Cristóbal de Oñate
Encyclopedia
Cristóbal de Oñate is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...

. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as other places in Nueva Galicia
Nueva Galicia
El Nuevo Reino de Galicia or Nueva Galicia was an autonomous kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was named after Galicia in Spain...

 (western New Spain).

Background

Oñate was born in 1552 in Vitoria
Vitoria-Gasteiz
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital city of the province of Álava and of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northern Spain with a population of 235,661 people. It is the second largest Basque city...

 or Oñate
Oñate
Oñate is an older spelling of Oñati, a town in Gipuzkoa, SpainIt is also a Basque surname and may refer to:* Juan de Oñate, an explorer and early governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico* Cristóbal de Oñate, a conquistador and father of Juan de Oñate...

, in the Basque country of Spain. His father was Juan Pérez de Narriahondo, who changed his name in later life to Juan de Oñate. Oñate signifies "at the foot of the mountain pass" in the Basque language
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

. Oñate's mother was Osana González de San Llorente. He was born into the House of Haro, whose origins go back to the Middle Ages. He was a grandson of Pedro de Baeza, Señor de Narrihondo, one of Spain's last feudal lords.

Activities in New Spain

Oñate arrived in New Spain in 1524 as the assistant to Rodrigo de Albornoz
Rodrigo de Albornoz
Rodrigo de Albornoz was an auditor and colonial official in New Spain during the period of Hernán Cortés's government, and before the appointment of the first viceroy...

. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles 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...

 and king of Spain had made Albornoz auditor, one of five royal officials named to oversee Cortés's government in the colony.

In New Spain, he was reunited with his twin nephews Juan and Vicente de Zaldívar y Oñate. Cristobal de Onate contracted marriage with Catalina de Salazar de la Cadena, daughter of Gonzalo de Salazar
Gonzalo de Salazar
Gonzalo de Salazar was an aristocrat, and leader of several councils that governed New Spain while Hernán Cortés was traveling to Honduras, in 1525-26.- Early life :...

 and Catalina De La Cadena Maluenda. This was Catalina's second marriage. Her maternal uncle Antonio De La Cadena Maluenda, was Treasurer of New Spain. Gonzalo Salazar was a high-ranking official in the Royal Treasury of the colony, and at times a member of the junta that ruled New Spain.

In 1529 he was a part of the expedition of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán or sometimes Nuño de Guzmán was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was Governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525–1533, and of Nueva Galicia from 1529–1534, President of the first Audiencia from 1528-30. He founded several cities in...

 that conquered the western part of Mexico (the current states of Nayarit
Nayarit
Nayarit officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its capital city is Tepic.It is located in Western Mexico...

, Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

, Colima
Colima
Colima is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima....

, Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....

 and parts of Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, Zacatecas
Zacatecas
Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

 and San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí
San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí....

). This brutal conquest took only a few years, and the newly conquered region became known as Nueva Galicia
Nueva Galicia
El Nuevo Reino de Galicia or Nueva Galicia was an autonomous kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was named after Galicia in Spain...

. The foundation of the cities of Compostela
Compostela, Nayarit
Compostela is the name of both a municipality and the town within that municipality that serves as the seat. They are in the Mexican state of Nayarit. The population of the municipality was 62,925 in a total area of 1,848 km²...

 and Tepic
Tepic
Tepic is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Nayarit.It is located in the central part of the state, at.It stands at an altitude above sea level of some 915 meters, on the banks of the Río Mololoa and the Río Tepic, approximately 225 kilometers north-west of Guadalajara, Jalisco....

 in present-day Nayarit and Guadalajara and Zacatecas is attributed to Oñate.

In 1531 (probably January), Oñate founded a small town near Nochistlán to which the name Guadalajara was given. Two years later Beltrán de Guzmán visited the city, and at the request of its inhabitants, who were fearful of Indian attacks and lacked sufficient water, he ordered it moved to Tonalá
Tonalá
-Places:*Santo Domingo Tonalá, a municipality in the Mexican state of Oaxaca*Tonalá, Jalisco, a municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco*Tonalá, Chiapas, a municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas...

. This occurred on May 24, 1533. Later, after Beltrán had returned to Spain, it was moved again, to a site near Tlacotan (northeast of modern Zapopan
Zapopan
Zapopan is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which is part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. It is best known as being the home of the Virgin of Zapopan, an image of the Virgin Mary which was made in the 16th century. This image has been credited with a number of...

). This occurred probably between October 1541 and February of the following year.

During the conquest of Zacatecas rich silver mines were discovered that made Cristóbal de Oñate and his partners Diego de Ibarra and Juan de Tolosa
Juan de Tolosa
Juan de Tolosa was a Spanish Basque conquistador, possibly born in or near Tolosa, Spain. He discovered rich silver deposits near the present day city of Zacatecas, Mexico in 1546.-Founder of Zacatecas:...

 among the richest men in New Spain. Oñate settled at the Pánuco mine in Zacatecas, where five of his six children were born. One of his sons, Juan de Oñate
Juan de Oñate
Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a Spanish explorer, colonial governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico, and founder of various settlements in the present day Southwest of the United States.-Biography:...

, married Isabel de Tolosa Cortes-Moctezuma, granddaughter of conquistador Hernan Cortes and greatgranddaughter of the last Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. Juan became an explorer of western North America and founder of the first European settlement on the upper Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...

 in the present U.S. state of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. Both Juan and his twin brother Cristóbal served as Spanish governors of Nuevo Mexico.

Cristóbal de Oñate served as governor of the province of Nueva Galicia on three occasions. He attempted without success to suppress the Caxcan
Caxcan
The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Francisco Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion. During the rebellion, they were described as "the heart and the center of the Indian Rebellion". They...

 Indians during the Mixton War om 1541 and was later accused by Caxcan leader Francisco Tenamaztle of murdering and exploiting Indians. Besides being a conquistador, official and mineowner, he was a farmer, rancher and encomendero
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....

. Although he was a lieutenant of Beltrán de Guzmán, perhaps the bloodiest conquistador in the history of New Spain, Onate seems also to have had a more benign side. He was a benefactor of the cities he founded. A generous spirit, he offered meals to the needy on a daily basis throughout his entire life, and is said to have turned over the proceeds from his encomiendas to improve native villages. Today, ancient Indian tribes and reservations persist in Mexico and the American Southwest. In the cities Onate founded, many streets, businesses, and geographic locations bear his name. He established a dynasty that retained wealth and power for 300 years.

Cristobal died in Pánuco, Zacatecas, on October 6, 1567, and was interred in the parochial church there.

See also

  • Juan de Oñate
    Juan de Oñate
    Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a Spanish explorer, colonial governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico, and founder of various settlements in the present day Southwest of the United States.-Biography:...

  • Guadalajara
  • Tepic
    Tepic
    Tepic is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Nayarit.It is located in the central part of the state, at.It stands at an altitude above sea level of some 915 meters, on the banks of the Río Mololoa and the Río Tepic, approximately 225 kilometers north-west of Guadalajara, Jalisco....

  • Compostela, Nayarit
    Compostela, Nayarit
    Compostela is the name of both a municipality and the town within that municipality that serves as the seat. They are in the Mexican state of Nayarit. The population of the municipality was 62,925 in a total area of 1,848 km²...

  • Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
    Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán
    Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán or sometimes Nuño de Guzmán was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was Governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525–1533, and of Nueva Galicia from 1529–1534, President of the first Audiencia from 1528-30. He founded several cities in...

  • Nueva Galicia
    Nueva Galicia
    El Nuevo Reino de Galicia or Nueva Galicia was an autonomous kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was named after Galicia in Spain...


External links


  • Porras Munoz, Gullermo, "La Calle de Cadena en Mexico," pps. 1-46.
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