Gonzalo de Mendoza

Gonzalo de Mendoza ( * 1512 in Baeza, Spain, † 1558 in Asunción, Paraguay) was - according to Pedro de Mendoza, Juan de Ayolas, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Domingo Martínez de Irala - in the years 1556 to 1558, the fifth Governor of the newly created by Emperor Charles V in 1534, province of New Andalusia, which was only a few years later ( 1539) renamed Gobernación del Río de la Plata del Paraguay.

Life

Gonzalo de Mendoza was the younger brother of Pedro de Mendoza, under whose direction he took part in an expedition to the estuary of the Río de la Plata in 1535, awarded by the Treaty of Tordesillas ( 1494) of the Spanish crown areas by territorial presence over the hedge Portuguese. Moreover, the goal was to scout out a communication path between New Andalusia and the northern Spanish province of New Toledo (Peru and Bolivia). On August 15, 1537 he was present at the founding of Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción, the later capital of Paraguay, Juan de Salazar y Espinosa. He served as a lieutenant under different governors ( teniente ) and their assistant until he was appointed governor after the death Iralas in 1556 itself - but two years later he died.

He was succeeded by Francisco Ortiz de Vergara.