Cristóbal de Haro was a Castilian financier and merchant, famous for having provided funding for the Magellan-Elcano expedition. Born in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...

, Haro was based in Lisbon since 1505. After 1513, he became upset with the Portuguese crown and returned to Castile, plotting with Portuguese exiles

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...

and Ruy Faleiro and with the Spanish minister

Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca (1451–1524) was a Spanish archbishop, a courtier and bureaucrat, whose position as royal chaplain to Queen Isabella enabled him to become a powerful counsellor to Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs. He co ...

an expedition to the

Spice Islands A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices are ...

sailing westward. As a financier and representative of the Fuggers he provided a quarter of the financial backing to Magellan's 1519 voyage, which failed to conquer the Spice Islands but resulted in the first

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

around the world by

Juan Sebastián Elcano Juan Sebastián Elcano (Elkano in modern Basque; sometimes given as ''del Cano''; 1486/1487Some sources state that he was born in 1476. Most of this sources try to make a point about him participating on a military campaign at the Mediterranean ...

. Cristóbal's brother Diego de Haro headed a commercial firm based in Antwerp. A daughter of Diego, Frances, was married to Maximilianus of Transylvania (Maximilianus Transylvanus), who wrote the first account of Magellan's voyage, published in 1523. Transylvanus pointed out that Cristóbal de Haro had assisted Magellan and Faleiro considerably in presenting their proposals before the Spanish royal counselors.Tim Joyner, ''Magellan'' (Camden, Maine: International Marine, 1992), 82. Haro also helped finance subsequent Spanish expeditions to the Spice Islands: those commanded by Estevao Gomes in 1524, by Jofre de Loaysa in 1525 and by Diego García in 1528. He was buried in the church of San Lesmes in Burgos, next to his wife Catalina de Ayala. The tomb is decorated with the coat of arms that King Charles granted him, with Magellan's five ships, the

pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules ( la, Columnae Herculis, grc, Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, , ar, أعمدة هرقل, Aʿmidat Hiraql, es, Columnas de Hércules) was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank t ...

and spices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haro, Christopher De Year of birth missing Year of death missing People from Burgos Magellan expedition Economic history of Portugal 16th-century merchants