Martín de Ursúa (or Urzúa) y Arizmendi (; February 22, 1653 – February 4, 1715), Count of
Lizárraga and of
Castillo, was a Spanish
Basque 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, ...
in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
during the late colonial period of
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
. Born in
Olóriz,
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
,
[Jones 1998, p. 113.] he is noted for leading the
1696–97 expeditionary force which resulted in the fall of the last significant independent
Maya stronghold,
Nojpetén, located on an island in
Lake Petén Itzá
Lake Petén Itzá (''Lago Petén Itzá'', ) is a lake in the northern Petén Department in Guatemala. It is the third largest lake in Guatemala, after Lake Izabal and Lake Atitlán. It is located around . It has an area of , and is some long an ...
in the northern
Petén Basin
The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, primarily located in northern Guatemala within the Department of El Petén, and into Campeche state in southeastern Mexico.
During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods of pre-Col ...
region of present-day
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...
. He served as
governor of the Yucatán until 1708, when he was named
Governor-General of the Philippines
The Governor-General of the Philippines (Spanish: ''Gobernador y Capitán General de Filipinas''; Filipino: ''Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas/Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas''; Japanese: ) was the title of the government executive during the colo ...
.
Around the time that he was named to that post, he was made a knight of the
Order of Santiago.
He died in
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
in 1715.
[Jones 1998, p. 114.]
Ursúa arrived to Mexico around 1680 and initially served as a lawyer in Mexico City until 1692. He used this period to cement relationships with colonial officials in Yucatán.
[Jones 1998, p. 118.] In 1692 he was appointed to be governor of Yucatán, with his term to begin in 1698. By 1694 he had been appointed as ''
alcalde ordinario
Alcalde ordinario refers to the judicial and administrative officials in the cabildos in the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. Always existing in pairs, they were ca ...
'' (a Spanish colonial official) of Mexico City.
Ursúa took office in Yucatán four years earlier than planned, becoming acting governor on 17 December 1694.
Family tree
Martín de Ursúa was from a line of distinguished and successful noblemen that was extremely well connected politically and that intermarried with other influential noble families to form a kinship network that was spread across Europe and the Americas:
[Jones 1998, pp. 113–115.]
See also
*
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...
*
History of the Philippines (1521–1898)
Earliest hominin activity in the Philippine archipelago is dated back to at least 709,000 years ago. ''Homo luzonensis'', a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least 67,000 years ago. The earliest known anatomically ...
*
Spanish conquest of Guatemala
*
Spanish conquest of Yucatán
The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish ''conquistadores'' against the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities in the Yucatán Peninsula, a vast limestone plain covering south-eastern Mexico, northern ...
Notes
References
*
Spanish conquistadors
17th-century Spanish lawyers
1653 births
1715 deaths
Captains General of the Philippines
Governors of Yucatán (state)
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonial officials
People from Tafalla (comarca)
People from the Kingdom of Navarre
{{Spain-bio-stub