Domingo Martínez de Irala

Domingo Martínez de Irala (* 1509 in Vergara, Guipuzcoa, † 1556 in Asunción, Paraguay) was in the years 1534/5 on the side of Juan de Ayolas and Juan de Salazar y Espinosa the leading officer on the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza in the area of ​​the Río de la Plata and its main tributaries (Río Paraná and Río Paraguay).

Biography

About his childhood and youth nothing is known. After successful crossing founded a total of about 100 soldiers and sailors the fortress of Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire, would later emerge from the city of Buenos Aires. In 1537 he accompanied Juan de Ayolas on his expedition, whose objective was, inter alia, to find a connecting path between the La Plata area and the Spanish possessions in the province of New Toledo (Peru and Bolivia). At the Paraguay River was - near the border with Brazil today - a small fort named Puerto de la Candelaria founded; this was followed by Juan de Ayolas the journey inland through the Gran Chaco away, leaving the one year younger Domingo Martínez de Irala back as commander of the fort. Juan de Ayolas was probably a little later killed by Chaco Indians; Candelaria then was abandoned. The soldiers returned to the further south and by Juan de Salazar y Espinosa meantime newly established Fort Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción, which received city rights in 1541. Maybe he was or Espinosa 's first mayor ( alcalde ) of the city of Asuncion.

The in 1540 (or 1542) new from Spain arrived Adelantado Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, made under the already old-timers ' because of his tyrannical commands and exaggerated penalties quickly unpopular: A conspiracy was instigated with the aim of his deposition. Domingo Martínez de Irala was among the conspirators, but had come as the time for action he was ill - his colleagues, however, continued the arrest and conviction of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca by which in the same year ( 1544) - along with Espinosa - was sent back to Spain.

Domingo Martínez de Irala undertook in the aftermath still several shorter expeditions, on which he saw exposed also uprisings of the indigenous population. In 1552 it rose Charles V to the new Adelantado of the Province of Río de la Plata, because in the meantime he had become the most knowledgeable of the area. In the following years he made more trips and expeditions commissioned under the guidance of others who are, however, a not returned. He died in Asunción in 1556; in his will of 13 March 1556, inter alia, a clause to his many illegitimate children included, for which it makes provision with respect to their future Christian marriages. His successor as governor was Gonzalo de Mendoza.

Honors

Irala, a suburb in what is now the metropolitan area of ​​Buenos Aires, is named after him. In addition, many roads in Argentina and Paraguay bear his name.