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Pedrarias Dávila (Pedro Arias de Ávila) (Segovia
Segovia

Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile and Leon. It is situated north of Madrid, and can be reached by bullet train in 35 minutes from Madrid at ....
, Castile
Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of Kingdom of Le?n and Kingdom of Castile, or more concretely, with the union of their parliaments a few decades later....
, c. 1440 – León
León, Nicaragua

Le?n is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. It was founded by the Spaniards as Santiago de los Caballeros de Le?n and rivals Granada, Nicaragua, in the number of historic spanish colonial homes and churches....
, March 6, 1531), was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 colonial administrator. He led the first great Spanish expedition in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
.

He married an intimate friend of queen Isabella I of Spain (whence probably his preferment) and saw some service in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Dávila served as soldier in wars against Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 at Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, in Spain, and in North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. At the age of nearly seventy years he was made commander in 1514 by king Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand the Catholic was king of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia , Sardinia and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Crown of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the Mad....
 of the largest Spanish expedition (19 vessels and 1,500 men) hitherto sent to America.






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Pedrarias Dávila (Pedro Arias de Ávila) (Segovia
Segovia

Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile and Leon. It is situated north of Madrid, and can be reached by bullet train in 35 minutes from Madrid at ....
, Castile
Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of Kingdom of Le?n and Kingdom of Castile, or more concretely, with the union of their parliaments a few decades later....
, c. 1440 – León
León, Nicaragua

Le?n is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. It was founded by the Spaniards as Santiago de los Caballeros de Le?n and rivals Granada, Nicaragua, in the number of historic spanish colonial homes and churches....
, March 6, 1531), was a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 colonial administrator. He led the first great Spanish expedition in the New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
.

He married an intimate friend of queen Isabella I of Spain (whence probably his preferment) and saw some service in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Dávila served as soldier in wars against Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 at Granada
Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada , in the autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia, Spain....
, in Spain, and in North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. At the age of nearly seventy years he was made commander in 1514 by king Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand the Catholic was king of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia , Sardinia and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, de jure uxoris King of Crown of Castile and then Regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of his mentally unstable daughter Joanna the Mad....
 of the largest Spanish expedition (19 vessels and 1,500 men) hitherto sent to America. He reached Santa Marta
Santa Marta

Santa Marta is a city and municipality, located in northern Colombia by the Caribbean sea and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, capital of the Magdalena Department....
 in Colombia
Colombia

Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a country in north-western South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the north west by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. Thence he went to Darién, where the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco N??ez de Balboa was a Spanish people explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World....
, governed. Pedrarias superseded him, gave him his daughter in wedlock, and afterwards had him judicially murdered. Another of Pedrarias's daughters, born when he was elderly, was married to his loyal lieutenant, the successful conquistador and ill fated explorer Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (explorer)

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish people Exploration and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European to discover the Mississippi River....
.

In 1519 he founded Panama City
Panama City

Panama City is the Capital and largest city of the Panama. It has a population of 708,738, with a total metro population of 1,063,000, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, at ....
 and moved his capital there in 1524, abandoning Darién. Dávila sent Gil González Dávila
Gil González Dávila

Gil Gonz?lez D?vila was a Spanish people Conquistador and the discoverer of Nicaragua.Gonz?lez D?vila first appears in historical records in 1508, when he received a royal commission to examine accounts and tax records of estates....
 to explore northward. In 1524 he sent another expedition with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (founder of Nicaragua)

Francisco Hern?ndez de C?rdoba is usually reputed as the founder of Nicaragua, and in fact he founded two important Nicaraguan cities, Granada, Nicaragua and Le?n, Nicaragua....
.

He was a party to the original agreement with Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro Gonz?lez, 1st Marqu?s de los Atabillos was a Spain conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of Peru....
 and Diego de Almagro
Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro , also known as Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spain conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro....
 which brought about the discovery of Peru
Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, but withdrew (1526) for a small compensation, having lost confidence in the outcome. In the same year he was superseded as Governor of Panama by Pedro de los Ríos
Pedro de los Ríos y Gutiérrez de Aguayo

Pedro de los R?os y Guti?rrez de Aguayo was a Spanish colonial administrator who succeeded Pedrarias D?vila as governor of Castilla del Oro and of Nicaragua ....
, and retired to León
León, Nicaragua

Le?n is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. It was founded by the Spaniards as Santiago de los Caballeros de Le?n and rivals Granada, Nicaragua, in the number of historic spanish colonial homes and churches....
 in Nicaragua
Nicaragua

Nicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democracy republic. It is the largest state in Central America with an area of 130,000 km2, about the size of the state of New York....
, where he was named its new governor on July 1, 1527. Here he lived for the rest of his life until he died at the age of 91 on March 6, 1531.

He left an unenviable record, as a man of unreliable character, cruel, and unscrupulous. Through his foundation of Panama
Panama

Panama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on an isthmus connecting North and South America, some categorize it as a transcontinental nation....
, however, he laid the basis for the discovery of South America's
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
 west coast and the subsequent conquest of Peru.

Spanish Bibliography

Alvarez Rubiano, Pablo: Pedrarias Dávila. Contribución a la figura del "Gran Justador", Gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua. Madrid, 1944.

Cantera Burgos, Francisco: Pedrarias Dávila y Cota, capitán general y gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua: sus antecedentes judíos. Universidad de Madrid, Cátedra de Lengua Hebrea e Historia de los judíos. Madrid, 1971.

Mena García, Carmen: Pedrarias Dávila o la Ira de Dios: una historia olvidada. Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, 1992 ( 281 págs.) ISBN 84-7405-834-1

Mena García, Carmen: Sevilla y las flotas de Indias. La gran armada de Castilla del Oro, 1513-1514. Universidad de Sevilla, Fundación cultural El Monte, Sevilla, 1998 (458 págs.), 2ª edición Sevilla, 1999, ISBN 84-472-0459-6

Mena García, Carmen: Un linaje de conversos en tierras americanas. Los testamentos de Pedrarias Dávila, gobernador de Castilla del Oro y Nicaragua. León, 2004; 202 págs., ISBN 84-9773-137-9

External links