Nuño de Guzmán

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (* 1490 in Guadalajara, † 1544 in Torrejón de Velasco ) was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain.

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán came from an old noble family. He was an educated man and studied the laws. On 4 May 1526 landed at Panuco River in northwestern New Spain near Tampico.

As head of the Audiencia

Since the conquest by Hernán Cortés New Spain was ruled by a military government. There was violence and arbitrariness. The locals were exploited in the worst way. Hoping for a better government, Charles V appointed on December 13, 1527 in Burgos a Audiencia, which was to take over the government of the colony. It consisted of a president and four Oidores ( judge). Its president was Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán. The judges were Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, Diego Delgadillo, Diego Maldonado Alonso de Parada. At this time, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán served as governor of the province of Panuco. It is not known if his behavior was known of the crown there. He had captured so many Indians in the area and sold as slaves to the Caribbean, that the province was almost depopulated.

Charles V ordered him and the judges, to gather in Veracruz and jointly take from there to the capital. However, the four newcomers from Spain did not wait for the arrival of Guzmán. They came on 8 December 1528 in Tenochtitlan and took the following day the government. The city gave them a great reception. Guzmán arrived only a few days later. Two of the judges ( Maldonado and Parada ) became ill and died soon after their arrival. They did not participate in the government. The first bishop of New Spain, Juan de Zumárraga, had arrived only a few days before the judges in the capital.

The Audiencia gave instructions provided recommendations to good treatment of the natives and began an investigation against Hernán Cortés, Pedro de Alvarado, Alonso de Estrada, Rodrigo de Albornoz, Gonzalo de Salazar and Pedro Chirino Almíndez. Most had been former members of the government, while Cortés was in Honduras. It had come under their rule to many injustices. Cortés himself was now in Spain, where he defended his conduct before the king. He succeeded so well that Charles V took him into the high nobility and appointed to the Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca. That was the highest honor that had ever received a conquistador. Nevertheless, Guzmán now reigned in New Spain. Between Cortés and Guzmán there were already smaller hostilities because Cortés had refused to recognize Guzmán as governor of Panuco. Later events made ​​the two bitter enemies. The Audiencia even forbade the direct communication with the courts in Spain. This was so effective that Bishop Zumárraga felt compelled to hide a letter in a barrel and to smuggle to the Spanish authorities.

The conqueror of the West

When the opponents of Guzmán in the capital were more numerous, he put together an army of 300 conquistadors and 6,000 Indian allies together. On December 21, 1529, he marched with the troops to the west to subdue all the countries and peoples who had resisted until now the conquest. Among his officers in this campaign was also Pedro Chirino Almíndez. His motives to leave the capital, are unclear. It is possible that he was simply in search of riches. But perhaps what he had just afraid of returning to Cortés '. The had been re-appointed captain-general of the king and had so again significant power in the hands.

The expedition of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán is described as a holocaust. The conquistadors this campaign attacked the Indian villages, stole the corn and all other food, tore the houses down, burned the homes and torturing the leader of the local population in order to collect information, what riches they could still steal the population. Since the West of New Spain had no high culture as the Aztecs, people had amassed no wealth. Chief Tangáxuan ( Cazoncin ) from Michoacán delivered Guzmán gold, silver and warriors. Nevertheless, Guzmán ordered their arrest and torture him in order to extort from him the location of his hidden treasures. Presumably there was no more gold, because even under torture Tangáxuan could not say anything. Guzmán could drag him behind a horse on the ground and hanged him. Then he continued his violent attack continued on the peoples of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Nayarit and Sinaloa. On September 29, 1531, he founded the city of San Miguel de Culiacán. In Tepic he opened his headquarters and prepared new expeditions before. On one of these trips, he founded the cities of Santiago de Galicia de Compostela and the Purification. His violent expeditions were a major cause of Mixton uprising. Later complained even the Spanish colonists with Antonio de Mendoza, the new viceroy of New Spain, about the injustice and the appalling atrocities of Guzmán.

The new kingdom

By a royal decree of January 25, 1531 was the area that Guzmán had conquered, the name Reino de Nueva Galicia ( New Galicia Kingdom ). This territory stretched with its capital from Rio Lerma Compostela up to Sonora. New Galicia was a separate entity and did not fall under the authority of the Audiencia in Tenochtitlán ( 1535 renamed Mexico City), but was still a part of New Spain. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán continued his massacre in the western and northern New Spain continued for another seven years. During this time he researched and submitted a third of Mexico today. Many locals were either massacred or sold into slavery in the Caribbean. Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán was at this time the nickname " Bloody Guzmán ".

Death in prison

Many reports on the treatment of the natives had reached Mexico City and Spain, and at the request of the Bishop Zumárraga sent the crown Diego Pérez de la Torre to pursue the many lawsuits. So Guzmán was arrested in 1536 and stayed for more than a year in captivity. In fetters he was sent to Spain, where he was sentenced to pay a fine, but retained his land in New Spain. The accusations of his numerous enemies kept him with legal proceedings in Spain. He died as a prisoner in the castle of Torrejón de Velasco under ambiguous circumstances in the year 1544th A chronicler of the conquest Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán referred to as " the vilest governor of Panuco and perhaps the most corrupt man who ever walked into New Spain. " Also Bartolomé de Las Casas, calling him a " big bully ".