Renaissance+Resume

Diego Velázquez

Also known as Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar

**Permanent:** **Birth:**  c. 1465 in Cuéllar, Spain **Death:**  1523 **Nationality:**  Spanish **Occupation:**  conqueror, soldier, administrator

**Objective: To explorer new lands**

**SUMMARY:**
 * ****I founded Cuba** **
 * ****I am indirectly responsible for the conquest of Aztec Mexico and Mayan Yucatán** **
 * ****When I settled in Hispaniola, I became a prominent landholder.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**During a governorship I was sent with three or four ships and about 300 men to conquer Cuba.I was soon followed by by trusty henchman Pánfilo de Narváez and the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, who acted as chaplain of the expedition.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**By 1515 me and my followers had founded Daracoa Bayamo, Santiago, Puerto Príncipe, Sancti Spíritus, and Havana.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**Becoming interested in reports of mainland to the west, I sent out fleets in 1517 and 1518, the first commanded by Francisco Hernández de Cordóba and the second by Juan de Grijalva. Córdoba rounded Yucatán, and Grijalva followed the coast to Tamaulipas and heard reports of the Aztec empire.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**Disappointed at the failure of my first two commanders to accomplish more, in 1519 I prepared a larger armada with about 450 fighting men and sent it under the order of Cortés.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**I raised another force, variously estimated at from 900 to 1,400 strong, and sent it under Narváez to arrest Cortés.** **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**EDUCATION:**
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**I was an infantry man in the "tercios' or detachments commanded by the famous captain, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova** **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**EXPERIENCE:**
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**As governor, I seized the first opportunity to break away from the authority of Diego Colombus and hold Cuba directly from the Castilian crown.** **
 * **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">**I complained bitterly to the Castilian court and obtained an order for the arrest of Cortés, but the Aztec conquest and the resulting riches ultimately spoke louder than legal complaints.** **