Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, born in Seville,…
1573 CE
Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, born in Seville, Spain, in 1528, had migrated with an older brother, Pedro, to the Viceroyalty of Perú in 1538.
Following his enlistment in the Spanish Army, Jerónimo was eventually made a sergeant and stationed in the colonial nerve center of Cuzco, in 1549.
He had led numerous military campaigns in subsequent years, notably among them the suppression of revolts in Ica and Nazca, and following a post in the capital, Lima, he had in 1571 been appointed corregidor (a local, administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire) of Potosí.
Towards the end of 1571, Cabrera had been designated adelantado for the purpose of exploring uncharted territories south of Potosí, a commission followed by his appointment as governor of Tucumán Province, which at this time covers most of what will later become the Argentine Northwest.
Stationing his office in Santiago del Estero, he had organized an expedition of one hundred soldiers and forty supply wagons during 1572, and departed towards the south with the intention of creating a strategic foothold.
An initial settlement, Quisquisacate, had failed within days of its June 24, 1573, establishment, and on July 6, the expedition chooses a location on the banks of the Suquía River, around two hundred and fifty miles (four hundred kilometers) south of Santiago de Estero.
Given the privilege of naming the settlement, Cabrera christens it Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía, in honor of his wife's birthplace.
Today the capital of the capital of Córdoba Province, Córdoba is is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with about 1.3 million inhabitants according to the 2001 census.