Niño brothers
Encyclopedia
The Niño Brothers were a family of sailors from the town of Moguer
(in Huelva, Andalusia
, Spain
), who participated actively in Christopher Columbus
's first voyage—generally considered to constitute the discovery of the Americas by Europe
ans—and other subsequent voyages to the New World
.
, Francisco, Juan and one other Niño were already sailors with prestige and experience in Atlantic
journeys before playing a distinguished part in Columbus's first voyage to the New World. Their friendship with the Pinzón Brothers
, and especially with the oldest of them, Martín Alonso Pinzón, influenced their participation in Columbus's project. The participation of the Pinzón Brothers in the Columbian enterprise was the key to overcoming the doubts among the region's sailors; the help of the Niño Brothers made it possible to defeat the opposition among the men of Moguer to taking on an enterprise of uncertain outcome.
On Columbus's first voyage, Pedro Alonso Niño was pilot of the Santa María
, Juan Niño was master of La Niña
, of which was the owner, and Francisco Niño is believed to have been a sailor on La Niña.
The Niños took part as well in Columbus's second and third voyages. Between 1499 and 1501 they traveled on their own account, with the merchants Cristóbal and Luis Guerra, following the route of Columbus's second voyage to the Gulf of Paria
on the South America
n mainland in what is now Venezuela
.
Pedro Alonso was named by the Catholic Monarchs
Ferdinand
and Isabella
chief pilot of the Ocean Sea (the Atlantic) as recompense for his services to the crown. He was also one of the teachers of Prince John, the ill-fated son of Ferdinand and Isabella, whom he taught the art of mapmaking.
Moguer
Moguer is a municipality and small city located in the province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 18,381. Its surface area is , and its population density is ....
(in Huelva, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
), who participated actively in Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
's first voyage—generally considered to constitute the discovery of the Americas by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans—and other subsequent voyages to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
The Niño Brothers and Columbus's first voyage
The four Niño brothers, Pedro AlonsoPedro Alonso Niño
Pedro Alonso Nino was a Spanish explorer, also known as El Negro .Born in Palos de Moguer, Spain, he explored the coasts of Africa, and accompanied Christopher Columbus during his third voyage that saw the discovery of Trinidad and the mouths of the Orinoco River...
, Francisco, Juan and one other Niño were already sailors with prestige and experience in Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
journeys before playing a distinguished part in Columbus's first voyage to the New World. Their friendship with the Pinzón Brothers
The Pinzon Brothers
The Pinzón brothers were Spanish sailors, explorers and fishermen, natives of Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain. All three, Martín Alonso, Francisco Martín and Vicente Yañez, participated in Christopher Columbus's first expedition to the New World and in other voyages of discovery and...
, and especially with the oldest of them, Martín Alonso Pinzón, influenced their participation in Columbus's project. The participation of the Pinzón Brothers in the Columbian enterprise was the key to overcoming the doubts among the region's sailors; the help of the Niño Brothers made it possible to defeat the opposition among the men of Moguer to taking on an enterprise of uncertain outcome.
On Columbus's first voyage, Pedro Alonso Niño was pilot of the Santa María
Santa María (ship)
La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción , was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa.-History:...
, Juan Niño was master of La Niña
Niña
La Niña was one of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage towards the Indies in 1492. The real name of the Niña was Santa Clara. The name Niña was probably a pun on the name of her owner, Juan Niño of Moguer...
, of which was the owner, and Francisco Niño is believed to have been a sailor on La Niña.
The Niños took part as well in Columbus's second and third voyages. Between 1499 and 1501 they traveled on their own account, with the merchants Cristóbal and Luis Guerra, following the route of Columbus's second voyage to the Gulf of Paria
Gulf of Paria
The Gulf of Paria is a shallow inland sea between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. This sheltered body of water is considered to be one of the best natural harbours on the Atlantic coast of the Americas...
on the South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n mainland in what is now Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
Pedro Alonso was named by the Catholic Monarchs
Catholic Monarchs
The Catholic Monarchs is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with...
Ferdinand
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...
and Isabella
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...
chief pilot of the Ocean Sea (the Atlantic) as recompense for his services to the crown. He was also one of the teachers of Prince John, the ill-fated son of Ferdinand and Isabella, whom he taught the art of mapmaking.
The Niño family
Little of the following is known with absolute certainty, especially with respect to Columbus's first voyage. As discussed at length in Alice Bache Gould's documented list of the participants in Columbus's first voyage, almost all of the information we have is assembled by cross-comparing numerous incomplete and sometimes mutually contradictory documents. For example, there is nothing explicit in the documents related to the expeditions to distinguish the two Francisco Niños, but certainly the pilot was not the cabin boy. It is imaginable that in some cases, where discrepancies are not so obvious, two people with the same name may have been conflated, especially because the first serious scholarly effort to create a comprehensive list of the voyagers dates from 1884, nearly four centuries after the fact. Even Juan Niño's ownership of La Niña is open to some doubts, though it is clear that he was master of the ship.The Niño Brothers
- Juan Niño, the oldest of the brothers, was master and owner of the caravalCaravalThe Caraval is the cross between a male caracal and a female serval. They have a spotted pattern similar to the Serval, but on a darker background. These are bred for the pet market....
La Niña on Columbus's first voyage. Upon their return, he accompanied Columbus to BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
after staying several days at home in Moguer. He was also on the crew of the second and third voyages of Columbus. With his brother Pedro Alonso he traveled to the Gulf of Paria. - Pedro Alonso Niño was born in Moguer around 1468. A sailor since his youth, he learned his trade on the coast of AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. In 1492, on Columbus's first voyage, he was pilot of the Santa María. In 1494 he traveled again with Columbus, but returned rapidly to Spain, as he was in CádizCádizCadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
on 7 March 1494. Although he was enlisted for the third voyage, in the end he was not able to go. He was given the title of Grand Pilot of the Indies (Piloto Mayor de las Indias) the first such together with Juanoto Berardi, and in 1495 and 1496 captained several ships to the New World. In 1499 he became associated with the merchants Guerra, with whom he made a sea voyage to the Gulf of Paria, where they obtained many pearlPearlA pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s, explored a good deal of the coast, variously trading with natives and battling them. He died in 1502, returning to Spain on the Santa María de la Antigua. Contemporary records sometimes refer to him as Peralonso Niño. - Francisco Niño, the youngest brother, is believed to have been a sailor on Columbus's first voyage, was pilot of La Niña on the second voyage, and pilot of the caravel Santa Cruz on the expedition of Pedro Fernández Coronel. At the time of his death, he was mayor of Puerto de Caballos, now Puerto CortésPuerto Cortés-Geography:It is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay.It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America...
, HondurasHondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
.
Other members of the Niño family
- Cristóbal Pérez Niño, master of the caravel Caldera (or Cardera) on Columbus's second voyage, believed to be another brother of the three Niño Brothers.
- Alonso Pérez Niño, son of Juan Niño, traveled on Columbus's second voyage. He died some three decades later in TrinidadTrinidadTrinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, doing battle with the Caribes. - Bartolomé Pérez Niño, son of Pedro Alonso Niño, was probably Columbus's second voyage, possibly pilot of the caravel San Juan; definitely was on Columbus's third voyage and with Pedro Alonso Niño on the expedition of Cristóbal Guerra to Paria.
- Francisco Niño, son of Pedro Alonso Niño, was the youngest person to travel with Columbus to the East Indies, as a 14-year-old cabin boy on the second voyage. In 1516 he crossed the Atlantic again, as an official on the caravel Sancti Spiritus.
- Andrés Niño, son of Juan Niño, was named Royal Pilot of the Southern Sea (Piloto Real de la Mar del Sur; the Mar del Sur was the Pacific OceanPacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, as first encountered by the Spanish in Central AmericaCentral AmericaCentral America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
) 12 July 1514 and set sail in 1519 to explore the Pacific coast of Central America before dying in 1525 in what is now El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
.