Juan Vázquez de Coronado

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Juan Vázquez de Coronado y Anaya (b. Salamanca, 1523 – k. in a shipwreck off the coast of Spain, aft. April 8, 1565) was a Spanish conquistador, Conqueror, first Governor and first Adelantado of Costa Rica according to a mercy granted by King Philip II at Aranjuez on April 8, 1565. He was born in Salamanca, Spain, bastard son of Gonzalo Vázquez de Coronado y Luján, Señor de Coquilla and of la Torre de Juan Vázquez, Majorats of his family, by Catalina de Anaya, and was a nephew of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, who, between 1540 and 1542, visited New Mexico and other parts of what is now the southwestern United States.

[edit] Life

Vázquez de Coronado went very young to America, at only 17 years old, and established first in Mexico and then in Guatemala, where he started to fulfill oficial charges, such as Deputy of the Cabildo of the City of Santiago de los Caballeros and Ordinary Alcalde of Guatemala. In 1548 he married Isabel Arias-Dávila, the daughter of Captain Gaspar Arias-Dávila, and a first cousin to Pedrarias Dávila, both of whom were amongst the most prominent Conquerors of New Spain and Guatemala. Having issue, he passed to El Salvador, where he enjoyed of an encomienda at Naolingo and was appointed Alcalde-Mayor of San Salvador in 1549. Later he appears occupying the same charge in Honduras in 1556 and in Nicaragua in 1561 and finally in Costa Rica in 1562. In the country he distinguished himself for the pacific and fair way with which he executed the tasks of the conquest, being very respected and esteemed either by the Indians and by the Spanish colonists. In 1565 he traveled to Spain where for his merits King Philip II granted him the charge of Governor of Costa Rica and the hereditary title of Adelantado of Costa Rica. However, in the return voyage to take possession of his charges, his ship disappeared in a storm in front of the coasts of southern Spain.

One of the most relevant characters of costarican history is without doubt Juan Vázquez de Coronado, conqueror, first Governor and first Adelantado of Costa Rica. Despite his historical transcendency as one of the main builders of the nation, Vázquez de Coronado is one of the main genearchs of the costarican population, to such a point that a widespread study evidencies that he is the progenitor of a true elite, that which until 1975 has given 29 of its 44 Heads of State, and more than two hundred Parliamentaries.^[1]

[edit] Ancestors

[edit] Sources

• Origin of Vázquez de Coronado family (in Spanish)