Pedro Arias Dávila

Pedro Arias Dávila (also known as Pedrarias Dávila and Pedro Arias de Ávila ) (* around 1440 in Segovia , Spain ; † March 6, 1531 in León , Nicaragua ) was a Spanish colonial administrator and conqueror . He was governor of Panama (1514-1526) and Nicaragua (1527-1531).

history

Dávila came from a respected family; his uncle Juan Arias de Ávila was Bishop of Segovia . He was known as a skilled tournament fighter before taking part in the battles to conquer Granada in the 1490s ; in addition, he took part in battles of the Spanish crown in North Africa (1508-1511). In 1513, at the instigation of the Bishop of Burgos, Dávila was appointed governor and captain general of Castilla de Oro ("Golden Castile", roughly today's Panama) by the Spanish King Ferdinand , where he was to succeed Vasco Núñez de Balboa , the discoverer of the South Seas . Balboa, who was also his son-in-law, was given control of another territory to compensate. A long argument between the two men and Dávila's jealousy finally culminated in the false accusation of high treason , which is why Balboa was executed by beheading on January 21, 1519 .

In the following years he expanded the Spanish possessions on the American mainland and laid out numerous bases that enabled the exploration of the Central American west coast and the subsequent conquest of the Inca Empire . In 1519 he founded Panama City .

Dávila was initially considered a patron of the conquistadors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro , before he fell out with them. In 1526 he was succeeded by Pedro de los Ríos as governor of Panama and appointed governor of Nicaragua, where he died in 1531.

Dávila's reign is known as an unjust and authoritarian phase. Because of his unscrupulous style he was also called "Pedrarias the Cruel".

Web links

Commons : Pedro Arias Dávila - collection of images, videos and audio files

Biography on canalsocial.net ( Memento from December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
Pedro Arias Dávila on critica.com ( Memento from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
Pedro Arías Dávila, biography - photos + info (Spanish)

Individual evidence

^ Pedro Arias Dávila in the Encyclopedia Britannica

personal data
SURNAME	Dávila, Pedro Arias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Davila, Pedrarias; Ávila, Pedro Arias de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish colonial administrator and conqueror
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1440
PLACE OF BIRTH	Segovia , Spain
DATE OF DEATH	March 6, 1531
Place of death	Leon , Nicaragua

[1] Pedro Arias Dávila in the Encyclopedia Britannica