Amador Báez de Alpoim (1602-1652) was a Spanish army officer and politician, who served during the Viceroyalty of Peru as

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

of Buenos Aires and

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Corrientes Corrientes (; Guaraní language, Guaraní: Taragüí, literally: "Currents") is the capital city of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Corrientes Province, Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from ...

and Santa Fe (Argentina).

Biography

He was born in Buenos Aires, son of Amador Vaz de Alpoim and Margarita Cabral de Melo, belonging to a family of

Portuguese nobility Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

established in the city. His parents had arrived in the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

in the expedition of Diego Rodriguez de Valdés from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, where they had lived for some time. He probably did his studies in El Colegio de los Jesuítas, located in front of the Fort of Buenos Aires. Amador Báez de Alpoim held some high positions of government during the colonial period of Argentina. In 1629, he was appointed Alcalde de la hermandad, performing in the suburban areas of the province of Buenos Aires. In 1636 Alpoin bought in

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...

the title of Alférez Real, an honorary position in which the alferez carried the

Royal Standard In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification. Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, an ...

in the days of festival and in the official ceremonies, especially in the day of

Saint Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...

. He had an active participation in the area of the Argentine Littoral. He was appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Santa Fé in 1640, and also he served for several periods in

Corrientes Province Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...

. In 1636 the General Amador Báez de Alpoim, led expeditions against the tribes of Serranos (inhabitants of sierra de Tandil), who had attacked the tribes Pampas (inhabited the plain). He also devoted himself to commerce, the agriculture and livestock (Cimarron Cattle). In 1632 he had received important Indians

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

s, by the Viceroy of Peru Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera. He had also received a "encomienda" in Ylaty ( Corrientes) composed of Guarani Indians.

Family

Amador Báez de Alpoim was married to Ana Romero de Santa Cruz, daughter of

Francisco García Romero Francisco García Romero (1559–1630s) was a Spanish military man and conquistador. Biography Francisco was born in 1559 in Cáceres, Spain, son of Francisco García Moroto and Inés Martin. He arrived in the Rio de la Plata in 1603, oc ...

and Mariana González de Santa Cruz, born in Asunción (Paraguay). He and his wife were the parents of several children, including Juan Báez de Alpoim, baptized on July 23, 1645, in Buenos Aires. The luxurious house where the Cabral de Melo Alpoim family lived had among other luxuries a

Turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

overlooking the coast of the

. It was located at the current intersections of

Hipólito Yrigoyen Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (; 12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second ...

between Balcarce and Defensa. He had five brothers, Cristóbal Cabral de Melo (regidor), Manuel Cabral de Alpoim (lieutenant governor), Matías Cabral de Melo (cleric), Juan (captain), Antonio, and three sisters Isabel, María and Margarita. Amador Báez de Alpoim was a descendant by direct paternal line of medieval knights of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

origin, and through his mother descendant of Afonso III of Portugal. His wife was niece of Roque González de Santa Cruz, who was proclaimed saint by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baez de Alpoim, Amador 1602 births 1652 deaths Military personnel from Buenos Aires Politicians from Buenos Aires Mayors of Buenos Aires Spanish generals Argentine people of French descent Argentine people of Portuguese descent Spanish colonial governors and administrators