Don Luis - Early Life

Early Life

Spanish exploration northward in the area of the Chesapeake Bay continued into the late 16th century. During one such trip in 1561, the son of an Algonquian chief of the Native Americans in the village of Kiskiack on the Virginia Peninsula (in an area now part of the lands of the U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown) accompanied the Spanish on their return. It is not known whether he was taken by force or by choice. The Spanish called him Paquiquino (little Francis) at first. He was brought to Mexico and was instructed in the Catholic religion and later baptized Don Luís de Velasco, in honor of Luís de Velasco, his sponsor, who was the Viceroy of New Spain. The youth was later transported to Madrid, and had an audience with Philip II of Spain. He received a Jesuit education. Don Luís later returned to the New World with Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. In 1566, Don Luís accompanied a Spanish expedition that reached the Delmarva Peninsula in a failed attempt to establish a colony.