Orellana had returned to Spain following his…
December 1546 CE
Orellana had returned to Spain following his exploration of the Amazon, seeking from the Crown the governorship over the discovered lands of New Andalusia.
After a difficult navigation, he had touched first upon the shores of Portugal.
The king had received him in a friendly way and offered to send him back to the Amazon under a Portuguese flag.
Orellana's exploration has produced an international issue.
According to the Treaty of Tordesillas, the majority of the Amazon River should belong to Spain, but the mouth should be ruled by Portugal.
Orellana had refused the Portuguese offer and went to Valladolid.
Carlos I, after nine months of negotiations, had appointed him governor of New Andalusia on February 18, 1544.
Because the controversy with Portugal over the ownership of the area, the Spanish crown can provide Orellana with only some assistance but no official support.
The charter establishes that he should explore and settle the Amazonian lands with less than three hundred men and one hundred horses, and establish two cities, one in the mouth and another in the interior of the basin.
Orellana had married Ana de Ayala, who had accompanied him in the return voyage.
The four vessels of the expedition had set sail on May 11, 1545, but only one had succeeded in reaching the Amazon mouth just before Christmas 1545.
Then, they had built a riverboat and explored five hundred kilometers of the Amazon delta.
Only forty of the three hundred men survived by the time they were rescued by another Spanish ship.
Orellana was one of the casualties, dying in November 1546.