Miguel Caldera

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Miguel Caldera was an important figure in the pacification and colonization of Mexico's northern frontier immediately following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire.

Caldera was the illegitimate son of a Castilian soldier named Pedro Caldera and a Guachichil woman named Maria. He was born in 1548 in what later became the city of Zacatecas and was raised by Franciscan monks in the city's monastery. At a young age, he enlisted in the Chichimeca War and attained the rank of captain. He was impressed by cruelty and futility of the Spanish Crown's efforts to subdue the Chichimecas by brute force. He advocated the use of diplomacy and gift-giving instead. The success of his alternative policy led to his appointment as Chief Justice and Mayor General of the Valley of Tlaltenango and Jerez. In that role he was the principal implementor of the Spanish Crown's pacification program in the region of Zacatecas, northern Jalisco and San Luis Potosí.

Caldera was instrumental in the migration of 400 Tlaxcaltec families in 1591 to the newly pacified region to help Christianize the local indigenous populations and consolidate the peace. The consolidation of peace during his tenure facilitated settlement of the region and the eventual Spanish occupation of what would, two and a half centuries later, become the American Southwest.

Caldera acquired considerable wealth during his lifetime including claims on a number of newly discovered mines in the region that he administered. He was never married, but fathered an illegitimate daughter by the name of Isabel, who married Juan de la Torre and was the mother of two sons: Marcos and Melchor. Caldera also had a sister named Maria Cid Caldera, who was married to Hernán González, a close collaborator of Caldera in the administration of the town of Colotlán, one of the Tlaxcaltec frontier colonies he helped found. The son of this couple, Pedro Cid Caldera was the primary heir of Caldera upon his death in 1597.

[edit] Sources

Philip Wayne Powell, Mexico's Miguel Caldera: The Taming of Ameríca's First Frontier (1548-1597)