Pedro de Mendoza, also known as Don…
February 1536 CE
Pedro de Mendoza, also known as Don Pedro de Mendoza, is from a noble family in the Granadin town of Guadix, high in the favor of Emperor Charles V. He is also a nobleman in the Spanish court.
Dubbed a Knight of Alcántara in 1524, he had later received the Order of Santiago.
He had offered in 1529 to explore South America at his own expense and establish colonies.
Thanks to the efforts of his mother María de Mendoza, in 1534 his offer had been accepted: he had been made adelantado governor, captain general, and chief justice over New Andalusia.
This grant allows him authority over as much land as he can conquer, within two hundred leagues of the southern limit of New Toledo.
Although this is measured along the Pacific coast, it is understood his efforts will be directed towards the Río de la Plata on the Atlantic.
The Emperor had given Mendoza two thousand men and thirteen ships on the condition that within two years Mendoza should transport one thousand colonists, build roads into the interior, and construct three forts.
He is to have half the treasure of the chiefs killed and nine-tenths of the ransom.
The office of Governor is also, in theory, made hereditary.
That year, he set sail with a considerable fleet, but a terrible storm had scattered it off the coast of Brazil.
Here his lieutenant, Juan de Osorio, was assassinated, according to some authorities by the orders of Mendoza himself because of suspected disloyalty.
Mendoza had sailed up the Río de la Plata in 1535 and founds Buenos Aires on February 3, 1536.
The original name was given by the Spanish sailors that arrived in the River de la Plata, by the blessings of the "Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires", the "Holy Virgin Mary of the Good Winds" that gave them the good winds to reach the coast of what is today the city of Buenos Aires.
In the first foundation of Buenos Aires, Pedro de Mendoza called the city "Holy Mary of the Fair Winds", a name chosen by the chaplain of Mendoza's expedition after the Sardinian "Madonna de Bonaria" (that is still to this day the patroness of Sardinia), a devotee of the Virgin of Buen Ayre.
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