The geographical and historical dictionary of America and the West Indies [volume 1]

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San Nicolas de la Paz,

San J uan de las Palmas,

Pueblo Nuevo, Santero,

Lorica,

San Nicolas de Bari,

San Bernardo Abad,

Morales,

Babilla,

Tablada,

Tiquicio de Adentro,

Tiquicio de Afuera,

Majagua,

Nechi,

San Marcos,

San Pelajo,

Zerete,

Zienega del Oro, San Carlos de Colosina.

San Geronimo de Buenavista.

The capital is a large city adorned with beautiful buildings, founded by Pedro de Heredia in 1533, on the shore of a great and very convenient bay more than two leagues in length. It was called Calamari in the time of the Indians, which signifies, in their language, the land of craw-fish, from the abundance of these found in it. It is situate on a sandy island, which forming a narrow strait, gives a communication to the part called Tierra Bomba ; on the left it is entered by a wooden bridge, having a suburb called Xiximani, which is another island uniting with the continent by means of a bridge in the same manner as itself. It is well fortified, and is the residence of a governor, with the title of captain-general, dependent on the viceroy of Santa Fe, having beeu independent till the year 1739. Besides the precinct and bastions, it has a half-moon, which defends the entrance or gate ; and at a small distance is the castle of San Felipe de Baraxas, situate on an eminence, and on the side of the bay the castles of San Luis, Santa Cruz, San Joseph, San P'elipe, and Pastelillo, which were rebuilt in a modern manner, in 1654;, by the Lieutenant-general Don Ignacio de Sala, with the names of San Fernando, San Joseph, El Angel, and El Pastelillo. The cathedral church is magnificent, and included in it is the parish of Sagrario, besides two other parishes called La Trinidad and Santo Toribo. It has the convents of monks of St. Francisco, St. Domingo, St. Augustin, St. Diego, La Merced, and San Juan de Dios, which is an hospital, and situate at the top of a high mountain without the walls of the city, at a quarter of a league’s distance from the convent of the barefooted Augustins, called Nuestra Senora de la Popa ; to this convent vessels are accustomed to offer up a salutation as soon as they discover it at sea. It has also a college which belonged to the society of Jesuits, a convent of Santa Clara, one of the Observers of San Francisco, and another of barefooted Car-

melites. At a small distance without the city is the hospital of San Lazaro for lepers, which malady is epidemical in the country. It has also a tribunal of the inquisition, established in 1610, of which there is only three in all America, and puttingthis city, in this pointof view, onafooting with the metropolitan cities Lima and Mexico. It is the head of a bishopric erected in 1534 by his holiness Clement VII. The bay abounds in fish of various kinds, but it is infested by marine wolves. The climate of this city is very hot ; from May to November, which are the winter months, thunder, rain, and tempests are very frequent, but from this inconvenience they derive an advantage of filling with water their cisterns, called aijibes, and which afford them the only supply of this inost necessary article ; accordingly every house is furnished with one of these cisterns : from December to April, which is the summer, the heat is excessive, occasioning continual perspiration, which debilitates the frame, and causes the inhabitants to have a pale and unhealthy appearance, although they nevertheless enjoy good health, it being not unusual to find amongst them persons exceeding 80 years of age. The irregularity of this climate produces several very afflicting disorders, as the black vomit, which is most common amongst strangers and sea-faring people, few of whom have the luck to escape it, but no person ever has it twice. The inhabitants are likewise much troubled with the leprosy, or disease of St. Lazarus ; the culebrilla, which is an insect which breeds under the skin, and causes a swelling which is accustomed to terminate in gangrene and spasms or convulsions : besides these inconveniences, there are multitudes of troublesome insects which infest the houses, such as beetles, niguas, scorpions, centipeds, and morcielagos. The largest trees are the caob, the cedar, the maria, and balsam ; of the first are made canoes, out of the solid trunk, for fishing and commerce ; the red cedar is better than the white, and the two last, not to mention their utility from the compactness of their timber, for their delicious smell and beautiful colour, are the trees from whence are procured those admirable distillations called the oil of Maria and balsam of Tolu. Here are also tamarind trees, medlars, sapotas, papai/as, cassias, and Indian apple trees, producing delicate and pleasant fruits ; the fruit, however, of the last mentioned is poisonous, and many who, deceived by the beauty of these apples, have the rashness to taste them, soon repent of their folly, for they immediately swell to a distressing degree : so if perchance any one should sleep under its branches, he will be afflicted in the same way.

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The antidote, however, is oil taken in abundance internally, and applied outwardly. Neither wheat nor barley are known here, but the place abounds in maize and rice, of which they make cakes, and which are the common bread of the natives, and more particularly so that called cazave^ being a sort of cake made of the root yiica^ name, or moniato. There are also a great number of cotton trees. The arms of this city are a green cross upon a gold ground, with a lion rampant on each side. It was sacked in 1593 by Robert Baal, a pirate ; in 1583, by Sir Francis Drake, 23 years from the time of its being fortified, and not from its foundation, as according to Mr. La Matiniere ; again iti 1695, by Mr. Ducase, assisted by the adventurers or fiibustiers, who completely pillaged it : but a great sensation having been caused amongst the inhabitants at the loss of a superb sepulchre made of silver, in which it rvas usual on a good Friday to deposit the eucharist, they had the good fortune to obtain its restitution through the interest and favour of Louis XI F. The English, under the command of Admiral Vernon and Sir Charles Ogle, besieged this city in 1740, when, although its castles were destroyed, and it was completely besieged, it would not surrender, being gloriously defended by the viceroy Don Sebastian de Esiava, and Don Bias de Lezo, who caused the English to abandon the enterprise with precipitancy and with great loss. [For this conduct on the part of the English, several reasons were assigned besides the strength of the place ; namely, the mortality among the troops, want of skill in the commanders, and certain ditferences between the admiral and the general. The fortifications which they demolished have since been repaired.] It is the only part of all America where there is etfective coin of a fourth part of a real in silver. Its inhabitants amount to 9160 souls in communion. It has been the native place of many celebrated persons, such are,

Don Augustin Samiento de Sotomayor, of the order of Santiago, viscount of Portillo.

Don Andres de la Vega, professor at Salamanca, a famous lawyer.

Fray Carlos de Melgarejo, a religious Dominican, an excellent preacher, and a man of unblemished life.

Don Caspar de Cuba and Arce, head collegiate of San Marcos de Lima, oidor of Chile.

Don Gonzalo de Herrera, Marquis of Villalta, governor of Antioquia.

Don Gregorio Castellar y Mantilla, governor of Cumana, and general of the armada of the guard of the coasts of Cartagena.

Don Joseph de Paredes, captain of infantry, knight of the order of Santiago.

Fray Joseph Pacheco, of the order of St. Augustin, master, visitor, and vicar-general i:i his province of the Nuevo Reyno.

The Father Joseph de Urbina, of the extinguished company, rector of the college of Santa Fe.

Don.Iuan Fernandez Rosillo, dean of the church of his country, bishop of V^erapez and of Mechoacan .

Fray Juan Pereyra, a religious Dominican.

Don Lope Duke Estrada, kiiight of the order of Santiago.

It is in long. 75° 24' and lat. 10° 25' n. [For account of the present revolutions, see Venezuela.]

Bishops who have presided in Cartagena.

1. Don Fray Tomas del Toro, a monk of the order of St. Domingo, elected the . first bishop in 1532; but being at Talavera, his country, at the time, he unfortunately died before he was consecrated.

2. Don Fray Geronimo de Loaisa, a Dominican monk, renowned for his virtue and talent, and for his experience in Indian affairs ; he was elected in the room of the former, was consecrated at Valladolid, and there he erected the church into a cathedral in 1538, the same year in which he entered Cartagena ; from hence he was promoted to the archbishopric of Lima in 1542.

3. Don Fray Francisco de Santa Maria y Benavides, of the order of St. Gerome, of the illustrious family of the Marquises of Fromesta ; serving at that time the Emperor in Flanders, he took to a religious life, and was elected bishop of Cartagena in 1543. The city, in his time, was plundered by two pirates, lieaded by the Spanisli pilot Alonso Vexines, who cominitted thisactout of revenge for a flogging he had received ; they also ill-treated the venerable prelate, who had the additional grievance, in the year L551, of witnessing the city in flames. In 1554 he was promoted to the church of Modonedo in Galicia, and was succeeded in Cartagena by,

4. Don Fray Gregorio de Beteta, a Dominican monk, brought up in the convent of Salamanca, and one of the twenty who went to the Nuevo Reyno de Gratiada, from whence he passed over to Mexico to convert the Indians, and afterwards with the same object to the provinces of Santa Marta, Uraba, ami Cartagena ; and being teacher ami curate in one of his settlements, he received the order of presentation to this bishopric in 1555 ; although he endeavoured to decline the dignify,

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he was at length persuaded to accept it by the acclamations and remonstrances of all parties, and especially of the vicar-general of his order; he began to preside without being consecrated ; but being yet full of scruples, he renounced the office, and without permission returned to Spain ; h^ then went to Koine, but being desired by his holiness to return to his diocese, he was said to have been so much affected as not to have been able to prevail upon himself to enter the city : he returned, therefore, immediately to the coast, and embarked for Florida, with a view of converting some of the infidels ; and with this object he again set off for Spain, in order to obtain his renunciation ; when being at length tired with his wanderings, and Avorn out Avith age, he died in his convent of Toledo in 1562.

5. Don Juan de Simancas, native of Cordova, collegian of San Clemente de Bolonia ; he entered in 1560, went to be consecrated at Santa Fe, and upon his return, had the mortification to find that the suburbs of Xiximani had been sacked by some French pirates ; which disaster was again repeated in the following year, 1561. This bishop, after having governed his church for the space of 10 years, and suffering much from the influence of a hot climate, left the see without a licence, and returned to his country, where he died in 1570.

6. Don Ft. Luis Zapata de Cardenas, of the order of St. Francis, native of Llerena in Estremadura, third commissary-general of the Indies ; elected bishop in 1570, promoted to the archbishopric of Santa Fe before he left Spain, and in his place was chosen,

7. Don Fr. Juan de Vivero, a monk of the order of St. Augustin, native of Valladolid ; he passed over into America, was prior of the convent of Lima, founder of the convent of Cuzco, elected bishop, which he renounced ; nor would he accept the archbishopric of Chacas, to which he was promoted : he died in Toledo.

8. Don Fr. Dionisio de los Santos, of the order of Santiago, prior of the convent of Granada, and provincial of the province of Andalucia ; elected in 1573 : he died in 1578.

9. Don Fr. Juan de Montalvo, of the same order of St. Domingo, native of Arevalo ; elected bishop, he entered Cartagena in 1579, passed over to Santa Fe to the synod celebrated there by the archbishop ; and in 1583 had the mortification of seeing his city sacked, plundered, and destroyed by Sir Francis Drake; Avhich calamity had such a great effect upon him, and well knowing noAV that he had no means of relieving the necessities of the

poor, who were dependent upon him, he fell sick and died the same year.

10. Don Fr. Diego Osorio, of the same order of St. Domingo ; he went over as a monk to Cartagena, from thence to Lima and Nueva Espana, received the presentation to this bishopric in 1587, which he would not accept, and died in 1579, in Mexico.

11. Don Fr. Antonio de Hervias, also a Dominican monk, collegian of San Gregorio de Valladolid, his native place, where he had studied arts ; he passed over to Peru, and was the first morning-lecturer in the university of Lima, manager of the studies, qualificator of the inquisition, vicar-general of the province of Quito, and afterwards presented to the bishopric of Arequipa, then to that of Verapaz, and lastly to that of Cartagena, where he died in 1590.

12. Don Fr. Pedro de Arevalo, monk of the order of St. Gerome ; he was consecrated in Spain, and renounced the bishopric before he came to take possession of it.

13. Don Fr. Juan de Ladrada, a Dominican monk, native of Granada ; he A^'as curate and religious instructor in the Indies, in the settlements of Suesca and Bogota, vicar-general of his religion in the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, lecturer on the sacred scriptures and on theology in Santa Fe,' was consecrated bishop of Cartagena in 1596 : he rebuilt the cathedral, established a choir of boys and chaplains, and made a present of a canopy to be carried by the priests over the blessed sacrament when in procession ; he assisted at the foundation of the college of the regulars of the society of Jesuits, and of that of the fathers called the barefooted Augustins, on the mountain of La Popa ; he had the satisfaction of having for his provisor the celebrated Don Bernardino de Almansa, a wise and virtuous man, who was afterAvards archbishop of Santa Fe ; he frequently visited his bishopric, and after having governed 17 years, died in 1613.

14. Don Fr. Pedro de Vega, a monk of the same order of St. Domingo, native of Bubierca in the kingdom of Aragon, professor of theology and of the sacred AA'ritings in the universities of Lerida and Zaragoza ; he entered Cartagena as bishop in 1614, and his short duration disappinted the hopes he had so universally excited, for he died in 1616.

15. Don Diego Ramirez de Zepeda, friar of the order of Santiago, native of Lima, a renowned preacher, and consummate theologist ; being at Madrid, he was elected, and died before he could reach the bishopric.

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16. Don FV. Diego de Tores Atamairano, a monk of the order of St. Francis, native of Truxillo in Estremadura, commissary-general of the provinces of Peru ; he received his consecration at Eiraa, entered Cartagena in 1620, and died in the following year, 1621.

17. Don Fr. Francisco de Sotomayor, of the order of St. Francis, native of San Tome, in the bishopric of Tuy, guardian of the convents in Montforte and Salamanca, difimdor general in the chapter which was celebrated at Rome ; elected to the bishopric of Cartagena in 1622, and promoted to that of Quito before he left Madrid, in 1623.

18. Don Fr. Luis Ronquillo de Cordova, of the order of the Santissirna Trinidad, native of Granada, where he read arts and theology, was minister in the convent of Malaga, and twice in that of Seville, provincial and vicar-general of Andalucia ; he was elected bishop in 1630 : he governed eight years, and returned to Spain without a licence ; he received notice of his promotion to the bishopric of Truxillo in Peru, which honour he declined, and retired to his convent in Granada, where he died in 1642.

19. Don Fr. Christoval Perez de Lazarraga, of the order of San Bernardo, native of Madrid, qualificator of the inquisition ; he took to an ecclesiastical life when quite a child, was collegian of the college of Meira, afterwards of those of Salamanca and Alcala, professor of philosophy, moral and theological, abbot of the college of Nuestra Sehora ' de Salamanca, a most learned theologist ; elected and consecrated bishop of Chiapa, and before he left the court promoted to the bishopric of Cartagena, of which he took possession in 1640 : he thrice visited his bishopric, and after a grievous illness of 90 days duration, died in 1648.

20. Don Francisco Rodriguez de Zepeda Valcarcel, native of Zamora ; he studied grammar in the town of Garcia, jurisprudence in Salamanca, was professor of laws in Valladolid, abbot of Cifuentes, and canonical doctor of the church of Siguenza ; elected bishop of Cartagena, of which he took possession in 1650 ; and having governed only 11 months, he died in the following.

21. Don Diego del Castillo y Arteaga, native of Tudela ; he studied in the university of Alcala, was collegian of Malaga, professor of arts, having substituted this title for that of theology, canonical master of the church of Avila; presented to the bishopric of Cartagena in 1632, which he declined.

22. Don Garcia Martinez Cabezas, native of the town of Don Benito in Estremadura ; he was pub-

lic professor of the institutes, primate of canons in the university of Maese Rodrigo de Sevilla, w hen he was adopted as provisor by the archbishop of Lima, Don Gonzalo de Ocampo, as he passed through that city ; he was doctoral canon of the church of Charcas, afterwards school-master, treasurer, and archdeacon, from whence he went to Lima as inquisitor, and was elected bishop of Cartagena, but died before he took possession of his office, in 1653.

23. Don Antonio Sanz Lozano, native of Cavanillas, chief collegian iti Alcala, public professor of theology, a man of learning and of acute genius ; being rector of his college, he was presented by the king to the bishopric ot Cartagena, of which he took possession in 1661, governed with great skill for 20 years, and was promoted to the archbishopric of Santa Fe in 1681.

24. Don Antonio dc Benavides and Piedrola, native of the city of Andujar, canon of Badajoz ; elected bishop of Cartagena in 1681 : his government being very troublesome, and disturbed by a cessation of religious rites, occasioned by the circumstance of the nuns of Santa Clara, who were under the care of the religious order of St. Francis, having been put under the ordinary jurisdiction, he was called to the court, and arrived there in 1691 ; and not being willing to accept of any other bishopric in Spain, he died in Cadiz.

25. Don Fr. Antonio Maria Casiani, monk of Basilio, of the university of Alcala; elected in 1713.

26. Don Francisco Gomez Calleja, doctoral Canon of the church of Zamora; elected in 1718.

27. Don Manuel Antoniode Silva, dean of Lima, named through promotion of the former, who not having accepted of the same, there became a dispute as to which was rightly entitled to the bishopric of Cartagena, when it was declared by the court in favour of the former, who governed from 1725 till 1736.

28. Don Gregorio de Molleda y Clerque, native of Lima, consecrated at Rome with the title of bishop of Isauria, domestic prelate to his holiness, and made bishop of Cartagena in 1736, afterwards promoted to the see of Truxillo in 1740.

29. Don Diego Martinez Garrido, of the order of Santiago, opponent to the professors in the university of Salamanca; elected in 1740: he died in 1746.

30. Don Bernardo de Arbiza y Ugarte, native of Cuzco, in the university of which he studied and graduated as doctor of both laws ; he was chief auditor of the royal audience of Panama,

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when he was promoted to the bishopric of Cartagena in 1746, of which he took possession in the following year, and governed until 1752, when he was promoted to the church of Truxillo.

51. Doii Bartolome Narvaez y Berrio, canon of this holy church of Cartagena, and native of this country ; presented to this bishopric in^ 1752, and governed here until he died in 1754.

52. The Doctor Jacinto Aguado y Chacon, canon penitenciario of the holy church of Cadiz ; elected in 1754, and promoted to the bishopric of Arequipa before he embarked for this of Cartagena.

33. Don Diego Antonio Valenzuela Faxardo, native of the city of Santa Fe of Bogota; elected in 1754 : he died in 1755.

34. The Doctor Don Manuel de Sosa Betancur, archdeacon of the holy church of Caracas ; elected in 1755 : he died in 1765.

35. Don Diego Peredo, native of the town of Leon of Mechoacan ; elected in 1765, promoted to the bishopric of Yucatan in 1722.

36. Don Augustin de Alvarado y Castillo ; promoted to the bishopric of Santa Fe in 1774.

37. The Doctor t)on Bias Sobrino y Minayo ; elected in 1774, and promoted to the archbishopric of Quito in 1776.

38. Don Fr. Joseph Diaz de la Madrid, a monk of the Order of St. Francis, native of the city of Quito ; elected in 1 777.

Governors of Cartagena.

1. Don Pedro de Heredia, founder of the city ; and its adelantado or governor, a native of Madrid, and a valorous conqueror, in 1532.

2. The Licentiate Badillo, nominated J uez de Residencia,; he exercised the government during the commission in 1536.

3. The, Licentiate Santa Cruz, judge of another second residence, who became adelantado in 1537.

4. The Licentiate Miguel Diez de Armendariz; he entered in 1545, had for judge of his residence the Licentiate Juan de Montano, oidor of Santa F<5, whom he sent to Spain.

5. Don Pedro de Heredia, who for the second time was provisional governor until the year 1556, when he died, being drowned in the fleet which was wrecked in the Gordas sands.

6. The Doctor J uan de Maldonado, Jiscal of the audience of Santa Fe in 1556.

7. Jorge de Quintanilla, provisionally nominated by the audience of Santa Fe.

8. The Brigadier Don Go'izalo Ximinez de Quesada ; nominated by the audience as residentiary to the three former, in the same year, 1556.

9. Antonio de Castro ; provisionally nominated.

10. Juan de Bustos Villegas, nominated by the king ; he entered in 1 557, and was promoted to the presidency of Panama in 1563.

11. Anton Davalos de Luna, a field-officer ; he entered in 1563, and governed till 1567, when he died.

12. Don Lope de Orozco, as provisional governor in the same year.

13. Francisco Bahamonde y Lugo ; he entered in 1572, and died in 1573.

14. Hernan Suarez de Villalobos, nominated provisonally by the audience of Santa Fe in 1574.

15. Pedro Fernandez del Busto, who entered in the above year, and was promoted to the government of Popayan in 1577.

16. Don Pedro de Lodena, in 1593.

17. Don Pedro de Acuna, knight of the order of San Juan, field-officer, in 1601 ; he had the title of president of the Philippines, and died the same year.

18. Don Geronimo Suazo Casasola, of the habit of Santiago ; he died in 1605.

19. Don Francisco Sarmientode Sotomayor, nominated in the interim, in 1606.

20. Don Diego Fernandez de Valazco, in 1608.

21. Don Diego de Acuna, in 1614.

22. Don Garcia Giron de Loaysa, who governed until 1620.

23. Don Diego de Escobar, knight of the order of Santiago, who died whilst exercising the government.

24. Don Francisco de Berrio, nominated in the in the interim, in 1628.

25. Don Francisco de Murga, knight of the order of Santiago, a field-officer, and celebrated engineer ; appointed to fortify the Plaza, being at the time governor of Marmora in Africa : h« died in 1634.

26. Don Nicolas de Larraspuru, nominated in the interim, in 1636.

27. Don Gonzalo de Herrera, Marquis of Villalta, nominated in the interim, in 1637, on account of the former not having accepted the office.

28. Don Vincente de los Reyes Villalobos, provisional governor in the same year, 1637, being the governor of Moxos.

29. Don Melchor de Aguilera, a field-officer; he entered in 1638, was suspended and called to account by Don Bernardino de Prado, oidor of Santa Fe.

30. Don Ortuno de Aldape ; being governor of Muzo, he was nominated in the interim, in 1641.

31. Don Luis Fernandez de Cordova, of the or-

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