José de Zúñiga y la Cerda
31st Governor of La Florida
In office
1699 – 9 April 1706
Preceded byLaureano de Torres y Ayala
Succeeded byFrancisco de Córcoles y Martínez
Governor of Cartagena de Indias
In office
1706–1710
Preceded byJuan Díaz-Pimienta y Solanarubias
Succeeded byJeronimo de Badillo
Personal details
Born1654
Havana, Cuba
Died1725
unknown
Professionfield master and governor

José de Zúñiga y la Cerda (1654–1725) was a Spanish nobleman, field marshal and governor of Spanish Florida (1699–1706) and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia (1712–18). He served twenty-seven years in the Spanish Netherlands, rising to the rank of field marshal. He participated in the defense of the town of Melilla when it was besieged by the Moors.

Political career

Governor of Florida

King Carlos II of Spain named Zúñiga Governor and Captain General of Spanish Florida on January 30, 1699. The oath of office with instructions concerning the responsibilities of his appointment was administered by the court of the Casa de Contratación (in English: House of Trade) in Seville, on May 20, 1699. He was given a license to carry four slaves, and he sailed to New Spain in the fleet commanded by General Manuel de Velasco y Tejada on May 23, 1699.

Zúñiga was governor of Florida from 1699 until 1706. In 1701, he appointed Juan de Ayala y Escobar as "visitador general" of Apalachee to investigate the terms of the peace that the native tribes there had made with other peoples, such as the towns of Apalachicola Province.[1] During his administration he improved the castle (castillo) or fortress and the town defenses of St. Augustine, the capital of the province. In 1702 St. Augustine was besieged by English troops under Colonel James Moore, who lacked heavy artillery to capture the fort. The siege resulted in the burning of the town outside the fort.[2][3] Zúñiga y la Cerda ordered the remaining Spanish missions in Apalachee and Timucua Province to be moved closer together for defensive purposes.[4] The English and their Indian allies fled with the arrival of a relief flotilla commanded by Esteban de Berroa and Capt. Lope de Solloso, leading a team of Galician recruits and militia troops from Havana.[2][3] Zúñiga's term as governor of Florida ended on April 9, 1706.[5]

Governor of Cartagena de Indias

Zúñiga was appointed governor of Cartagena de Indias in 1706 (or 1712) to replace Juan Diaz Pimienta. He served until 1710 (or 1718), and returned to Spain in the only boat of the fleet of Admiral Antonio de Ulloa that survived a storm in the Bahamas.[6] He died in 1725.

References

  1. ↑ Grady, p. 110.
  2. 1 2 Antonio de Alcedo; Aaron Arrowsmith (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies: Containing an Entire Translation of the Spanish Work of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo. Vol. 1. James Carpenter; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown; White, Cochrane and Company and Murray; Parker; and Deighton. p. 19.
  3. 1 2 Antonio de Alcedo; Aaron Arrowsmith (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies: Containing an Entire Translation of the Spanish Work of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo. Vol. 2. James Carpenter; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown; White, Cochrane and Company and Murray; Parker; and Deighton. p. 104.
  4. ↑ Barbara Olexer (2005). The Enslavement of the American Indian in Colonial Times. Joyous Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-9722740-4-3.
  5. ↑ Cahoon, Ben. U.S. States F-K.
  6. ↑ Antonio de Alcedo; Aaron Arrowsmith (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies: Containing an Entire Translation of the Spanish Work of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo. Vol. 1. James Carpenter; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown; White, Cochrane and Company and Murray; Parker; and Deighton. p. 329.

Sources

  • Alcedo, Antonio de (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies. Vol. 1. London: G.A. Thomson Esq.
  • Alcedo, Antonio de (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies. Vol. 2. London: G.A. Thomson Esq..
  • http://pares.mcu.es «AER (Archivos Españoles en Red)».
  • Grady, Timothy Paul (2010) [1951]. Anglo-Spanish Rivalry in Colonial South-East America, 1650–1725. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1725-9. OCLC 245840026.. Nº 14. Page 110.
  • Boyd, Mark F; Smith, Hale G; Griffin, John W (1999) [1951]. Here They Once Stood: the Tragic End of the Apalachee Missions. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1725-9. OCLC 245840026.
  • Olexer, Barbara (2005). The Enslavement of the American Indian in Colonial Times. Columbia, MD: Joyous. ISBN 978-0-9722740-4-3. OCLC 255476011..
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