Alonso Fernández de Lugo

Javier Alonso Fernández de Lugo
The native kings of Tenerife surrender to Javier Alonso Fernández de Lugo, July 25, 1496.
Born	uncertain Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain
Died	1525 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Occupation	Military governor for the Crown of Castile

Javier Alonso Luis Fernández de Lugo (died 1525) was a Spanish military man, conquistador, city founder, and administrator. He conquered the islands of La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496) for the Castilian Crown; they were the last of the Canary Islands to be conquered by Europeans. He was also the founder of the towns of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santa Cruz de La Palma. One biographer has written that his personality was a “terrible mixture of cruelty and ambition or greed, on one part, and on the other a great capacity and sense for imposing order and government on conquered lands,” a trait found in the conquistadors of the New World.

Fernández de Lugo was born in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in Spain, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, though his family was of Galician origin; his relatives, as his surname indicates, originated in the city of Lugo and other Galician locales.

Nothing much is known of his youth. He enlisted in the navy and ended up achieving the rank of Adelantado and Captain General of the African coasts. In 1478, he participated in the conquest of Gran Canaria under the command of Juan Rejón. Later, he fought alongside Pedro de Vera, Rejón's successor as governor of Gran Canaria, who conferred on him command of the castle of Agaete on the island of Gran Canaria.

He returned to Spain to solicit financial aid from the Crown to conquer Tenerife and La Palma. He was named governor of La Palma and granted 700,000 maravedis with the condition that he conquer the island within a year.