Born in 1485, Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain
Died June 29, 1541, Guadalajara, Mexico
Pedro de Alvarado was born in the town of Badajoz, in Spain’s west-central Extremadura region. Nothing is known about his early life until 1510, when he arrived in the West Indies with his four brothers. They settled in Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic), where Pedro helped run a plantation. He then lived in Cuba for a time. In 1518 he was given command of a ship in Juan de Grijalva’s expedition, which explored along the coast of Mexico’s Campeche Bay and the Yucatán Peninsula. Grijalva sent Alvarado back to Cuba with reports of a rich kingdom located in the center of Mexico: the Aztec civilization. Spanish governor Diego Velazquez sponsored an expedition led by conquistador Hernán Cortés to further explore the territory, the first Spanish expedition into Aztec country. In February of 1519 Alvarado sailed with Cortés as his lieutenant and second in command.
Cortés and his expedition were able to take over the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán not long after their arrival. Their conquest was aided, in large part, by the fact that the Aztecs thought their Spanish visitors were descendants of their god Quetzalcoatl. Within a few months, however, Cortés was forced to leave the city to fight another Spanish conquistador, Pánfilo de Narvaez, who was hoping to replace him and was approaching Tenochtitlán from the Gulf coast. During that time Alvarado was put in charge of the conquered capital city and its Spanish force of 140 soldiers.
While Cortés was gone, the Aztec rulers celebrated an important religious ceremony in the city’s main square. For reasons unknown, Alvarado ordered that the entrances to the square be blocked off, and he led his soldiers in an assault in which countless Aztecs were killed, including 200 nobles. It was said that Alvarado waged the attack because he was trying to stop the Aztec religious practice of human sacrifice, but he was also a military officer known for his boldness and cruelty. Afterward, he and his soldiers were set upon by an enraged mob and were forced to retreat to the palace of Axayácatl, where they were surrounded for a time.
When Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán he found its citizens preparing for a full-scale revolt against the Spanish. On the evening of June 30, 1520—called the “Sorrowful Night”—Cortés and his men were forced to leave the city. Hoping to trap the Spanish, the Aztecs had destroyed the causeways or bridges that crossed Lake Texcoco, which surrounded the city. But that did not stop Alvarado, who made an incredible leap across the water to safety. Later known as the “Salto de Alvarado,” the feat would add to his reputation as a fearless fighter.
By the spring of 1521 Cortés began waging counterattacks to retake Tenochtitlán and gain control of Mexico. Alvarado played a major role in these efforts. On August 21, after a three-month siege, Cortés destroyed the city and captured the Aztec ruler Cuauhtémoc. He founded Mexico City on the ruins of the capital.
With much of Mexico firmly under control, Alvarado was sent to explore and conquer regions further south. In 1522 he led an expedition along the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range into Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley, defeating the Mixtec and Zapotec Indians. A year later he traveled to the former Mayan territory of Guatemala in Central America. Over the next two years he fought several bloody battles with the Indian tribes there. His march across Guatemala ended when he reached the city of Tecpán, defeated the Atitlàns, and founded the first capital of Guatemala at the site of what is now Guatemala City. He then proceeded into the territory that comprises present-day El Salvador. There he traveled as far south as the capital of the Pipiles Indians, near what is now the city of San Salvador.
In 1526 Alvarado returned to Spain to report on his conquests. He was named governor and captain general of the new Spanish territories. He went back to Guatemala to take up his posts, and founded more Spanish settlements. But, missing the thrill of exploration, Alvarado was soon planning another expedition, this time hoping to sail a fleet of ships across the Pacific Ocean to Asia. His plans changed, however, when he heard about the experiences of conquistador Francisco Pizarro in Peru, whose conquest of the Incan empire had resulted in incredible wealth. Alvarado decided to sail his ships there instead, hoping to lay claim to territories not yet explored. He left Guatemala in 1533 with 500 Spanish soldiers, 3,000 Guatemalan slaves, and 227 horses.
Alvarado landed at the city of Portoviejo (in what is now Ecuador) on February 25, 1534. He pushed into the interior, hoping to reach the northern Incan city of Quito. Unfamiliar with the territory, Alvarado picked an unwise route to his destination. He and his party had to travel through thick jungles, where insects and disease plagued them and the damp heat caused their armor and weapons to rust. The men struggled to breathe when nearby Mount Cotopaxi erupted, filling the air with volcanic ash. Finally, when they had to make their way over the Andes Mountains, Alvarado chose one of the highest passes through which to cross. There the deep snow and freezing temperatures took a heavy toll. Eighty-five Spaniards died, along with most of the expedition’s horses. And more than two thousand of the Guatemalans perished. Snatched from their tropical homelands, they quickly froze to death in the mountains. After six trying months, Alvarado and his expedition at last reached the Incan road that was to lead them to Quito. But they saw horses’ tracks, and knew that Pizarro’s forces had already come before them.
Alvarado and his expedition soon found themselves facing Pizarro’s Quito forces, led by Lieutenant Diego de Almagro. It appeared that a conquistador war would take place. Alvarado had more men, and they were eager for battle and rewards after the terrible hardships they had endured. Almagro, on the other hand, represented the Christian establishment already in place in Quito. Both sides prepared for bloodshed. But the two Spanish forces also realized that if they did fight, they might become so weak that the conquered Incas could wage a counterattack. So a deal was struck instead. On August 26, 1534, Almagro paid Alvarado 100,000 gold pesos for his army and equipment, which would stay in Quito. Alvarado agreed to return to Guatemala. There he continued to rule as governor, adding Honduras to his territories in 1536.
In 1540 Alvarado again planned a sailing expedition east, this time to the Spice Islands (in what is now Indonesia). Intending to launch from Mexico’s west coast, he was delayed by the country’s viceroy (governor), who persuaded him to join the search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola. Reportedly places of great wealth, the cities were thought to lie somewhere north of Mexico, in the American Southwest. Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado would lead the expedition. Alvarado agreed to the viceroy’s request, but before his departure became involved in the Míxton War, an Indian uprising at Jalisco in central Mexico. Leading a cavalry attack against the Zacatecas, Alvarado was crushed when a horse fell on him. He was taken to the city of Guadalajara, where he died several days later, on June 29, 1541. For a brief time his widow, Dona Beatriz de la Cueva, succeeded him as governor of Guatemala. She is believed to be the only woman to hold such a high office during the Spanish colonial period in the Americas.
Baker, Daniel B., ed. Explorers and Discoverers of the World. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993.
Bohlander, Richard E., ed. World Explorers and Discoverers. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Hemming, John. The Conquest of the Inca. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1970.
Waldman, Carl and Alan Wexler. Who Was Who in World Exploration. New York: Facts on File, 1992.
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