Gonzalo Piña Ludueña

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Piña and the second or maternal family name is Ludueña.

Gonzalo Piña Ludueña or Lidueña (Gibraltar, 1545 – Caracas, 1600) was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in the Province of Venezuela between 1597 and 1600.[1]

Gonzalo Piña Ludueña was born in Gibraltar in 1545 which was then part of Spain.[2] He moved to the New World and settled down in Mérida, currently Western Venezuela, becoming one of the first Spanish inhabitants of the town. He was since then responsible of establishing several new towns and hamlets in the area, such as Nuestra Señora de Pedraza (founded in 1591 and known nowadays as Pedraza, state of Barinas),[3] or San Antonio de Gibraltar (currently known as Gibraltar, and located in the state of Zulia). San Antonio de Gibraltar was named after Gonzalo Piña Ludueña's hometown as authorised by the city council of Mérida which, in need of a new harbour, commissioned its foundation on shore of Lake Maracaibo in 1592.[4]

Upon the promotion of the former governor of the Province of Venezuela, Diego de Osorio, to head of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo, Piña Ludueña was appointed Governor by the king Philip II on April 17, 1597, and remained in office until his death, on March 28, 1600.[1] He also wrote "Description of the Lake Maracaybo and Magdalena River" (Descripción de la laguna de Maracaybo y río de la Magdalena).[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Capitanes Generales de Venezuela en la época de la Colonia (Spanish), taken from Gobernadores y Capitanes Generales de Provincia, by Guillermo Morón.
  2. ↑ Roberto Picón-Parra (1993). Fundadores, primeros moradores y familias coloniales de Mérida (1558–1810) (in Spanish). p. 267.
  3. ↑ Eduardo Osorio C. (2005). Historia de Mérida: conformación de la sociedad colonial merideña (in Spanish). Universidad Los Andes. p. 293. ISBN 978-980-11-0642-5.
  4. ↑ Eduardo Osorio C. (2005). Historia de Mérida: conformación de la sociedad colonial merideña (in Spanish). Universidad Los Andes. p. 294. ISBN 978-980-11-0642-5.
  5. ↑ Nectario María (Brother.) (1959). Los orígenes de Maracaibo. p. 465.
  6. ↑ Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid. Volume XXVIII, First Semester of 1890
Government offices
Preceded by
Diego de Osorio y Villegas		 Governor of the Province of Venezuela
1597–1600 		Succeeded by
Alonso Suárez del Castil1o