Mateo Leal de Ayala (1579-1627) 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 ...
,
teniente de gobernador and
gobernador
Gobernador is a municipality in the province of Granada, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Be ...
of Buenos Aires and
Paraguay.
Biography
Mateo Leal de Ayala y Medina was born in
Madrid (Spain), son of Isidro Leal de Ayala and Rosa de Medina, belonging to a distinguished family of
La Cabrera
La Cabrera () is a municipality in central Spain, around away from Madrid. La Cabrera belongs to the comarca called Sierra Norte de Madrid which is part of the wider autonomous Community of Madrid.
Covering an area of , it is bordered to the ...
. 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, 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