Mateo Leal de Ayala (1579-1627) was a Spanish army officer and politician, who served during the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

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) ...

, teniente de gobernador and gobernador of Buenos Aires and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

Biography

Mateo Leal de Ayala y Medina was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

(Spain), son of Isidro Leal de Ayala and Rosa de Medina, belonging to a distinguished family of La Cabrera. He possibly studied in Spain, and settled in the Spanish Colonies of America around 1598. He was married in the city of

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 ...

with María Magdalena de Aguilar, a noble woman, daughter of Ginés Martínez and Leonor de Vargas. In early seventeenth century, Ayala arrived at Buenos Aires from the

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 ...

, and acquired a large estate of 500 rods of land, in the area of Pago de la Matanza. In Buenos Aires, he held the highest political positions, being designated the 27 of December 1613 as governor of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay. He also served as alguazil mayor of the city, and was elected alcalde in first vote of Buenos Aires in 1621.

References

External links

todo-argentina.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Mateo Leal de 1579 births 1627 deaths Mayors of Buenos Aires Spanish colonial governors and administrators People from Buenos Aires Governors of the Río de la Plata Río de la Plata