Francisco Ortiz de Vergara was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 conquistador

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...

 and colonizer, born 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...

.

He succeeded Gonzalo de Mendoza

Gonzalo de Mendoza

Gonzalo de Mendoza was a Spanish conquistador and colonizer.A native of Andalusia in Spain, he joined his brother Pedro at his new colony of New Andalusia in 1536. Together with Juan de Salazar y Espinosa, he founded Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción on 15 August 1537, which soon became...

 as governor

Governorate

A governorate is an administrative division of a country. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states, provinces, or colonies, the term governorate is often used in translation from non-English-speaking administrations.The...

 of Rio de la Plata. He was elected, rather than appointed by the king or his predecessor. His election was confirmed by bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 Pedro de la Torre, but he was demoted by the Royal Audience and returned to Spain in 1565 following charges by Nuño de Chaves.

During his administration, there were a number of failed attempts at new settlements - Sancti Spiritus, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia and the largest city in the country...

. This last, in the southern Amazon Basin

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...

, was eventually successful, but only after the city had been moved over 200 kilometers from site chosen by Chaves. The former location is in the vicinity of San José de Chiquitos

San José de Chiquitos

San José de Chiquitos or simply San José is the capital of Chiquitos Province in the Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia. It is known as part of the Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos, which is declared in 1990 a World Heritage Site, as a former Jesuit Reduction.- External links :* * *...

 and is now an archaeological site under the name Santa Cruz la Vieja.