When people think of revolutionary fighters in the Americas they often think of George Washington, Toussaint Louverture, or Simón Bolívar. However, the first revolutionary fighter attempting to liberate the New World from European colonialism did not live in the 18th or 19th century but instead lived almost 200 years before. Here, Nick Bobertz explains the story of Lope de Aguirre.
A depiction of Lope de Aguirre.
In the year 1561 a group of Spanish conquistadors set out on an expedition to discover the lost city of El Dorado somewhere in the Amazon jungle. One of these conquistadors was a man named Lope de Aguirre who would go insane in the jungles of the Amazon, seize power over the Spanish expedition, and attempt to liberate all Spanish colonies in the new world.
This is the story of how one conquistador became mad with power and attempted to seize complete power over the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Much of what we know about Aguirre comes from a handful of sources, the primary of which is a letter he sent to King Phillip II renouncing his reign and declaring war on Spain.
Lope de Aguirre In Spain
As historians we know very little about the youth and upbringing of Lope de Aguirre. He was born in northern Spain sometime around the year 1510. More than likely his family was of lower noble birth in the Kingdom of Navarre. We believe this is the case because Lope de Aguirre was fairly literate for his time and his family name indicates a heritage from Northern Spain.
Sometime in his 20s Aguirre would migrate south to Seville. It is perhaps that Aguirre decided to move here in search of riches and adventure in the Spanish Reconquista which ended in 1492 with the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada.
It is assumed that while living in Seville Aguirre would have seen Hernando Pizarro returning on January 9th, 1534 to a hero's welcome after having conquered the Inca Kingdom. Aguirre would have seen Pizarro being given substantial land in the new world by King Charles of Spain. This undoubtedly had an impact upon the young conquistador as only 3 years later Aguirre was somehow in the former Inca capital Peru.
Lope de Aguirre In The New World
While in the New World Lope de Aguirre became known for both his violence against the natives as well as his hatred for the Spanish Crown. On top of this Aguirre was known to be a person who acted before thinking, which led to a series of ill thought out plans. One of which was that in 1544 Aguirre attempted to free the new Spanish viceroy of South America from imprisonment with a handful of men but failed drastically.
In 1551 when Lope de Aguirre was arrested in Potosi on charges of excessive violence against the natives. In court Aguirre stated that he was a member of the Spanish gentry and that as such he was immune by law to public humiliation. The judge didn't agree with Aguirre and had him publicly whipped in the city streets.
Lope de Aguirre was a man driven by greed, ambition, and most of all pride. This became apparent after his public humiliation by Judge Esquivel. After Aguirre was flogged in the streets of Potosi he would track Judge Esquivel across the Spanish colonies in the new world for 3 years before finally killing him.
Because of this stunt Aguirre became known as a mad man who would stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. In 1559 Spanish conquistador Pedro de Ursua began to assemble a group of explorers to go into the Amazon rainforest in search of the legendary city of El Dorado. Lope de Aguirre was of course going to be a part of this.
1560 Expedition
Sometime in 1560 a now middle aged Lope de Aguirre would set out on an expedition with around 300 conquistadors and hundreds of natives to serve as cooks, guides, and a baggage train. Besides himself Aguirre would bring a few conquistadors loyal to him and his daughter on this expedition.
The Voyage That Ended In Two Mutinies, Hundreds Dead, and Aguirre The Crazed Conquistador In Charge
This expedition left Lima and crossed the Andes mountain range. Their initial plan was to make rafts on the Maranon River and float down into the Amazon River and out into the Atlantic. However, something happened after they crossed the Andes mountain range.
The story is that the expedition leader Pedro de Ursua refused to allow Lope de Aguirre to bring his mistress on the expedition. Further, it appears that Pedro de Ursa noticed that the expedition was not prepared properly for the harsh climate of the Amazon basin and wanted to turn around. This gave Aguirre the pretext to begin to plot an assassination and mutiny against Pedro de Ursua on the grounds that he was leading the expedition astray.
After the death of Pedro de Ursa the conquistadors built a series of makeshift rafts and elected a young noble from Seville called Fernando de Guzman. Over the next month Aguirre and Guzman would argue over the course of the voyage and Aguirre would then assassinate Guzman. After this Aguirre was in charge and would start to remove people who did not agree with him. All together Lope de Aguirre claimed to have killed 15 people in order to seize power over the expedition.
After successfully taking control over the expedition Lope de Aguirre was in charge of only a handful of conquistadors. Over the next year they would wander around the Amazon River Basin completely lost and looking for the mythical city of gold, El Dorado. The river, disease, and famine ended up causing the expedition to dwindle to only a few men along with Aguirre.
After about 100 days of drifting Aguirre and his crew made it to the Atlantic ocean. In all they had managed to survive on rafts for 100 days and covering more than 1,300 miles.
War On Spain
Aguirre would come out of the Amazon river basin in the delta of the Orinoco river. Something happened on this voyage that made Aguirre believe that his enemy was none other than the king of Spain.
With his ragtag group of conquistadors Aguirre would then turn north and sail another 300 miles on his rafts to the nearest European settled Island. This was the Spanish held Island of Margarita which is on the coast of modern Venezuela.
On the northwest side of the Island there was the port city of Pampatar which was founded in 1536. This is where Aguirre would attack in 1561. We don't have much details of the event but in the end Aguirre would seize control over the island and have his men declare him the Prince of the new world.
While on this island Aguirre would institute a series of changes. The governor of the Island spoke out against these changes and was killed. On top of this Aguirre had a man from Germany executed because he was a Protestant. That is all we know of Aguirre's couple of months as ruler of the island as he would immediately leave to attempt to start a revolution in Panama.
In the winter months of 1561/62 Lope de Aguirre would die after being surrounded and defeated at Barquisimeto, Venezuela. However, in this time he had begun to gain a following across the population as a revolutionary who was fighting against Spain.
So how do we as historians know all of this happened?
Aguirre's Letter
After taking control over the Island of Margarita Lope de Aguirre would write a letter and send it to King Phillip II of Spain. In this letter Aguirre outlines exactly what he did on his voyage, what the king did to him, and how he was going to free the Spanish colonies from European possession. (I highly suggest you read the letter that you can find by clicking here.)
As historians we can piece together exactly what happened in the mad mind of Aguirre. He seized the expedition, killed all those who opposed him, promised his men freedom, and then captured the Island of Margarita.
What is interesting is Aguirre's justification for declaring war against King Phillip of Spain. There is one passage from this letter that presents Aguirre's justification for rebelling against the King of Spain. The important thing to remember when reading this passage is that kings were divinely mandated, and as such simply better then the average person.
"Illustrious King, we do not ask for grants in Cordoba or Valladolid, nor in any part of Spain, which is your patrimony. Deign to feed the weary and poor with the fruits and proceeds from this land. Remember, King and Lord, that God is the same for all, and the same justice, reward, heaven, and hell."
This passage demonstrates that Aguirre is rebelling because he feels as though the King of Spain and his servants have been unfair to the common person in the New World. They take nearly all of the resources and leave nothing for the lower conquistadors and natives.
The most telling part here however is the end. That "god is the same for all, and the same justice, reward, heaven, and hell." This is very interesting because at this point in history people were taught that the nobility of the land was born with a divine reason for being better.
Aguirre here is destroying this idea and presenting libertas or that all people are created equal. This idea of liberty and the creation of equality among people regardless of birth can be seen in other revolutionary documents, namely the Declaration of Independence.
As such, we can look at Aguirre as a revolutionary fighter. In 1561 a man and a group of men attempted to seize control over the colonies of New Spain. These revolutionary fighters had the idea of liberty and self-governance long before the revolutionary wars of the 19th century.
Conclusion
Aguirre’s is a fascinating story. Many people are not aware of him and his ill fated voyage which turned into a revolution.
For much of history people have thought of Aguirre as a mad man who committed horrendous acts to seek personal glory and wealth. While this is the case he also can be considered the first revolutionary fighter in the Americas.
What do you think of Lope de Aguirre? Let us know below.
I hope you enjoyed this article. My name is Nicklaus Bobertz and I hold a master's degree in History from the University of Central Florida, have published in Cambridge University Press, and presented research at The University of Toronto.
I also run, write, and manage my own history blog where I give simple answers to history's hard questions. You can find me at TheHistoryAce.com.
