Alonso de Alvarado

Alonso De Alvarado

Alonso de Alvarado Montaya González de Cevallos y Miranda (Secadura, now part of Voto, Cantabria 1500 - Lima 1556) was a Spanish conquistador and knight of the Order of Santiago. After a period in Mexico under the orders of Hernán Cortés, he then joined the campaign of Francisco Pizarro.

He went to Peru with Pedro de Alvarado in search of gold in 1534. There he fought against the armies of Manco Inca Yupanqui that were besieging Lima in 1536, against Diego de Almagro in 1537 and at the Battle of Las Salinas in 1538. He later fought at Chupas and Jaquijahuana.

While charged by some contemporaries with avarice and cruelty, it is undeniable that during the period of civil wars in Peru (about 1537 to 1555) Alvarado was an unflinching and determined adherent to the interests of the Spanish crown. He always sided with those whom he thought to be sincere representatives of the crown, and it was not always profitable and safe to be on that side. Thus in 1537, he commanded the troops of Pizarro's followers, when Diego de Almagro claimed the mythical Inca city of Cuzco. Defeated and captured by the latter at Abancay, after effecting his escape under great difficulties as well as dangers, and rejoining Pizarro, whom he looked upon as the legitimate governor of Peru, he took part in all the bloody troubles that followed, always as a prominent military leader and always unsuccessful when in immediate command. Still, he was counted upon as a mainstay of the Spanish cause, and occupied a high military position.

Alvarado married in Spain while on a short visit, in 1544.

When Francisco Hernández Girón initiated a rebellion in 1553, Alvarado was put in command of the forces to oppose him. At Chuquinga, in 1554, Alvarado suffered a signal defeat at the hands of the insurgents. Overcome by melancholy in consequence of that last disaster, he pined away and died in 1559. His principal achievement was the pacification of Chachapoyas in northeastern Peru, in the years 1535 and 1536, this being the first step taken from Peru towards the Amazonian basin.