Cristóbal de Oñate
| Cristóbal de Oñate | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1504 Vitoria, Spain |
| Died | October 6, 1567 Pánuco, Zacatecas, New Spain |
| Occupation | Explorer, conquistador, colonial official |
| Known for | Founder of Guadalajara |
| Parent(s) |
Juan Pérez de Narriahondo Osana González de San Llorente |
| Relatives |
Pedro de Baeza (grandfather) Vicente de Zaldívar, Sr. (nephew) Juan de Zaldívar (great-nephew) Vicente de Zaldívar (great-nephew) |
Cristóbal de Oñate (1504, Spain—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as other places in Nueva Galicia (western New Spain).
Oñate was born in 1504 in Vitoria or Oñati, in the Spanish side of the Basque Country. His father was Juan Pérez de Narriahondo — who changed his name in later life to Juan de Oñate — and his mother was Osana González de San Llorente. He was born into the House of Haro, whose origins go back to the Middle Ages. He was a grandson of Pedro de Baeza, Señor de Narrihondo, one of Spain's last feudal lords.
Oñate arrived in New Spain in 1524 as the assistant to Rodrigo de Albornoz. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain had made Albornoz auditor, one of five royal officials named to oversee Cortés's government in the colony.
In New Spain, he was reunited with his twin nephews Juan and Vicente de Zaldívar y Oñate. Cristobal de Onate contracted marriage with Catalina de Salazar de la Cadena, daughter of Gonzalo de Salazar and Catalina De La Cadena Maluenda. This was Catalina's second marriage. Her maternal uncle Antonio De La Cadena Maluenda, was Treasurer of New Spain. Gonzalo Salazar was a high-ranking official in the Royal Treasury of the colony, and at times a member of the junta that ruled New Spain.
In 1529 he was a part of the expedition of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán that conquered the western part of Mexico (the current states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Aguascalientes and parts of Sinaloa, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí). This brutal conquest took only a few years, and the newly conquered region became known as Nueva Galicia. The foundation of the cities of Compostela and Tepic in present-day Nayarit and Guadalajara and Zacatecas is attributed to Oñate.
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