rived in 1555 at Asuncion, where they were wel- comed by Irala, who sent them to conquer and settle the territory of Guayra, with the few remain- ing partisans of Abreu. Diaz resisted heroically, in the city of Guayra, the fierce attacks of the na- tives in 1500, and, after several years of continuous struggles, was appointed governor of that city. In 1570 Alonso Riquelme, a nephew of Cabeza de Vaca, was appointed lo replace Diaz in his com- mand; but his credentials were disregarded, his family imprisoned, and Riquelme himself was put in chains. Soon after this, Diaz was commissioned to take Riquelme and Felipe de Caceres to Spain. They sailed from Asuncion in 1573. Unfavorable weather forced their sliip to enter the Brazilian port of San Vicente, and when Diaz was ready to proceed on his voyage he had to go to the assist- ance of the new governor, Ortiz de Zarate, against the Charrua Indians. During the term of office of this governor and of his successor Garay, Diaz made new and successful expeditions, which gave him the name of "Invincible Captain." lie found- ed, in 1576, Villarrica del Espiritu Santo, and in 1580 of Santiago de Jerez, or Nueva Vizcaya.
DIAZ, Miguel, Spanish adventurer, b. in Ara-
gon after the middle of the 15th century. He was
in the service of Bartholomew Columbus, brother
of the great discoverer, at the time he was in com-
mand of Santo Domingo, where he arrived in 1495.
Having had a duel with another Spaniard, and
wounded him seriously, Diaz fled from the settle-
ment at La Isabella, concealed himself among the
Indians, married their queen, and, after many ro-
mantic adventures, discovered tiie gold-mines of
St. Christopher, on the banks of the Ilayna, in 1504.
These were the first mines ever worked by Euro-
peans in the New World. For this service Diaz
received a pardon from Columbus. He was in com-
mand of the fortress of Santo Domingo when
Bobadilla arrived to investigate the conduct of
Columbus, and refused to surrender it. He sub-
mitted, however, to Bobadilla. In 1509 he was ap-
pointed lieutenant-governor of Porto Rico, and
nothing more is known of his life. He took a con-
spicuous part in the foundation of Nueva Isabel,
now Santo Domingo.
DIAZ, Pedro, Spanish missionary, b. in Toledo,
Spain, in 1543; d. in Mexico, 12 Jan., 1018. He be-
came a Jesuit in 1566; in 1572 went to Mexico to
preach the Gospel, and in 1592 became provincial
of his order. His most noted work is " Littera de
Missionibus per Indiam Occidentalem ab Jesuitis."
He was rector of the Jesuit colleges of Mexico and
Guadalajara, went to Rome twice, in 1577 and 1595,
and founded new colleges at Puebla, Oaxaca, Mich-
oacan, Guadalajara, and Antequera. He also began
the missionary work among the Indians of northern
New Spain, now a part of the United States.
DIAZ, Porfirio, president of Mexico, b. in
Oaxaca, 15 Sept., 1830. His paternal grandparents,
including his maternal great grandfather, were full-
blooded Spaniards, the latter a native of Asturias;
but his great grandmother was of a Mixteca race of
Indians crossed with the Spanish, with more of the
former's blood. He made his preparatory studies
at the Institute of the state of Oaxaca, where he
commenced to read law. During the war of 1847
with the United States he enlisted in a militia
rei^iment which never reached the theatre of war.
After the triumph of the party that called Santa
Anna to the dictatorship, Diaz, in a fit of discour-
agement, left the army, and gave his attention to
law. At the outbreak of the revolution, provoked
by the plan of Ayutla in 1854, he commanded a
battalion, and after the flight of Santa Anna, on 9
Aug., 1855, was appointed political and military
chief of the district of Ixtlan, in Oaxaca. He was
also appointed political chief and military com-
mandant of the Tehuantepec district, in the state
of Oaxaca, where great disturbances took place due
to the rivalry between the towns of Tehuantepec
and Juchitan, in which position he began to show
the civil and military endowments which he after-
ward developed. After Comonfort had been re-
elected president in 1857, but had gone over to the
reactionary party, and was forced. 21 Jan., 1858,
to surrender the executive power to Benito Juarez,
Diaz was faithful to the liberal party, against the
reactionary or church party, which, vmder Mira-
mon and Marquez, began the bloody three years'
revolution called the " War of the Reform." Such
were his energy and courage that, early in May,
1800, he had achieved the complete pacification of
the rebellious district of Tehuantepec. After the
complete triumph of the liberal party he was
elected deputy to the congress of 1861, but he soon
took the field again, joining the division led by
Gen. Gonzalez Ortega against the reactionary chief-
tain, Marquez, obtaining over the latter a victory
at Jalatlaco that elicited the praise of his supe-
rior, who petitioned the government for the rank of
general for Diaz. In the succeeding trying period
of the intervention, begun in December, 1801, at
the head of a small band of warriors from Oaxaca,
he was one of the first to oppose the arms of the
invader, and aided Gen. Zaragoza in deciding the
victorv of 5 May, 1862. "in Puebla.
Shortly afterward
he was appointed
governor and mili-
tary commander of
the state of Vera
Cruz, but was soon,
at his own request,
transferred to the
army of operation,
and, under Gonza-
lez Ortega's com-
mand, took part in
the defence of Pu-
ebla, besieged by
the French armv
from March till
May, 1863, and, on
the surrender of
the city in the
latter month, was
made prisoner, but
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escaped. The government had to fly from the capital, and Diaz was constrained to accept the command of the army, though on condition that he should be relieved after a short period, because he apprehended that his youth might give rise to jealousies among the older generals. After the government was regularly installed at San Luis Potosi he marched southward, and. in November, 1863, invested with full powers for the administration and defence of the southeastern states, Oaxaca, part of Puebla, Chiapas. Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, took up a position between Puebla and Oaxaca. After the arrival of the emperor, Maximilian, in April, 1864, and during the period of intervention and empire, he constituted one of the mainstays of the republican cause, through an uninterrupted series of difficulties and hardships, and, with an effective force that never exceeded 5,000, composed of troops for the most part ill-armed and ill-munitioned, and with insufficient means of support, he turned the tide of invasion. But at last
