Pedro De Alvarado Research Paper

Pedro de Alvarado was a hispanic soldier, conqueror, and conquistador. He was born in
Bandajoz, Spain, around 1485. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin, which was rare for his Hispanic heritage. The native people nicknamed him "tonatiuh" which means the god of the sun, because of his rare appearance . He married two different woman in his lifetime. His first wife, Francisca de Cueva, was related to a duke. When she died, he later married Beatriz de la cueva, who was governor in 1541. He had children, but not with women whom he had been married to. He grew up in a fairly low ranked family, which led him to become a soldier. In 1510, he captained one of Juan de Grijalba's ships and went from Cuba to explore Yucatán. Later, …show more content…
After proving himself, although he had cruel ways in some instances, he became Cortés's assistant and right hand man He was put in charge of Tenoctitlán, which is now called Mexico City, when Cortés had to go fight off Pánfilo de Narváez . While he was left in charge, the Aztecs were having a festival. He didn't want them to revolt, so he sent his men to start the fight instead. Thousands of unarmed and harmless people were killed that night. The Aztecs were mad because many of their nobles and chiefs were killed, and their things were stolen. When Cortés returned, he planned to retreat in the night. As they were leaving, the Aztecs spotted them. A fight broke loose and, leaping across a canal, Alvarado escaped. This time they had lost, but a year later the Spanish recaptured Tenoctitlán, and made Alvarado its mayor. Another time that Alvarado proved himself to be an effective conqueror was in 1523, when he captured the Guatemalen cities of Quiché and Cakchiquel. A year after that he established Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, (Antigua Guat today) which governed by Alvarado, became the capital of Guatemala and some of Central America then. in 1534 he went to Quito