Lope García de Castro (1516 - 8 January 1576) was a Spanish colonial administrator, member of the

Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...

and of the Audiencias of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

and

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. From September 2, 1564 to November 26, 1569 he was interim viceroy of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

Biography

He was born at Villanueva de Valdueza. In 1563 he was sent to Panama by the Council of the Indies to apply the Council's decision to end the Audiencia of Guatemala and attach that territory to the Audiencia of Panama. He sailed from Spain on October 8, 1563, arriving in Panama in 1564. He served as governor of Panama until continuing on to Lima. In February 1564, Peruvian Viceroy

Diego López de Zúñiga y Velasco Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. E ...

died suddenly or was killed. The president of the Audiencia of Lima, Juan de Saavedra briefly served as interim viceroy. García de Castro was sent from Panama to take over the positions of governor, captain general, and president of the Audiencia. He was in effect interim viceroy. He arrived in Lima on September 22, 1564 and served until 1569. The Indians of Peru had an oral tradition referring to Pacific islands known to Hahuachimbi and Ninachumbi. These mythical islands came to the attention of the Spanish in Peru, and even before their discovery were known as the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

(named for the biblical king) or the Islands of Gold. Viceroy García de Castro decided to send a naval expedition to the west to investigate whether these islands were real. He wrote to King

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

that he was sending his nephew, Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira, with 100 men. The expedition consisted of two ships. It discovered

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

and the Solomon Islands. He suspected the Inca of plotting rebellion in Chile and Argentina. After discovering some evidence to support this, he ordered all horses and firearms confiscated from the Indians. In 1567 an expedition under Captain

Martín Ruiz de Gamboa Martín Ruiz de Gamboa de Berriz (; 1533 – 1590) was a Spanish Basque conquistador who served as a Royal Governor of Chile. Biography Early years He was born in Durango, Biscay, the son of Andrés Ruiz de Gamboa and Nafarra de Berriz, ...

was sent to subdue the island of Chiloé (Chile). Ruiz met little resistance. He founded the city of

Castro Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''. ...

there, named for Viceroy García de Castro. On August 21, 1565, King Philip created a royal mint in Lima, at the urging of a previous viceroy,

, but it was in existence only briefly. He died at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

in 1576.

External links

Brief biography
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(brief)

(brief) *
The founding of the city of Castro (Chiloé)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia de Castro, Lope 1516 births 1576 deaths People from El Bierzo Royal Governors of Panama Viceroys of Peru Spanish city founders People of the Spanish colonial Americas Colonial Panama 16th-century South American people 16th-century Peruvian people University of Salamanca alumni Academic staff of the University of Salamanca