José de Zúñiga y la Cerda

José de Zúñiga y la Cerda
31º Governor of La Florida
In office 1699 – 9 April 1706
Preceded by	Laureano de Torres y Ayala
Succeeded by	Francisco de Córcoles y Martínez
Governor of Cartagena de Indias
In office 1706–1710
Preceded by	Juan Díaz-Pimienta y Solanarubias
Succeeded by	Jeronimo de Badillo
Personal details
Born	1654 Havana, Cuba
Died	1725 unknown
Profession	field master and governor

José de Zúñiga y la Cerda (1654–1725) was a Spanish nobleman, field master and governor of Spanish Florida (1699–1706) and Cartagena de Indias (in modern Colombia; 1712–18).

Early years

José de Zúñiga y la Cerda was born in 1654. He served twenty-seven years in the Spanish-thirds of Flanders, reaching the rank of field marshal. He participated in the defense of the town of Melilla besieged by the Moors.

Governor of Florida

King Carlos II of Spain named him Governor and Captain General of Spanish Florida on January 30, 1699. The oath to fulfill their duty and with the instructions given in the appointment were granted by him before the Court (President and official judges) of the Casa de Contratación (in English: House of Trade) in Seville, on May 20, 1699. He was given license to carry four servants singles. He sailed to New Spain in the fleet, commanded by General Manuel de Velasco y Tejada on May 23, 1699.

He was Governor of Florida from 1699 until 1706. In 1701, appointment to Juan de Ayala y Escobar as "visitador general" (overall visitor) of Apalachee to investigate the peace treaty that the natives of there have done with other pagan peoples, such as Apalachicolo.^[1] During his government did improve the castle and town defenses of St. Augustine, the capital of the governorate. In 1702 the castle was besieged by English troops under Colonel Moore, who lacked heavy artillery to capture the fort. The siege resulted in the destruction of much of the town outside the fort.^[2][3] Zúñiga y la Cerda ordered the remaining Spanish missions in Apalachee and Timucua Province to be moved closer together for defensive purposes.^[4][5] The English and their Indian allies fled with the arrival of a relief flotilla commanded by Don Esteban de Berroa and Captain Don Lope de Solloso, leading a team of Galician recruits and militians of the Habana.^[6][7] He left the office of Governor of Florida on 9 April 1706.^[8]

Governor of Cartagena de Indias

Zúñiga was appointed governor of Cartagena de Indias in 1706 (or 1712), to replace to Juan Diaz Pimienta. He served until 1710 (or 1718). Back to Spain in the only boat that was saved from the fleet of Admiral Antonio de Ulloa, which was lost in the Bahamas.^[9] He died in 1725.

References

1. Grady, p. 110.
2. Alcedo, Vol.1, p. 19
3. Alcedo, Vol.2, p. 104
4. Boyd et al, foreword
5. Olexer, p. 119
6. Alcedo, Vol.1, p. 19
7. Alcedo, Vol.2, p. 104
8. Cahoon, Ben. U.S. States F-K.
9. Alcedo, Vol. 1, Pág. 329

Sources

• Alcedo, Antonio de (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies. Vol. 1. London: G.A. Thomson Esq.
• Alcedo, Antonio de (1812). The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies. Vol. 2. London: G.A. Thomson Esq..
• http://pares.mcu.es «AER (Archivos Españoles en Red)».
• Grady, Timothy Paul (2010) [1951]. Anglo-Spanish Rivalry in Colonial South-East America, 1650–1725. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1725-9. OCLC 245840026.. Nº 14. Page 110.
• Boyd, Mark F; Smith, Hale G; Griffin, John W (1999) [1951]. Here They Once Stood: the Tragic End of the Apalachee Missions. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1725-9. OCLC 245840026.
• Olexer, Barbara (2005). The Enslavement of the American Indian in Colonial Times. Columbia, MD: Joyous. ISBN 978-0-9722740-4-3. OCLC 255476011..