Diego Velazquez de Cuellar

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (Cuéllar, 1465-Santiago de Cuba, June 12, 1524) was an adelantado, Spanish conquistador, the first ruler of Cuba —from 1511 until his death in 1524— and founder of the first seven cities of Cuba.

Biography

Casa de Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in Santiago de Cuba.

He belonged to an important noble family with prominence in Cuéllar during the Middle Ages. He is described as having a strong complexion and red hair.

He was a captain in the Spanish army in Naples and later settled in Seville, where he became friends with Bartholomew Columbus.

He was part of the second voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1493. He later collaborated with Governor Nicolás de Ovando (1501-1509) in the pacification of the island of Hispaniola, where he became one of the leading men.

The new governor Diego Colón (1509-1515) put him in charge of an expedition to conquer and populate Cuba in 1511. Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar obtained the title of lieutenant governor of the island.

He had the favor of Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca.

Velázquez founded in Hispaniola the towns of Santa María de la Vera Paz, Villanueva de Yáquino, San Juan de la Maguana, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios de Azua, Salvatierra de la Sabana and Bánica; and in Cuba the cities of Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa, San Salvador de Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Santísima Trinidad, Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe, Sancti Spíritus, San Cristóbal de la Habana and San Juan de los Remedios.

He sponsored the expedition of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to Yucatán at the beginning of 1517. In 1518 he commanded an expedition led by Juan de Grijalva, in which Captain Pedro de Alvarado was going, to the coasts of Mexico.

On November 13, 1518, in Zaragoza, after the action of his emissaries Gonzalo de Guzmán and Pánfilo de Narváez, they negotiated with the king for the granting of the title of advance, governor and captain general of the lands of Yucatán and Cozumel that Francisco Hernández and Juan de Grijalva had discovered.

Hernán Cortés and Andrés del Duero were Velázquez's secretaries.

At the end of 1518 he formed a new company with Hernán Cortés to organize an expedition to Culúa. On February 18, 1519, Hernán Cortés left for Mexico from Havana. The first thing that Cortés did when he reached the mainland was to found a new city, Veracruz. That implied creating a city council and distributing the charges of it. In this way, Cortés acted without taking Velázquez into account and would only answer to the king.

Velázquez sent an expedition under Pánfilo de Narváez to stop him, but it failed after Cortés' victory at Cempoala and Narváez's prison in 1520.

Later, in 1524, he incited one of Cortés' lieutenants, Cristóbal de Olid, to rebel against him in Honduras, which he succeeded in doing and cost Olid his life.

He was married to María de Cuéllar, daughter of the accountant Cristóbal de Cuéllar. The marriage did not last long, as she died a week after getting married.

Velázquez died between June 11 and 12, 1524 in his mansion in Santiago de Cuba, which still stands and is the Museum of Cuban Historical Environment.

Family of Conquerors

Following his relative Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, various relatives of the governor arrived in America, employed in different jobs and always under the protection of the adelantado. They stand out among them:

• Juan Velázquez de León, conqueror, captain of Hernan Cortes.
• Francisco Velázquez, conqueror of Mexico and New Galicia.
• Antonio Velázquez de Narváez, conqueror of Mexico, New Galicia and other provinces.
• Diego Velázquez el MozoGovernor's nephew.
• Jorge Velázquez he was a superior of Santo Domingo, then marching to Cuba, where he served the municipal office of Sancti Spíritus in 1521.
• Alonso VelázquezAfter serving the king ten years in Italy in the company of Martin de Ratia, he went with Hernando de Soto in 1538 to discover the provinces of Florida, where he endured indecent works. In 1543 he was a neighbor of Mexico and was preparing to participate in the navy that was to be sent to pacify Peru, but he ceased the rebellion and married. He was still living in Mexico in 1547.
• Francisco Velázquez el Corcovado, relative of the governor of Cuba, where he was in 1518. The following year he went with Hernán Cortés to Mexico and later returned to Cuba with other captains of the navy of Pánfilo de Narváez, because Cortés gave them a license and one of the best ships to return.
• Pedro Velázquez, nephew of the governor, was a neighbor of Havana in 1519, from where he marched with Narváez Pánfilo the following year. He returned to Cuba and for 1546-1555 he was a neighbor and lieutenant governor of Havana.
• Iseo Velázquez de Cuéllar, niece of the governor, was in Cuba in 1519 with her husband Baltasar Bermúdez, passing later to Mexico.
• Antonio Velázquez, relative of the governor, who died in a campaign led by Hernando de Soto in Florida about 1539.
• Francisco and Bernaldino Velázquezsons of Violante Velázquez and relatives of the governor. They died returning from the Indias, having granted both will, in which they left their mother as universal heir, sending her one of them to bring two natural children to Spain, with all their goods.
• Diego VelázquezHe got pregnant with Hernando de Soto in 1538 heading for Florida. The chronist Antonio de Herrera and Tordesillas, who recounted the Florida campaigns of 1541, says: "In them was a brave soldier, named Diego Velázquez, from Cuéllar."
• Bernardino Velázquez, relative of the governor, was one of the men that Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar took into account when he appointed head of the expedition to New Spain, who finally entrusted Hernán Cortés.
• Antonio Velázquez Borrego It was another of the men whom Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar proposed to lead the army to the Yucatan, just as he did with Francisco Verdugo, another relative.