Alonso del Castillo Maldonado
Alonso del Castillo Maldonado | |
---|---|
Born | Unknown |
Died | after 1547 |
Nationality | Castillan |
Occupation(s) | Explorer and Treasurer (1547) |
Alonso del Castillo Maldonado (died after 1547) was an early Spanish explorer in the Americas. He was one of the last four survivors of the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, along with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza and his African slave Estevanico. They were the early non-native people to travel and be enslaved[1] in the Southwest region of the modern United States. Castillo Maldonado lived with a Native American tribe in Texas in 1527 and 1528.
Biography
Travel in New Spain
Alonso del Castillo Maldonado was born in Salamanca, Spain, to Aldonza Maldonado.[2][3] He was a close cousin of the Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, Alonso Maldonado, and of Martín de Guzmán.[4] Raised in a poor family of Hidalgos, Castillo travelled to the Americas to get rich. He took part in Pánfilo de Narváez's 1527 expedition, which traveled to Florida.[2]
On 17 June 1527, a fleet of five ships with 600 men led by Narváez set sail from the coast of
In early November, this ship captained by Andrés Dorantes de Carranza and manned by Castillo, Cabeza de Vaca, the slave Estevanico, and about 40 other men, was wrecked by storms[2][5] on or near the Galveston Island, on the coast of what is now Texas. The fifteen survivors, who had no clothing, food, or weapons, suffered heavy privations and were forced to feed on the cadavers of their peers. Through the good grace of the Native Americans that were present on the island, Castillo and the group managed to survive the winter and took up positions among the natives as spiritual healers.
In the spring of 1528, thirteen of the fifteen survivors decided to leave the island, abandoning Cabeza de Vaca (because he was sick and unable to travel) and two other members of the expedition.[inconsistent] In April 1529, this group, led by Dorantes and Castillo, reached the coast and landed at Matagorda Bay. However, most of the members of this expedition were killed by Native Americans. Only three survived: Dorantes de Carranza, Castillo and Estevanico.
For almost seven years they lived enslaved by a Native Americans tribe,
Last years
When the governor of New Galicia,
Alonso del Castillo married in Mexico and was the beneficiary of the encomienda of his wife in Tehuacán, Puebla.
In 1541, he traveled to Spain to claim his inheritance because his father had died while he traveled across North America and some relatives had already inherited. He stayed briefly in Spain before returning to the Americas, living the rest of his life in New Spain. In 1545, Castillo served as treasurer at Guatemala. In 1547, Alonso del Castillo was listed as a witness in a trial. It is believed that he died in the late 1540s.[2]
Notes
- ^ Although for a long time it was believed that they also had come to New Mexico, it is now known that this was not the case.[5]
References
- ^ a b Donald E. Chipman. "ESTEVANICO". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
They were later captured and enslaved by Coahuiltecan Indians who lived southwest of the Guadalupe River. In fall 1532 the three men were joined in slavery by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, the sole survivor from a second raft
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Donald E. Chipman (August 6, 2003). "Handbook of Texas Online: Alonso Castillo Maldonado". Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ^ Juan Francisco Maura. LOS NAUFRAGIOS DE ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA: O EL ARTE DE LA AUTOMITIFICACION (in Spanish: THE WRECKS OF ALVAR Nunez Cabeza de Vaca: O THE ART OF AUTOMITIFICACION). page 17.
- ^ Vallejo García-Hevia,José María; Martín Blasco, Julio (2008). Juicio a un conquistador, Pedro de Alvarado (in Spanish: Trial of a conqueror, Pedro de Alvarado). Volume I. Page 215. S.A. Ediciones de Historia.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Martínez Laínez, Fernando and Canales Torres, Carlos. Banderas lejanas: La exploración, conquista y defensa por parte de España del Territorio de los actuales Estados Unidos (Flags far: The exploration, conquest and defense by Spain of the Territory of the present United States). Pages 31-33. Fourth edition: September 2009.
External links
- Cartas de Alonso del Castillo Maldonado desde México[permanent dead link] (in Spanish: Letter of Alonso del Castillo Maldonado from Mexico).