juan (b. 1490), and Gonzalo (b. 1490).[1][3] Gómez married Bernardina de Frias and fathered two children: Isabel and Ana.[1]
Campaigns in New Spain[]
Gómez left Extremadura for Spanish America in 1510 with his brothers Jorge, Pedro, and Gonzalo, their uncle Diego de Alvarado y Mexía de Sandoval, and their cousins Hernando, Diego, and Gonzalo.[2][3][4][5] They served under Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.[2][4][5]
On 6 December 1523, Pedro lead his brothers, cousins, and uncle, including Gómez, out of Tenochtitlan in command of a Spanish army consisting of 120 horsemen with 170 horses, 300 foot soldiers, and 130 crossbowmen to what is modern-day Guatemala, beginning the Spanish conquest of Guatemala that would last well into the 17th century.[5][6][7] Pedro was known for his cruelness and ruthlessness during his conquest of Guatemala, and the same attributes were shared by his brothers, including Gómez, with massacres, looting, village burning, rapes, and kidnapping indigenous people for slave labor committed by their men being commonplace.[7][8]
By the end of 1524, Pedro, Jorge, and Gómez began the conquest of Cuzcatlan in modern-day El Salvador.[2][5][9] In the Battle of Tacuzcalco (es), Gómez commanded twenty cavalrymen against the left flank of the indigenous army under Atlácatl.[10] During the conquest, the city of San Salvador was founded on 1 April 1525 at current site of Ciudad Vieja with Diego de Holguín as the city's first mayor.[9][11][12] The city was refounded on 1 April 1528 at its modern-day location and Diego de Alvarado (es), Gómez's nephew, became its mayor.[12][13]
Campaigns in Peru[]
A depiction of the Battle of Chupas.
In 1532, Pedro left New Spain to join Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of the Inca Empire and Gómez joined him in 1534 after serving as mayor of San Salvador from 1532 until 1534.[2][5][14] Gómez served under Diego de Almagro in the conquest.[2][5] Gómez commanded 90 cavalry forces to a Spanish victory in the Battle of Reinohuelén (es) against Mapuche forces under Michimalonco in September 1536.[2][15][16]
When civil war erupted between forces under Pizarro and Almagro in 1537, Gómez sided with Almargo under the banner of Nueva Toledo against Pizarro's Nueva Castile.[2][16][17] He partook in the Almagrist victory at the Battle of Abancay on 12 July 1537 and was captured during the Almagrist defeat during the Battle of Las Salinas on 6 April 1538.[2][17][18] He refused to surrender his sword to a Spaniard, and instead gave it to an African slave.[2] After Almagro was executed, Gómez attainted a pardon from Pizarro and later founded the Peruvian city of Huánuco in 1539.[2][18][19] The city was abandoned and refounded in 1541 and later bestowed the title of "Very Noble and Very Loyal" by Spanish Emperor Carlos I in 1543.[2]
Pizarro was assassinated on 26 June 1541 on orders of Diego de Almagro II to exert revenge for executing his father in 1538.[2][18][20] The assassination sparked a second civil war where Cristóbal Vaca de Castro sought to regain full control of Spanish Peru from Almagro II who also sought to control the territory.[2][21] The armies of Almagro II and Vaca de Castro engaged at the Battle of Chupas with Gómez serving under Almagro II.[2][17][22] The Almagrists were defeated in battle; Almagro II fled but was later captured and executed, suffering the fate of many other captured Almagrists who were hanged by Vaca de Castro's forces.[22]
Death[]
Gómez evaded capture by Vaca de Castro following the battle, but he was taken ill with a fever shortly after the battle.[2] His health deteriorated and he died a few days after the battle in September 1542 in the town of Vilcashuamán.[2] His body was transferred to Huamanga and he was buried in the local parish.[2] Since his death, Gómez has been confused with another Gómez de Alvarado, who is nicknamed "el Mozo," to distinguish him from Gómez who is nicknamed "el Viejo."[2]
Ancestors[]
See also[]
- Diego de Almagro
- Pedro de Alvarado
- Spanish colonization of the Americas
- Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Gonzalo Gómez de Alvarado y Contreras, Conquistador de la Nueva España" (in en). 25 October 2020. p. 1. https://www.geni.com/people/Gonzalo-Gómez-de-Alvarado-y-Contreras-Conquistador-de-la-Nueva-España/6000000010169743528.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Cañas Dinarte 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Castejón 2004.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Asselbergs 2004, p. 87.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Rújula y Ochotorena and Solar y Taboada, p. 292.
- ↑ Asselbergs 2004, pp. 87–88.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Asselbergs 2004, pp. 95–97.
- ↑ Asselbergs 2004, pp. 88–89.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Asselbergs 2004, p. 90.
- ↑ Recinos 1986, p. 91.
- ↑ García Granados 1924, p. 10.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Datos del Municipio". http://sansalvador.gob.sv/DatosDelMunicipio.
- ↑ Matthew and Oudijk 2007, p. 108.
- ↑ García Añoveros 1987, p. 248.
- ↑ "De cómo el adelantado don Diego de Almagro vino al descubrimiento de Chile y por dónde se descubrió" (in es). Universidad de Chile. p. 1. http://www.historia.uchile.cl/CDA/fh_article/0,1389,SCID%253D10211%2526ISID%253D404%2526PRT%253D10200%2526JNID%253D12,00.html.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mariño de Lobera 1970, pp. 25–26.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Rújula y Ochotorena and Solar y Taboada, p. 293.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 MacQuarrie 2007, p. 338.
- ↑ "Los Alvarado Contreras" (in es). p. 1. http://www.linajecontreras.com/genealogia/lineas/los-alvarado-contreras/.
- ↑ MacQuarrie 2007, pp. 342–343.
- ↑ MacQuarrie 2007, pp. 343–344.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 MacQuarrie 2007, p. 344.
Bibliography[]
- Asselbergs, Florine (2004) (in en). Conquered Conquistadors: The Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, A Nahua Vision of the Conquest of Guatemala. Mesoamerican Worlds: From the Olmec to the Danzantes. University Press of Colorado (published 2008). ISBN 978-0870818998. JSTOR j.ctt46nv6j. https://www.pdfdrive.com/conquered-conquistadors-the-lienzo-de-quauhquechollan-a-nahua-vision-of-the-conquest-of-guatemala-mesoamerican-worlds-e189913025.html. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- Cañas Dinarte, Carlos (18 June 2016). "Los Guanacos de Gómez de Alvarado y Contreras". El Salvador. p. 1. https://historico.elsalvador.com/historico/191650/los-guanacos-de-gomez-de-alvarado-y-contreras.html.
- Castejón, Antonio (2004). "Alvarado – Los Alvarado de Extremadura, que Pasan a América" (in es). p. 1. http://www.euskalnet.net/laviana/gen_hispanas/alvarado.htm.
- García Añoveros, Jesús María (June 1987) (in es). Don Pedro de Alvarado: Las Fuentes Históricas, Documentación, Crónicas y Bibliografía Existente. Mesoamérica. 13. Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala: El Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica. pp. 243–282. ISSN 0252-9963. OCLC 7141215. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4008051.pdf. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- García Granados, Jorge (1924) (in es). Libro Viejo de la Fundación de Guatemala y Papeles Relativos a D. Pedro de Alvarado. Biblioteca Goathemala de la Soc de Geografía y Historia; v. XII. 12. Guatemala City, Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional (published July 1934). pp. 1–14. https://archive.org/details/libroviejodelafu12guat/page/10/mode/2up. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- MacQuarrie, Kim (2007). "The Last of the Pizarros" (in en). The Last Days of the Incas. New York City, United States: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. pp. 331–352. ISBN 978-0-7432-6049-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=Emql_kU0QLIC&pg=PA344#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- Mariño de Lobera, Pedro (1970). "Capítulo VI – De la entrada ......Gómez de Alvarado......descubrir lo que había en la Tierra adentro y de una sangrienta batalla que tuvo con los bárbaros" (in es). Crónica del Reino de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Universitaria, Santiago de Chile. pp. 25–26. ASIN B0026S67H4. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/cronica-del-reino-de-chile--0/html/. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- Matthew, Laura E.; Oudijk, Michael R., eds (2007). "Whose Conquest? Nahua, Zapoteca, and Mixteca Allies in the Conquest of Central America" (in en). Indian Conquistadors. Indigenous Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 102–126. ISBN 978-0-8061-3854-1. https://www.academia.edu/31592597/Indian_Conquistadors_Inidigenous_Allies_in_the_Conquest_of_Mesoamerica. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- Recinos, Adrián (1986) (in es). Pedro de Alvarado, Conquistador de México y Guatemala (2 ed.). Guatemala City, Guatemala: CENALTEX. OCLC 243309954. https://books.google.com/books/about/Pedro_de_Alvarado_conquistador_de_Méxic.html?id=1ORqAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- Rújula y Ochotorena, José; Solar y Taboada, Antonio. "Los Alvarado en el Nuevo Mundo" (in es). pp. 292–294.
External links[]
- Alvarado family genealogy (in Spanish)
- Alvarado y Contreras family genealogy (in Spanish)
The original article can be found at Gómez de Alvarado and the edit history here.