Nicolás de Ovando (1460 with Valladolid - 1518 with Madrid) was a soldier and noble Spanish, knight of the Ordre of Alcántara. He was governor of Hispaniola of 1502 with 1509.

Youth

Nicolas de Ovando was born in 1460 in Castille. Resulting from a noble and pious family, it enters the military order of Alcántara of which he becomes Maître.

Chosen as governor

As a chief and a believer, he is very appreciated Spanish catholic kings and in particular by the Queen Isabelle Ire of Castille. Thus, the September 3rd 1501, the Spanish Crown decides it to replace Francisco de Bobadilla and to name Ovando governor of the the Western Indies following the complaints of Christophe Colomb.

Forwarding in Americas

The February 13rd 1502, it embarks with a fleet of thirty ships. It is about the largest fleet which ever sailed towards the Nouveau World.

The fleet takes along: 2500 colonists, contrary to those which left with Colomb, this group was selected for its representativeness of the Spanish company. Ovando plans to develop the the Western Indies economically and to extend the political, religious and administrative influence of Spain in this area. On one of these ships, is Bartolomé of mow Casas which will be later known like the “Guard of the Indians”.

Governor

When Ovando arrives at Hispaniola in 1502, it finds the natives in full revolt. It represses hard the rebellion by a series of bloody campaigns. The government of Ovando with Hispaniola is of a great cruelty towards the Indians. When the Spaniards arrive in 1492, the indigenous population was estimated at: 500000. According to a census carried out in 1507, they are not any more but: 60000.

Ovando bases several cities on Hispaniola, develops mining industry, introduces the culture of the Canne to sugar thanks to imported seedlings of the Canary islands and sends forwardings of exploration. Since Hispaniola, it manages the insular territories and the area known under the name of Tierra Firme (Dry land), by also promoting colonization. The Crown of Spain is not only interested to use the natives for the production of food but also to exploit their work for the extraction of gold in the close mines.

In 1501 Ovando orders the first importation in Americas of slaves of African origin speaking Spanish (called ladinos ). The Spanish elite orders a small number of slaves in order to use them as servants in their residences but the majority of the slaves are employed in the fields of cane with sugar.

December 20th 1503, the Isabelle queen signs a decree legalizing the distribution of the Indians between the Spanish colonists. It is the origin of the Encomienda .

Nicolás de Ovando makes apply the decree in an authoritative and cruel way for the natives. It directs itself the Spanish troops against the Indians Tainos whom they decimate. The survivors become slaves of the Spanish colonists.

The indigenous population decrease in an alarming way and the Isabelle queen worries some and, at the time of its death, in 1504, it expresses the will that is punished the Ovando governor.

They are only five years later, in 1509 that Ovando is recalled in Spain by the king Ferdinand, which holds the promise thus that it made with the queen Isabelle on her bed of death. It is Diego Colomb which succeeds Ovando but the latter however preserves all its possessions and properties.

He dies the May 29th 1518 with Madrid and is buried in the church of San Benito of Alcántara.