Nicolas de Ovando

Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres (Brozas (or Cáceres), 1451 or 1460-Seville, May 29, 1511) was governor and colonial administrator of Hispaniola from April 15, 1502 until July 10, 1509, succeeding Francisco Fernández de Bobadilla in office.

Family

Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres was the second son of Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando, who grew up and learned the military art in the house of Juan II of Aragón, He was lord of the Alcázar Viejo site, whose site was granted de jure by Henry IV of Castile by royal decree of July 16, 1473, "famous captain" of said king and of the Catholic Monarchs since 1475, governor of Benquerencia and Monleón, where he died in 1487, having testified on February 2. Nicolás de Ovando's mother, Isabel Flores de las Varillas, lady of Queen Isabel I of Castile, was the first wife of Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando. She was the daughter of Rodrigo Flores de las Varillas and his wife María Esteban Tejado de Paredes.

His first-born brother was Diego de Cáceres y Ovando, II lord of the House of Storks in the Plaza de San Mateos de Cáceres, where he succeeded in 1487. He married Francisca de Mendoza y Vera, sister of Diego de Vera and Mendoza, III lord of Don Tello, and daughter of Juan de Vera, II lord of Don Tello, and his wife Juana de Sandoval y Mendoza. He was the paternal grandson of Fernán Blázquez de Cáceres y Mogollón, who made a will in Cáceres in 1443, and of his wife Leonor Alfón de Ovando.

Biography

Entry as a professed knight in the Order of Alcántara; hence his title of "frey." He became Commander of Lares and, later, Commander Major. He used, therefore, his coat of arms, the quarter of Ovando, Flores, Mogollón and Gutiérrez, placed on the cross of the Order of Alcántara.

He founded the towns of Buenaventura, Puerto Real, Lares de Guayaná, Santa Cruz de Icayagua del Seybo, Cotuí, Yáquimo and Puerto Plata. He moved and rebuilt the city of Santo Domingo, in addition to founding convents and promoting agriculture.

Expedition to Hispaniola

On February 13, 1502, he left Spain with 32 ships, being the largest fleet of ships destined for the American continent. In total, about 2,500 colonizers embarked, and unlike Christopher Columbus, this group of colonizers was chosen at random^{[citation required]} to represent Spanish society in the New World. It was the first large colonizing army, financed mainly with private capital, although the Crown also participated, especially in organizational tasks. Ovando's plan, drawn up by the Catholic Monarchs, was to develop both the basic economy of Hispaniola and establish the structures political, social, religious and administrative of the colony.

Francisco Pizarro also traveled with him, who would later explore the western region of South America and conquer the Inca Empire. Likewise, on another boat on the same trip was Bartolomé de las Casas, later known as "the Protector of the Indians".

This is the portrait that the bishop of Chiapas makes of him, in his History of the Indies: "He was of medium build, and had a very blond or vermilion beard; He had and showed great authority, a friend of justice; He was most honest in his person in deeds and words, a very great enemy of greed and avarice, and he did not seem to lack humility, which is the enamel of virtues; and, allowing him to show it in all his external acts, in the regiment of his house, with his eating and dressing, family and public speeches, always maintaining his gravity and authority, he also showed it, in that after the Major Commandery was brought to him, He never ever allowed anyone to say his honor... This gentleman was a very prudent man and worthy of governing many people, but not Indians, because with his government, he did inestimable damage to them, as it will appear below.

Administration in Hispaniola

When Nicolás de Ovando arrived in the New World on April 15, he found that the native population was in a state of rebellion. This rebellion was put down through a series of bloody campaigns. Thus, in 1503 he ordered the hanging of the Taíno chief Anacaona. A series of epidemics reduced the population of Hispaniola: when Christopher Columbus arrived on that island in 1492, it is believed that it was inhabited by almost 500,000 people (although Father Las Casas claimed that there were between one and two million). However, according to the census taken in 1507, the natives had been reduced to only 60,000 inhabitants.

Ovando founded (and ordered the founding) of several cities in Hispaniola, among them: Compostela de Azua (or Azua de Compostela), Santa María de la Vera Paz, Bayajá (today Fuerte Libertad, in Haiti), Salvatierra de la Sabana (today, Les Cayes, in Haiti), Salvaleón de Higüey, Cotuí, Puerto Plata, Santa Cruz de Hicayagua (today, Santa Cruz del Seibo, in the Dominican Republic).

It also developed the mining industry. He introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, with plants imported from the Canary Islands. The colonizers were not only interested in using the native population as servants, but also to extract gold from the mines.

Nicolás de Ovando imported African slaves into Hispaniola for the first time, starting in 1502, because according to the laws of that time, indigenous Americans could not be treated as slaves. Many members of the Spanish elite requested groups of slaves to work as servants in their private homes.

The majority of these slaves were sent to work in the sugar cane fields. Likewise, he introduced the Indian encomienda in 1505, that is, he began to distribute Indians as encomiendas. Although it should not be confused with the fact that Ovando was a Major Commander of the Order of Alcántara.

Ovando sent Andrés de Morales to fully explore the island of Hispaniola. Morales completed the map of the island in its entirety. Sebastian de Ocampo was sent in 1506 to find out if Cuba was an island or part of the continent; After 8 or 10 months, Ocampo returned with the information that Cuba was an island. In 1508, Juan Ponce de León was sent with 50 men to conquer the island of San Juan (now the island of Puerto Rico).

End of his government and death

In his first years as governor, Ovando had enjoyed full powers and almost total autonomy from the metropolis. However, in 1507, when King Ferdinand of Aragon once again took control of Castile, Ovando's power began to decline. Fernando appointed Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, an enemy of Ovando, responsible for the affairs of the Indies. He also replaced numerous positions in the Santo Domingo administration with men close to the Crown; in particular, the new treasurer Miguel de Pasamonte, a trusted man of Fernando's secretary.

On July 9, 1509, a new governor, Diego Colón, arrived in Santo Domingo. Ovando was subjected to a residency trial and after that the next day he embarked back to Spain. Upon his return he was named commander of the Order of Alcántara. He died on May 29, 1511 during a meeting of the Order in Seville (according to Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in 1518). He was buried in the Priory Church of the Royal and Sacred Convent of San Benito, in Alcántara, the mother house of the Order.