Juan de Garay

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Juan de Garay

Juan de Garay (born in 1528 in Orduña, Basque Country - died near the Río de la Plata in 1584) was a Spanish conquistador.

Garay worked and fought for the Spanish Empire, first in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and then at the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He was governor of Asunción (present day Paraguay) and founded a number of cities in Argentina, many near the Paraná River area, as well as the second foundation of Buenos Aires, in 1580.

In 1543 he sailed to Peru with his uncle Pedro de Zárate in Viceking Blasco Núñes Vela's first expedition. In 1561 he participated in the foundation of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. In 1568 he moved to Asunción were he attained political stature. The governor of Asunción sent him on April 1573, with a company of eighty men, on an expedition to the Paraná River, during which he founded the city of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz. In 1576 he was appointed governor of Asunción. As governor, he attempted to avoid bloodshed by bringing justice and civilization to the natives. For this end he founded Indian villages and established local governments with laws.

In 1580, already at the rank of Capitan General of the Viceroyalty, he performed the second foundation of the important city on the banks of the Río de la Plata, which was first founded by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536 under the name of Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre, but was later destroyed by the natives. Garay founded Buenos Aires a second time on July 11 in the year 1580 and the city continued after that to become the capital of Argentina.

Juan de Garay died while travelling from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe. The trip started in 1583, but in 1584 he was driven by a storm into unknown lands and his group was ambushed by native Indians.