Ñuflo de Chavez

Statue in Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Ñuflo de Chávez , also: Ñuflo de Chaves (* 1518 near Trujillo , Spain ; † 1568 in today's Bolivia ), was a Spanish conquistador . He is best known as the founder of the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra .

Ñuflo de Chávez came from the village of Santa Cruz de la Sierra ("Holy Cross of the Mountains"), about 12 km south of Trujillo in the Spanish Extremadura .

As a young man he went to South America as an officer and conquistador. In 1544 he supported the successful coup d'état against the Spanish governor Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca through his deputy Domingo Martínez de Irala in Asunción (today Paraguay ) . In 1557, as a conqueror, he reached the area of what is now the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso , where he suspected gold deposits.

In 1561 he founded the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra on the southern edge of the Amazon basin in today's Bolivian Department of Santa Cruz , which he named after his Spanish home village and where he settled with his family. Ñuflo de Chávez was the first European to introduce sheep and goats to the region.

Ñuflo de Chávez died in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in an argument with the indigenous people. Due to the ongoing conflicts with the indigenous people, the site was later abandoned and the city was moved about 220 km to the west; the Jesuit mission of San José de Chiquitos, founded in the 18th century, is located near the original settlement .

The province of Ñuflo de Chávez in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz is named in honor of the city's founder.

personal data
SURNAME	Chavez, Ñuflo de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Chaves, Ñuflo de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish conquistador
DATE OF BIRTH	1518
PLACE OF BIRTH	Trujillo , Spain
DATE OF DEATH	1568
Place of death	Bolivia