| Antonio De Mendoza |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ANTONIO DE MENDOZA | |
| 1495 births | |
| mendoza , antonio de | |
| 1552 deaths | |
| colonial mexico | |
| colonial peru | |
| people of spanish colonial philippines | |
| spanish viceroys | |
| andalusian people | |
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His difficult assignment was to govern New Spain in the king's name without making enemies with Hernán Cortés , whom Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) and the Council Of The Indies judged too rough to be made a duke and given a higher post than the Captaincy-General of New Spain, a post for which he was well suited. After three high-ranking noblemen declined the appointment, it was accepted by don Antonio, who was born in Granada of a high-ranking family, and who had served capably in the Court and as Spanish ambassador to Hungary. As viceroy, Mendoza commissioned the expedition of Francisco Vásquez De Coronado to explore and establish settlements in the northern lands of New Spain in 1540-42, the expedition of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the western coastline of Alta California in 1542-43, and the expedition of Ruy López De Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542-43. Don Antonio and at Tlatelolco (1536), where the sons of Aztec nobles studied Latin, rhetoric, philosophy and music, and the Royal And Pontifical University Of Mexico (1552), modeled on the University Of Salamanca , which trained young men for the Church. The latter institution was the second university founded in America. In 1536 he began the minting of silver and copper coins, known as ''macuquinas''. Also on the his instructions, the first printing press in the New World was brought to Mexico in 1539, by printer Juan Carlos . On May 18 , 1541 don Antonio founded the city of Valladolid (now Morelia , Michoacan ). On March 25 , 1544 don Antonio promulgated the New Laws , inspired by the great reformer Frey Bartolomé De Las Casas and intended to ease the plight of Indians under the system of forced labor. When news reached Mexico of the civil war that had broken out in Peru over similar reforms, thought to undermine the rigorous Encomienda system, he had the laws suspended and then revoked. In 1547 he convened an ecclesiastical conference to treat of the condition of the Indians, with las Casas in attendance. In 1548 he suppressed an uprising of the Zapotec s. During his term of office, don Antonio is credited with consolidating the sovereignty of the Crown throughout the Spanish conquests in New Spain and limiting the power and ambition of the first Conquistador s. On July 4 , 1549 in Brussels , Emperor Charles V named don Antonio viceroy of Peru. He traveled overland from Mexico to Panama, and then by boat to Peru. He arrived and took up his new office on November 25 , 1550 . However, he soon became ill, and died in 1552. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Lima, along with that of the Spanish conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro . He was succeeded as viceroy of New Spain by Luis De Velasco . Mendocino County , California is named in his honor. REFERENCES
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