Correque was an indigenous monarch of Costa Rica, king of the Eastern Huetares, who lived in the 16th century. He had several residences and resisted the

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

s for some time until he moved one of his courts from

Ujarrás Ujarrás is a village and historical site in the Orosí Valley of Cartago Province in central Costa Rica, southeast of the provincial capital of Cartago. It lies near the northeastern bank of the man-made Lake Cachí, created by the damming o ...

Tucurrique Tucurrique is a district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, sev ...

to escape them. He was preceded by El Guarco and succeeded by Alonso Correque.

Political domain

Correque was a son or close relative of El Guarco, his predecessor. A document of 1584, signed by the Spanish Governor Diego de Artieda Chirino y Uclés, mentions him as "... Don Fernando, Rrey icand natural Lord of all this land, son of Guarco, Lord who was also della and his legitimate successor and heir..."Fernández Guardia, Ricardo, El Descubrimiento y la Conquista. Reseña histórica de Talamanca, San José, Editorial Costa Rica, 1a. ed., 1975. Their dominions extended from the Virilla river to Pococí or Chirripó, in

Tierradentro Tierra abajo (meaning "Underground" in Spanish for their well-known tombs) is one of the ancient Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia. It started to flourish around 200 BC in the mountains of southwest Colombia, and continued into the 17th century. T ...

, and under their authority was a considerable number of towns. He had four residences, where he lived periodically: one in Atirro, next to Corroce; another in Corroce, another in Turrialba and another in a cacaotal called Acoyte, on the way to the Suerre region or Reventazón basin. He also resided in

. According to Costa Rican historian Ricardo Fernández Guardia in his work ''El descubrimiento y la conquista'', King Quitao, who in April 1563 met in Garcimuñoz with Mayor Juan Vázquez de Coronado and submitted to Spanish authority along with eight other monarchs indigenous, was an envoy of Correque.

Life

Correque led several movements against the Spaniards but later left his residence in

to escape them, moving with him many other lords and children of lords. He then established his court in

, a place that was then known as Taquetaque or Uriuri in the

Huetar language Huetar (Güetar) is an extinct Chibchan language of Costa Rica that was spoken by the Huetar people. It served as the ''lingua franca'' for precolonial peoples in central Costa Rica, and went extinct in the 17th century. Only a few words in the l ...

, meaning gentlemen and children of lords. The acting mayor Alonso Anguciana de Gamboa (1574-1577) made a series of tickets and you would run in the neighborhoods of Tucurrique, whose result was that "... this fear was given peace the saying Cacique and the other Yndios, and received the holy dotrina and gave the domain to Su Magestad ... "The Huetar monarch was baptized with the name of Fernando Correque and received the charge of

. At his death, Governor Diego de Artieda Chirino y Uclés granted Tucurrique's assignment to his nephew or son Alonso Correque. Fernando Correque died around 1584, possibly in Tucurrique. He was succeeded by his nephew or son Alonso Correque.

References

{{authority control People from Cartago Province 16th-century Costa Rican people Costa Rican politicians Indigenous peoples in Costa Rica