Pedro Almíndez Chirino

Pedro Almíndez Chirino (or Pedro Almíndez Chirinos) was a conquistador born in Úbeda and member of several councils that governed New Spain while Hernán Cortés was traveling to Honduras, in 1525-26. Almíndez was an ally of Gonzalo de Salazar; the events of this period are recounted in that article.

In 1530 he was sent by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán to the current Mexican states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Sinaloa to explore the region, search for gold and silver, and subdue the Indians. He passed through the current town of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco in March 1530 with a force of 50 Spanish soldiers and 500 Purépecha and Tlaxcaltec allies. This encounter was peaceful, but he was accused of a massacre in Morocito (Sinaloa) in 1531, and in many places of destroying and burning everything he passed. "Mocorito" in the Cahita language signifies the place of the dead. The indigenous people named it for the Indians that Pedro Almindez Chirino killed.