the capital, and was mayor of Zempoala. About 1586 he returned to Spain and was appointed am- bassador in Florence, but continued to consider Mexico his country, and when the differences be- tween the viceroy (the Marquis de Villa-Manrique) and the audiencia of Guadalajara occurred, Philip II. thought Velasco the most appropriate person to re-establish order. He sailed for Mexico in 1589, with orders to land in Panuco, where he .arrived in December, as it was feared that the de- posed viceroy's partisans in Vera Cruz might oppose him. He took charge of the government, 5 Feb., 1590, and one of his first measures was to open factories of woollen cloth. In 1591 he re- ceived a deputation of the bellicose Chichimecs, with whom he adjusted a treaty, and, to secure their subjugation, he established around Zacatecas four colonies of Tlaxcaltec Indians, the constant allies of the Spaniards. In 1593 he laid out the public walk or alameda, and in 1595 he was pre- paring an expedition under Juan Onate for the fabulous kingdom of Quivira, or New Mexico, when he was promoted to the viceroyalty of Peru, and, on the arrival of his successor, Count de Monterey, left Mexico in November, 1595. He arrived in Lima on 24 July, 1596, and took charge of the government, which he administered for eight years with abil- ity. At last, weary of the cares of office, he re- peatedly solicited his relief, and delivering up the government on 8 Nov., 1604, he retired to his com- manderies of Teutitlan and Azcapotzalco in Mexico, to live with his family. But in June, 1607, he re- ceived the royal order to assume again the govern- ment of Mexico, to succeed the Marquis de Montes- claros, who had been promoted to Peru. Notwith- standing his age and desire for retirement, he obeyed, and on 20 July took charge of the execu- tive. In the same year continued rains threatened to inundate the capital again, by the rising of the Jakes, and the viceroy determined to execute the plan of Enrique Martinez (q. v.), of draining the A r alley by a cut through the hills of Nochistongo. The work was begun 28 Nov. of the same year, and on 7 May, 1608, the first section of the canal was completed. He sent an embassy to Japan in 1611, and, being promoted president of the council of the Indies in the same year, left Mexico on 17 June ior Spain, where he died. He is esteemed one of the principal benefactors of Mexico. — The younger Luis's nephew, Pedro de, clergyman, b. in Mexico in 1581 ; d. there, 26 Aug., 1649, became a Jesuit in 1596, and labored among the Indians for fourteen years. He was then professor of sacred scripture, iheld several high offices in the order, was procura- tor for Mexico at Rome and Madrid, and was made provincial of Mexico in 1646. During his term oc- curred the troubles between Bishop Palafox and the Jesuits of Puebla, 1647. He wrote " Varias car- tas y representaciones sobre los ruidosos asuntos de los Jesuitas con el Sr. Palafox " ; " Apologia por las Doctrinas y Curatos de los Religiosos " ; and "Arte de una de las lenguas de Cinaloa."
VELASCO, Luis Vicente, Spanish naval offi-
cer, b. in Villa de Noja, Santander, about 1710; d.
in Havana, Cuba, 31 July, 1762. He had obtained
the rank of post-captain and commanded the ship-
of-the-line " La Reina " at Havana when the
British expedition under the Duke of Albemarle
was threatening the island of Cuba in 1762. Ve-
lasco was appointed by the council of war com-
mander of Morro Castle, and when the British army
landed, on 7 June, on the beach of Cojimar, he
prepared to defend the outposts, but, by the aban-
donment of the works of Cabanas by order of the
council of war, he was soon reduced to the walls
of the castle, and could not prevent the establish-
ment of siege batteries at Cabanas. The bom-
bardment began on 1 July, but Velasco defended
the castle obstinately, and his batteries caused
great loss to the besiegers. On 16 July he was
dangerously wounded and carried to Havana, but
on the 24th, hearing that the besieging works
were advancing, he insisted on returning to his
post. On the 30th a mine opened a breach in the
walls, and the enemy captured the outer battery of
San Nicolas, but in the attempt to storm the cas-
tle they met with a heroic resistance, the defend-
ers being led by Velasco, although he had not
fully recovered. Not until the latter fell and
more than 1,000 Spaniards had perished did the
British capture the castle. Velasco died the next
day, and Lord Albemarle suspended hostilities and
sent his remains with a guard of honor to Havana.
VELAZQUEZ, Diego de, Spanish officer, b. in
Cuellar about 1460; d. in Santiago, Cuba, in 1532.
He was of noble birth, had served in the wars
against the Moors, and came to this country in
Columbus's second voyage in 1493, where he took
part in the conquest of Hispaniola, and was left by
the adelantado Bartolome Columbus in charge of
the government during his expedition to the inte-
rior in 1497. Nicolas de Ovando, who became
governor in 1502, also favored Velazquez, and the
latter took an active part in the subjugation of
the provinces of Jaragua and Higuey. He found-
ed the towns of Jaquimo (Jacmel), Maguana, and
Azua, was appointed substitute by Ovando, and
soon was one of the principal settlers of the col-
ony. When Diego Columbus, the new governor
of Hispaniola, resolved in 1511 to conquer the isl-
and of Cuba, he selected Velazquez as commander
of the expedition, which consisted of four vessels
with 300 men, and the latter landed toward the
end of the year in the port of Palmas, bringing in his retinue Bartolome de las Casas and Hernan Cortes. He found but little resistance except from the cacique Hatuey (q. v.), a fugitive from Hispaniola, who was soon captured and burned at the stake. In February, 1513, he founded the first town at Baracoa, and with the re-enforcement that was brought by Panfilo de Narvaez he conquered Camaguey and soon subjugated the whole island, founding, in November, 1513, the town of Bayamo, and in the following year Trinidad, Santo Espiritu, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba, where he established his government on account of its proximity to Hispaniola. Soon the fame of the riches of the island attracted numerous adventurers, and Velazquez began to distribute, land and Indians among his followers. On 25 July, 1515, he founded on the banks of Mayabeque river the town of San Cristobal, which in 1519 was removed to the present site of Havana. In the same year he sent the treasurer, Miguel Pasamonte, to Spain with a map of the island (which still exists in the archives of the Indies), and to solicit further privileges. To occupy the surplus of adventurers, he approved an expedition under Francisco Hernandez de Cordova to capture slaves in the Bahamas in 1517, who, impelled by contrary winds, accidentally discovered Yucatan. The favorable reports about that country encouraged Velazquez to send an expedition for its conquest, and on 1 May, 1518, a fleet under Juan de Grijalva left Santiago de Cuba and visited the Mexican coast from Cape Catoche to Panuco river. The news of the rich country, which Grijalva despatched to Cuba by Pedro de Alvarado, incited Velazquez to form a new expedition for its conquest, the command of which he gave, after much
