Colonizer, explorer. The founder of the first Spanish town in the territory of what came to be the United States, Ayll\u00f3n was born circa 1480 in Toledo, Spain, to Juan V\u00e1zquez de Ayll\u00f3n and In\u00e9s de Villalobos. In 1504 Ayll\u00f3n arrived in the Spanish colony of Hispaniola to serve as a district judge. He became a judge on the Caribbean region\u2019s highest appeals court in 1511. Through these positions, Ayll\u00f3n gained wealth and power. In 1514 he married Ana de Becerra, a member of a prominent Caribbean family. In addition to his service to the royal government, Ayll\u00f3n owned estates and participated in trade and slaving ventures. On one of these expeditions, in 1521, an Indian called \u201cFrancisco de Chicora\u201d was captured. Francisco, who was from the coast of what later became South Carolina, became Ayll\u00f3n\u2019s slave and told the judge fantastic stories about his homeland. Whether or not Ayll\u00f3n believed all of Francisco\u2019s tales, he used them to inspire royal interest in the conquest of the southeastern coast of North America. In June 1523 Charles V granted Ayll\u00f3n a contract to establish a Spanish presence in the region from thirty five to thirty seven degrees north latitude, although the document also listed the names of places to the south, including Francisco de Chicora\u2019s land at approximately thirty three degrees north latitude. The contract named Ayll\u00f3n governor of the colony and granted him a range of privileges in exchange for funding and carrying out this expedition.<\/p>\n
Ayll\u00f3n\u2019s colony did not succeed, but his efforts contributed much to European interest in and knowledge of the southeastern coast of North America. After departing Puerto Plata in July 1526, Ayll\u00f3n and his expedition of six hundred first landed in the area of Winyah Bay in what would become South Carolina and then traveled south to an unknown location, where they founded the town of San Miguel de Gualdape in September 1526. Most of San Miguel\u2019s inhabitants soon perished, including Ayll\u00f3n, and conflict broke out among the survivors. By mid-November 1526 the town had been abandoned. Despite this failure, the stories Ayll\u00f3n and his slave, Francisco de Chicora, told about the wonders of this land found their way into the writings of the chronicler Peter Martyr and circulated throughout Europe. Pedro de Quejo\u2019s 1525 voyage of exploration that Ayll\u00f3n sponsored also contributed greatly to the Spaniards\u2019 knowledge of this coast. Ayll\u00f3n\u2019s own expedition provided further information about this region. Some of the maps drawn after 1526 display the caption \u201cland of Ayll\u00f3n\u201d in the area of what became South Carolina and Georgia and describe this land and Ayll\u00f3n\u2019s experiences there. Lucas V\u00e1zquez de Ayll\u00f3n died on St. Luke\u2019s Day, October 18, 1526, at San Miguel de Gualdape. He left his widow with large debts from his expedition and five young children to raise. One son, also named Lucas V\u00e1zquez de Ayll\u00f3n, later received his own royal contract to conquer and settle the land that had claimed his father\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Cook, Jeannine, ed. Columbus and the Land of Ayll\u00f3n: The Exploration and Settlement of the Southeast. <\/em>Valona, Ga.: Lower Altamaha Historical Society\u2013Ayll\u00f3n, 1992.<\/p>\n Hoffman, Paul E. A New Andalucia and a Way to the Orient: The American Southeast during the Sixteenth Century. <\/em>Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990.<\/p>\n Quinn, David B., ed. New American World: A Documentary History of North America to 1612. <\/em>Vol. 1, America from Concept to Discovery: Early Exploration of North America. <\/em>New York: Arno, 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Colonizer, explorer. The founder of the first Spanish town in the territory of what came to be the United States, Ayll\u00f3n was born circa 1480 in Toledo, Spain, to Juan V\u00e1zquez de Ayll\u00f3n and In\u00e9s de Villalobos. In 1504 Ayll\u00f3n arrived in the Spanish colony of Hispaniola to serve as a district judge. He became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","class_list":["post-2996","entry","type-entry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ecms-a","ecms-a-z","ecms-encyclopedia","ecms-environment-and-geography","ecms-government-and-law","ecms-native-americans","ecms-pre-colonial-south-carolina-before-1670"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n