Amaro Pargo

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Amaro Rodríguez Felipe, depiction from the 18th century

Amaro Rodríguez Felipe y Tejera Machado , better known as Amaro Pargo , (born May 3, 1678 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife , † October 14, 1747 there ) is one of the most famous Spanish corsairs of the Golden Age .

Life

Early years

Amaro Pargo was born on May 3, 1678 as the son of Juan Rodríguez Felipe and Beatriz Tejera Machado in San Cristóbal de La Laguna. He was baptized in the Church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, now the Cathedral of San Cristóbal de La Laguna . Amaro Pargo had seven siblings.

Pargo's youth were influenced by piracy in the Canary Islands . In 1701 he hired as an ensign on the ship Ave María , called "La Chata", which was boarded by pirates. He advised the captain to first simulate a surrender in order to then take up the fight, which the Spaniards then won against the pirates. Out of gratitude, the captain gave him a ship with which he began his trading trips.

Dealers and private drivers

With his ships he participated in the slave trade with the Caribbean , South and Central America. In this way he became rich, was able to build and expand a fleet, and acquire real estate. He also traded in wine and spirits from his own distilleries, which he mainly sold to Cuba and Guyana. During his trade voyages, he attacked every merchant ship from countries hostile to the Spanish crown, such as Great Britain and the Netherlands, and delivered the booty to Spain. He also fought against the most notorious privateer of his time, the Englishman Blackbeard . Pargo was after all the richest man of his time in the Canary Islands.

Due to his friendship with the Dominican nun María de León Bello y Delgado ( Sor María de Jesús ), he was involved in charities and generously supported the poor. Because of his services to the Spanish crown, he was raised to the nobility in 1725 as Hidalgo .

death

Tomb of Amaro Pargo in the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in San Cristóbal de La Laguna

Pargo died on October 14, 1747 in San Cristóbal de La Laguna and was buried in the monastery of San Domingo de La Laguna . Because of his tireless struggle for the interests of the Spanish crown against enemy countries, he was revered as a national hero in Spain . During his lifetime he was as famous and popular as Blackbeard and Francis Drake were in England.

The testament

Having no legitimate offspring, he bequeathed his estate to his closest relatives. An illegitimate son, Manuel de la Trinidad Amaro, challenged the will, but got nothing. In his will, Pargo mentioned that he kept a box with gold jewelry, silver, pearls and precious stones of great value in his room. He also mentioned that in a book bound in parchment he had his precious possessions such as B. Listed his Chinese porcelain, handicrafts and paintings. However, this directory is considered lost.

The will inspired the creation of legends about the pirate and for centuries it was a reason for treasure hunters to find the whereabouts of the box. The Pargos house in Machado ( El Rosario ) in the north-east of Tenerife was repeatedly broken into by treasure hunters . Others tried their luck in the Cuevas de San Mateo in Punta del Hidalgo in the northeast of Tenerife, where the pirates temporarily stored their prey. Despite all efforts, Pargo's treasure has not yet been found.

exhumation

On November 15, 2013, the exhumation of his remains was carried out by a group of archaeologists and forensic scientists from the Autonomous University of Madrid . The aim was to take DNA samples from the remains and to try to reconstruct his face using forensic techniques.

According to historical sources, his parents and his black servant Cristóbal Linche were also buried in his grave. When the tomb was opened, the remains of nine people and parts of infant skeletons were found. However, these children were not related to Pargo. According to a thesis of the Spanish historian Laura Docampo, there was a custom in Spain and on the islands belonging to Spanish territory to bury unbaptized children with adults who would take them on their way to heaven on Judgment Day .

The exhumation was funded by the French video game company Ubisoft . Pargo is a character in the video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag , which was produced by Ubisoft.

literature

  • Domingo García Barbusano: El Corsario Amaro Pargo . Excmo. Ayuntamiento de La Laguna 2004. ISBN 978-84-88919-86-1 .
  • Ernesto Frers: Más allá del Legado Pirata . Robinbooks 2008. ISBN 978-84-7927-963-9 .
  • Pompeyo Reina Moreno: El Sarcófago de las tres llaves. La leyenda del tesoro del corsario Amaro Pargo . Idea 2013. ISBN 978-84-9941-961-9 .
  • Balbina Rivero: Amaro Pargo, el pirata de Tenerife . Colección Yorca 2014. ISBN 978-92-10-08678-3 .
  • Francisco Macías Martín: El corsario de Dios. Documentos sobre el corsario Amaro Rodríguez Felipe (1678-1747) . Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de Canarias 2015. ISBN 978-84-7947-637-3 .
  • Beatriz Pallés Darias: Amaro Pargo. Caballero de los mares . Le Canarien Ediciones 2016. ISBN 978-84-946282-2-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manuel de Paz Sánchez, Daniel García Pulido: El Corsario de Dios - documentos sobre Amaro Rodríguez Felipe (1678-1747) . Ed .: Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (=  Documentos para la historia de Canarias . Volume 14 ). Gobierno de Canarias, Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2015, ISBN 978-84-7947-637-3 , pp. 416 (Spanish, [1] [accessed December 6, 2017]).
  2. ↑ Amaro Pargo
  3. ↑ Ernesto Frers: Mas Alla del legado privata. Barcelona 2008. 2. 99.
  4. ↑ Más Allá del legado pirata
  5. ↑ El Corsario Amaro Pargo ( Memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ "El pirata canario Amaro Pargo revive con Assassin's Creed"
  7. ↑ Manuel De Paz Sánchez, Daniel García Pulido: El corsario de Dios. Documentos sobre Amaro Rodríguez Felipe (1678-1747) , Francisco Javier Macías Martín (ed.) (= Documentos para la Historia de Canarias), Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias 2015, ISBN 978-84-7947-637- 3 (accessed on June 8, 2016).
  8. ↑ Amaro Pargo, Corsario de las Canarias
  9. ↑ El Corsario Amaro Pargo
  10. ↑ Amaro Pargo, Corsario de las Canarias
  11. ↑ Amaro Pargo 'resucita' 270 años después
  12. ↑ Lauro Docampo: Amaro Pargo, la leyenda descodificada. accessed on January 16, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Pargo, Amaro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Machado, Amaro Rodríguez Felipe y Tejera
BRIEF DESCRIPTION pirate
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1678
PLACE OF BIRTH San Cristóbal de La Laguna , Tenerife , Spain
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1747
Place of death San Cristóbal de La Laguna , Tenerife , Spain