Diego Caballero
Encyclopedia
Diego Caballero was a Spanish merchant and minor Conquistador
in the Caribbean area
and in the islands off the coast of Venezuela
. He organised raids on natives, whom he then used as slaves in pearl fishing and other enterprises. He amassed enormous wealth in America, which he invested in further enterprises throughout the Spanish Empire
. He thus became enormously wealthy, perhaps the most important Spanish merchant of his day. He held, or purchased, several official posts, in the service of the King, Charles V and in Seville
.
, he got permission to emigrate there, along with his brother Alonso. He came of a well-off noble background, so he managed to get various official posts on the island.
He was immediately appointed to the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, the first Royal court of justice there. Thanks to this, his commercial and political influence spread along the coast of Tierra Firma
from Santa Marta
to the island of Trinidad
. He was a man of many talents, and had the rank of a Knight Twenty-Four (or alderman
) of the city of Seville
, a post reserved to those of noble descent. He put in charge of the finances of Hispaniola
, and was its military governor. He ran several private enterprises there.
After a time, Diego Caballero resigned all his official posts and dedicated himself entirely to shipping and commerce on both sides of the Atlantic.
" (Judge) of the ‘’Royal Audiencia’’, to put together a fleet and set about capturing native Indians along the coast of Venezuela, between Cabo de San Román and Cabo de la Vela
- some several hundred leagues - and in the adjacent islands . This enslavement of Indians was justified by claiming they had refused conversion to Christianity, or were practicing cannibalism.
It seems that he gave up this dubious trade after a year, either for fear of the Laws of the Indies
, which forbade such enslavement, or because of a guilty conscience. He turned away from raiding the Indians' properties and chasing Indians on the Venezuelan coast. Meanwhile, the Crown Representatives, Diego Colon
and Rodrigo de Figueroa, authorised Juan de Ampies to occupy the Venezuelan cost of Santa Ana de Coro
and the islands of Aruba
and Curaçao
, with the object of "protecting" and "pacifying" the Indians, and moreover of teaching them Christianity and inducting them into a more "organised way of life".
sent his brother Alonso to Seville, where he appointed him his agent and factor. He then began to send precious woods to Seville, as well as precious metals and pearls and other precious materials found abundantly in the Caribbean islands of Cubagua
and Isla Margarita
. In return, his ships came back from Spain laden with textiles and various tools, implements and other useful products of Spain. As the economic and commercial structure developed and there was a need for people you could trust to manage the various enterprises, including the many voyages of his ships, he took on many of his fellow countrymen, including a nephew, Francisco Caballero, whom he appointed to run the pearl fisheries at Cabo de la Vela
.
(Charles I of Spain), for the exploration of the territory corresponding to the Venezuela Province
, from Cabo de San Román to Cabo de la Vela
.
The rich banking families of the Fugger
s and the Welser
s, being informed of the prosperity his various enterprises, managed to prevent him becoming Governor of Venezuela.
, Cabo de la Vela
and Panama
.
The Church would demand better treatment of the defenceless native divers, and Diego, as a "good Christian", ordered that his divers should hear Mass before diving and that they should marry their local woman, so that they would be less in danger, and moreover they would, while not offending God, populate the earth. An odd but inexpensive method of increasing the number of divers. He further ordered that his "pearly flock" be given more good food, plus a half pint of wine a day, shirts, shorts, shoes and hammocks, or straw beds, so they could sleep comfortably, and that they should lack nothing, so that God and man were seen to be served.
, thus displaying his enormous wealth. He continued to trade with the Americas, and extended his entrepreneurial activities into wine, oil, textiles and slavery, across Spain and its Empire, including Flanders
.
, where he dedicated himself to charity and the promotion of good works. Every year, in compliance with his promise, he visited the Sanctuary of Guadalupe
in Extremadura
to thank the Virgin for what she had done for him and to pray for his family and for the salvation of his soul.
Recalling his early slaving adventures, the way in which he had amassed so much Indian gold without having found the mythical El Dorado
, he asked God to forgive him his sins, and, on 27 November 1560, praying for the souls of his pearl-divers, , he rendered up his own soul, in the peace and prosperity he had brought to Seville.
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
in the Caribbean area
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
and in the islands off the coast of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. He organised raids on natives, whom he then used as slaves in pearl fishing and other enterprises. He amassed enormous wealth in America, which he invested in further enterprises throughout the Spanish Empire
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
. He thus became enormously wealthy, perhaps the most important Spanish merchant of his day. He held, or purchased, several official posts, in the service of the King, Charles V and in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
.
Early life
He was born at the end of the Fifteenth Century in Guadalupe, Spain , the son of Pedro Caballero and Catalina de Villegas. In early March 1517, taking advantage of the fact that his cousin Hernando Caballero was Mayor of Santo DomingoSanto Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, he got permission to emigrate there, along with his brother Alonso. He came of a well-off noble background, so he managed to get various official posts on the island.
He was immediately appointed to the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, the first Royal court of justice there. Thanks to this, his commercial and political influence spread along the coast of Tierra Firma
Tierra Firma
Tierra Firma served in Spanish colonial times as the name of the Isthmus of Panama, which was a province of New Granada....
from Santa Marta
Santa Marta
Santa Marta is the capital city of the Colombian department of Magdalena in the Caribbean Region. It was founded in July 29, 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, which makes it the oldest remaining city in Colombia...
to the island of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
. He was a man of many talents, and had the rank of a Knight Twenty-Four (or alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
) of the city of Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, a post reserved to those of noble descent. He put in charge of the finances of Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
, and was its military governor. He ran several private enterprises there.
After a time, Diego Caballero resigned all his official posts and dedicated himself entirely to shipping and commerce on both sides of the Atlantic.
Slaver and Merchant
He obtained a licence, under the supervision of an "OidorOidor
Oidor is the Spanish name of the member judge of the Royal Audiencias and Chancillerías, originally courts of Kingdom of Castile, which became the highest organs of justice within the Spanish Empire...
" (Judge) of the ‘’Royal Audiencia’’, to put together a fleet and set about capturing native Indians along the coast of Venezuela, between Cabo de San Román and Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean Region of Colombia-History:...
- some several hundred leagues - and in the adjacent islands . This enslavement of Indians was justified by claiming they had refused conversion to Christianity, or were practicing cannibalism.
It seems that he gave up this dubious trade after a year, either for fear of the Laws of the Indies
Laws of the Indies
The Laws of the Indies are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for its American and Philippine possessions of its empire. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas...
, which forbade such enslavement, or because of a guilty conscience. He turned away from raiding the Indians' properties and chasing Indians on the Venezuelan coast. Meanwhile, the Crown Representatives, Diego Colon
Diego Colón
Diego Columbus was the 2nd Admiral of the Indies, 2nd Viceroy of the Indies and 3rd Governor of the Indies. He was the firstborn son of Christopher Columbus and wife Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, and was born in 1479/1480 in Porto Santo, Portugal or 1474 in Lisbon, Portugal. He died February...
and Rodrigo de Figueroa, authorised Juan de Ampies to occupy the Venezuelan cost of Santa Ana de Coro
Santa Ana de Coro
Coro is the capital of Falcón State and the oldest city in the west of Venezuela.-History:The city was founded on July 26, 1527 by Spanish colonists. The name "Coro" is believed to be an indigenous word meaning "wind".The city had a turbulent history in colonial times and suffered a number of...
and the islands of Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
and Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, with the object of "protecting" and "pacifying" the Indians, and moreover of teaching them Christianity and inducting them into a more "organised way of life".
Ship-owner and Merchant
Following his slaving activities, Caballero took over some pearl fisheries. He also bought four ships andsent his brother Alonso to Seville, where he appointed him his agent and factor. He then began to send precious woods to Seville, as well as precious metals and pearls and other precious materials found abundantly in the Caribbean islands of Cubagua
Cubagua
Cubagua or Isla de Cubagua is the smallest and least populated of the three islands constituting the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, after Isla Margarita and Coche. It is located 16 km north of Araya Peninsula, the closest mainland area....
and Isla Margarita
Isla Margarita
Margarita Island is the largest island of the state of Nueva Esparta in Venezuela, situated in the Caribbean Sea, off the northeastern coast of the country. The state also contains two other smaller islands: Coche and Cubagua. The capital city of Nueva Esparta is La Asunción, located in a river...
. In return, his ships came back from Spain laden with textiles and various tools, implements and other useful products of Spain. As the economic and commercial structure developed and there was a need for people you could trust to manage the various enterprises, including the many voyages of his ships, he took on many of his fellow countrymen, including a nephew, Francisco Caballero, whom he appointed to run the pearl fisheries at Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean Region of Colombia-History:...
.
High Ambitions
Once the management of his businesses had been well organised and put in the competent hands of friends and relatives, he signed, on 4 August 1525, an agreement with the King, Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
(Charles I of Spain), for the exploration of the territory corresponding to the Venezuela Province
Venezuela Province
Venezuela Province was a province of the Spanish Empire and later of Venezuela .At one time Calabozo was its capital....
, from Cabo de San Román to Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean Region of Colombia-History:...
.
The rich banking families of the Fugger
Fugger
The Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists like the Welser and the Höchstetter families. This banking family replaced the de'...
s and the Welser
Welser
Welser is the surname of an important German banking and merchant family, originally from Augsburg. Along with the Fugger family, the Welser family controlled various sectors of the European economy, and accumulated enormous wealth through trade and the German colonization of the...
s, being informed of the prosperity his various enterprises, managed to prevent him becoming Governor of Venezuela.
Continued Growth
Before this setback, Diego increased the size of his fleet of ships, opened further commercial sea routes and launched new pearl fisheries in CubaguaCubagua
Cubagua or Isla de Cubagua is the smallest and least populated of the three islands constituting the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, after Isla Margarita and Coche. It is located 16 km north of Araya Peninsula, the closest mainland area....
, Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela
Cabo de la Vela is a headland in the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia with an adjacent small fishing village. It is a popular ecotourism destination of the Caribbean Region of Colombia-History:...
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
.
The Church would demand better treatment of the defenceless native divers, and Diego, as a "good Christian", ordered that his divers should hear Mass before diving and that they should marry their local woman, so that they would be less in danger, and moreover they would, while not offending God, populate the earth. An odd but inexpensive method of increasing the number of divers. He further ordered that his "pearly flock" be given more good food, plus a half pint of wine a day, shirts, shorts, shoes and hammocks, or straw beds, so they could sleep comfortably, and that they should lack nothing, so that God and man were seen to be served.
Return to Spain
In 1535, he returned to Spain permanently, settling in Seville. He bought himself into the City Council, by becoming a VeintiquatroVeintiquatro
A 'Veinticuatro' or 'Caballero Veintiquatro' was an official in several Andalusian cities in pre-modern Spain, notably Úbeda, Baeza, Jaén, Córdoba, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera and Granada. The office or post itself was referred to as a veintiquatría...
, thus displaying his enormous wealth. He continued to trade with the Americas, and extended his entrepreneurial activities into wine, oil, textiles and slavery, across Spain and its Empire, including Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
.
Retirement
On reaching old age, he decided to retire from commercial activity and, with the enormous profits he had made from the Indians, to settle comfortably in SevilleSeville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, where he dedicated himself to charity and the promotion of good works. Every year, in compliance with his promise, he visited the Sanctuary of Guadalupe
Santa María de Guadalupe
The Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic monastic establishment in Guadalupe, Cáceres, a province of the Extremadura autonomous community of Spain It was one of the most important monasteries in the country for more than four centuries...
in Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
to thank the Virgin for what she had done for him and to pray for his family and for the salvation of his soul.
Recalling his early slaving adventures, the way in which he had amassed so much Indian gold without having found the mythical El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
, he asked God to forgive him his sins, and, on 27 November 1560, praying for the souls of his pearl-divers, , he rendered up his own soul, in the peace and prosperity he had brought to Seville.