Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón
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Map detail by Diego Ribero (1529), showing southeastern coast of current US was named Tiera de Ayllon
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| Born | c. 1480 |
| Died | 18 October 1526 |
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (born around 1480 – died October 18, 1526) was a Spanish judge and explorer. In 1526, he started the San Miguel de Gualdape colony. This was one of the first times Europeans tried to build a settlement in what is now the United States. Ayllón's stories about this new land encouraged other Spanish and French groups to try and settle the southeastern United States later on.
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Early Life and Education
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón was born in Toledo, Spain, around 1480. He came from an important family. His parents were Juan Vázquez de Ayllón, a city councilman, and Inés de Villalobos. Lucas received a good education in law. His father's job also taught him a lot about how politics worked.
Life in Hispaniola
In 1502, the Spanish rulers sent Nicolás de Ovando to be the governor of Hispaniola. This island is now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Ayllón went with Ovando's group and arrived in the capital city, Santo Domingo, in April 1502.
In 1504, Ayllón became the chief judge and officer of Concepción. His job was to bring order to the gold-mining areas on the island.
In 1509, Ovando and his officers, including Ayllón, were called back to Spain. They had to go through a review of their time in office. Ayllón was accused of getting rich unfairly. However, he was able to defend himself well. His career and wealth were not harmed. After returning to Spain, he studied law more and earned a master's degree from the University of Salamanca.
Meanwhile, King Ferdinand was worried about not having enough control in the Indies. He was also concerned about the growing power of the new governor, Diego Colón. In 1511, King Ferdinand set up a royal appeals court called the Real Audiencia in Hispaniola. The king trusted Ayllón a lot. He made him one of the three judges of this court. The court was meant to help the king keep control in the colonies. Ayllón arrived in Hispaniola in May 1512. He quickly became an important person in the island's politics.
Around 1514, Ayllón married Ana de Bezerra. She was the daughter of a rich miner. This marriage brought him more wealth and respect. He also bought a sugar farm and helped fund trips to bring enslaved people to the island. Some colonists complained that Ayllón and the other judges were unfairly controlling the market for enslaved people. This was making their prices go up.
When King Ferdinand died in 1516, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros became the temporary ruler for the young King Charles V. Cisneros wanted to stop the mistreatment of the native people. In 1517, he removed Ayllón and the other judges from their jobs. He had them investigated for bad behavior. However, Cisneros was later removed from his position. The investigation stopped, and the judges got their jobs back in 1520.
Narváez Expedition
Even when he was not working, Ayllón remained an important person in the Indies. In 1519, Hernán Cortés started his conquest of Mexico. Cortés then said he was independent from Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the governor of Cuba. Velázquez had sponsored Cortés's trip. The Crown (the Spanish government) was afraid that the fight between Cortés and Velázquez would turn into a war. So, they sent Ayllón to Cuba first to talk with Velázquez. Then, he went to Mexico with Pánfilo de Narváez's group. Ayllón's goal was to convince both sides to solve their problems in court. When Ayllón reached Mexico, Narváez held him against his will. Ayllón was sent back to Santo Domingo without achieving anything.
Exploration of New Lands
After Ayllón got his judge job back, a ship arrived in Santo Domingo around August 1521. The ship's pilot, Francisco Gordillo, had been hired by Ayllón. Gordillo was supposed to lead a trip to find enslaved people in the Bahamas. But the islands were empty. So, Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos, another pilot, sailed northwest. They were looking for land that people said was in that direction. On June 24, 1521, they landed at Winyah Bay. This is on the coast of what is now South Carolina. After exploring the area a bit, they captured sixty native people. They took them back to Hispaniola.
Besides the enslaved native people, Gordillo and Quexos brought back exciting reports about the land they had found. They said it would not need a military takeover. They also said that once settled, the area would become a rich and successful colony. Ayllón was very interested in these reports. He soon wrote to the Spanish Crown asking for permission to explore and settle the region. Later that year, he traveled to Spain for court business. He used this chance to personally push his idea for the new land. Ayllón took one of the captured native people with him. This person had recently been baptized and named Francisco de Chicora. In Spain, they met the court writer, Peter Martyr. Chicora talked a lot with Peter Martyr about his people and homeland. He also spoke about nearby areas.
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Ayllón signed a contract with the Crown on June 12, 1523. This allowed him to create a settlement on the eastern coast and trade with the local native people. He was made governor for life. He and his family would also always hold the title of alguacil mayor (high sheriff). In return for these and many other special rights, Ayllón had to explore the region more closely. He also had to set up missions, churches, and a Franciscan monastery. These would help convert the native population to Christianity. He was not allowed to force native people to work. While still in Spain, Ayllón was also named a comendador in the military order of Santiago.
Before going back to Hispaniola, Ayllón was ordered to Puerto Rico. There, he had to finish several ongoing investigations and reviews of government officials. From the Crown's point of view, his work helped bring some order to the island's government. It also helped end Diego Colón's independent power in the islands.
After being away for three years, Ayllón returned to Santo Domingo around December 1524. As his contract said, he started getting ready for a trip to explore the southeastern coast of North America. He hired Quexos to lead a journey with two ships and about sixty crew members. They sailed in early April 1525. Their instructions were to explore about 640 nautical miles of coastline. They also had to record important directions and depths. They were to put up stone markers with the name of Charles V. Finally, they needed to get native people who could be guides and interpreters for future trips. They first landed on May 3, 1525, probably at the Savannah River. From there, they continued north until they reached Winyah Bay. This was where they had first landed in 1521. It is not clear how much further north Quexos traveled. He might have gone as far as Chesapeake Bay. He reported that the coast beyond Winyah Bay was mostly sand dunes and pine trees. The expedition returned to Santo Domingo in July 1525.
Expedition to Chesapeake Bay and Ayllón's Death
After Quexos returned, Ayllón started getting ready for a settlement trip that he would lead himself. He spent a lot of his own money and went into debt to prepare the expedition. He put together a group of six ships carrying about 600-700 people. This included some women, children, and enslaved black people. Supplies and animals, like cows, sheep, pigs, and a hundred horses, were loaded. The ships left in mid-July 1526.
The large group of settlers landed in Winyah Bay on August 9, 1526. Their biggest ship hit a sandbar and sank. No one died, but a large part of their supplies was lost. Ayllón ordered a new ship to be built. This was probably the first time a European-style boat was built in what is now the United States.
Ayllón looked for a good place to set up a settlement near Pawleys Island. But the soil was poor, and there were not many native people for profitable trade. Several groups were sent out to look for better places. Based on their reports, Ayllón decided to move about 200 miles south to a "powerful river." This was probably Sapelo Sound in present-day Georgia. In early September, the healthy men rode to the new site on horseback. The rest traveled by ship. When they reached Sapelo Sound, they immediately started building houses and a church.
The colony, called San Miguel de Gualdape, was officially started on September 29, 1526. This was the first European settlement in what is now the United States. Ayllón's simple town lasted less than three months. The settlers faced tiredness, cold, hunger, sickness, and problems with the local native people. When Ayllón died on October 18, 1526, from an unknown illness, the whole plan fell apart. The remaining colonists started fighting among themselves. By mid-November, they decided to give up and sail back to Hispaniola. Out of the 600-700 people Ayllón had brought with him, only 150 survivors reached Hispaniola that winter.
San Miguel de Gualdape was the first European colony in what is now the United States. It came 33 years before the unsuccessful colony at Pensacola, Florida. It was 39 years before St. Augustine, Florida (the first successful colony). It was also 61 years before the Roanoke Colony and 81 years before Jamestown, Virginia. Even after many tries, archaeologists have not been able to find the exact spot of the town or the shipwreck in Winyah Bay.
See also
