Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera (

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsu ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, 1528 –

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of th ...

, 17 August 1574) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...

, early colonial governor over much of what today is northwestern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and founder of the city of Córdoba.

Life and times

Cabrera was born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

, in 1528. He and an older brother, Pedro, migrated to the

Viceroyalty of Perú The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

in 1538, and following his enlistment in the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

, Jerónimo was eventually made a sergeant and stationed in the colonial nerve center of

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru ...

, in 1549. He 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,

, he was appointed in 1571 corregidor of

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...

.''Historical Dictionary of Argentina''. London: Scarecrow Press, 1978. Towards the end of 1571, Cabrera was designated

adelantado ''Adelantado'' (, , ; meaning "advanced") was a title held by Spanish nobles in service of their respective kings during the Middle Ages. It was later used as a military title held by some Spanish ''conquistadores'' of the 15th, 16th and 17th cent ...

for the purpose of exploring uncharted territories south of Potosí. The commission was followed by his appointment as governor of

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neig ...

, which then covered most of what later became the

Argentine Northwest The Argentine Northwest (''Noroeste Argentino'') is a geographic and historical region of Argentina composed of the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Geography The Argentine Northwest comprises v ...

. Stationing his office in

Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surf ...

, he organized an expedition of 100 soldiers and 40 supply wagons during 1572, and parted towards the south with the intention of creating a strategic foothold. An initial settlement, ''Quisquisacate'', failed within days of its 24 June 1573 establishment, and on 6 July the expedition chose a location on the banks of the Suquía River, around 250 mi (400 km) south of Santiago de Estero. Given the privilege of naming the settlement, Cabrera named it '' Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía'', in honor of his wife's birthplace. Cabrera enjoyed relatively good relations with the area's native inhabitants, the Comechingones, and proved an able administrator of the new settlement, which within a year counted with the basic legal and administrative institutions of a stable village. He departed towards the east on his own initiative in 1574 and quickly reached the shores of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, over 200 mi (320 km) away, establishing the Fort of San Luis (near what today is

Santa Fe, Argentina Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (; usually called just Santa Fe) is the capital city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is situated in north-eastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies from the Hernanda ...

). Founding the Viceroyalty of Perú's first viable beach-head towards the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

(via the highly-navigable Paraná), the feat met with the rivalry of Captain

Juan de Garay Juan de Garay (1528–1583) was a Spanish conquistador. Garay's birthplace is disputed. Some say it was in the city of Junta de Villalba de Losa in Castile, while others argue he was born in the area of Orduña (Basque Country). There's n ...

, who had been sent down the river from

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

with orders from the Viceroy to do the same.Levene, Ricardo. ''A History of Argentina''. University of North Carolina Press, 1937. The ensuing dispute was judged by an official arbiter, Gonzalo de Abreu, who found Cabrera guilty of insubordination to the Viceroy (an infraction punishable by death). Spared being

garrote A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants'' Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spelli ...

d on account of his being born to Spanish nobility, Cabrera was taken to Lima, where he was executed by

decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

on 17 August 1574.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Jeronimo Luis de 1528 births 1574 deaths 16th-century Spanish people Spanish conquistadors Andalusian conquistadors Spanish colonial governors and administrators People from Seville Executed Spanish people People executed by Spain by decapitation Spanish people executed abroad Governors of the Río de la Plata