Juan Fernández de Olivera (1560 – November 23, 1612) was the governor of

Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...

from 1610 to November 23, 1612. He died in office.

Biography

Juan Fernández joined the Spanish army as a youth, and attained the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Fernández was appointed governor of

in 1610, replacing

Pedro de Ibarra Pedro de Ibarra was a Spanish general who served as a Royal Governor of Spanish Florida (1603 – 1610). Early years Originally from the Basque Country, Ibarra joined the Spanish Army in his youth and eventually attained the rank of general. In ...

. He found the provincial capital,

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

, full of exiles – insubordinate military officers and licentious

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

s – as well many garrison soldiers who were debtors or had been convicted of petty crimes including thievery, vagrancy, or rioting. In 1611, Fernández sent infantry Captain Alonso Díaz, a native of Badajoz, Spain, to

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

to retaliate against the unconverted Indians of

Pohoy Pohoy (also Pojoy, Pojoi, Pooy, Posoy, Pujoy) was a chiefdom on the shores of Tampa Bay in present-day Florida in the late sixteenth century and all of the seventeenth century. Following slave-taking raids by people from the Lower Towns of the Musc ...

for killing seventeen Christian Indians who were carrying supplies on the "River of Cofa" (the lower

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset hig ...

) to a missionary friar. Following their orders, the soldiers killed every native they captured. Governor Fernández wrote King Philip III the same year, informing him that the foundation of growth for the province was gift-giving to the Indians and military support for the Franciscan missionaries who ministered to them. His presents to the natives that year included various kinds of cloth, blankets, hatchets, knives, strings of blue and purple glass beads, and cured tobacco, as well as clothing and comestibles. In the summer of 1612, Governor Fernandez dispatched soldiers from St. Augustine to warn the chiefs of Pohoy and

Tocobaga Tocobaga (occasionally Tocopaca) was the name of a chiefdom, its chief, and its principal town during the 16th century. The chiefdom was centered around the northern end of Old Tampa Bay, the arm of Tampa Bay that extends between the present-day ...

not to harm the Christian Indian settlements in revenge for the punishment inflicted on their predecessors. The Spanish brought the customary presents the Indians expected of a diplomatic mission, offering them friendship and peace in the king's name, in exchange for a promise of the same on their part. Ensign Juan Rodríguez de Cartaya then reconnoitered the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

, leading an expedition in a gunboat launch and several canoes to pacify the Indians of the region, including the powerful

Calusa The Calusa ( ) were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous indigenous cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. At the time of ...

chief Carlos, to whom further gifts were given. Native American leaders were motivated to seek Spanish goods and the spiritual protection of the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, not only to enhance their own status so that they could maintain power over their people, but also perhaps to rebuild their communities, depopulated by the spread of epidemics, in the new towns that formed around the missions. This would explain why in the early autumn of 1612, a group of Native American leaders journeyed over two hundred miles, or three weeks travel, from the Cape of Apalachee (now Cape Saint George), and some of them even 500 or 600 miles, or two and a half months' travel, eastward to St. Augustine, seeking an audience with Governor Fernández. It is known that Juan Fernández de Olivera had at least one brother, Pedro de Olivera. Juan Fernández de Olivera died on 23 November 1612, while still in office as governor of ''La Florida''; he was replaced by the Royal Officials Juan de Arrazola and Joseph de Olivera.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juan Fernandez de Olivera Royal Governors of La Florida 1560 births 1612 deaths