Diego Caballero

Diego Caballero (died 1560) was a Spanish merchant and minor Conquistador in the Caribbean area and in the islands off the coast of Venezuela. He organized raids on natives, whom he then enslaved in pearl fishing and other enterprises. He amassed enormous wealth in America, investing in further enterprises throughout the Spanish Empire. He thus became enormously wealthy, perhaps the most important Spanish merchant of his day. Furthermore, he held, or purchased, several official posts in the service of the King, Charles V and in Seville.

Early life

He was born at the end of the fifteenth century in Guadalupe, Spain, the son of Pedro Caballero and Catalina de Villegas. In early March 1517, taking advantage of the fact that his cousin Hernando Caballero was the Mayor of Santo Domingo, he got permission to emigrate there along with his brother Alonso.

With the advantage of his well-connected background, he managed to get appointed to various official posts on the island. He was immediately assigned to the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo, the first Royal Court of Justice. Thanks to this, his commercial and political influence spread along the coast of Tierra Firma from Santa Marta to the island of Trinidad. He was put in charge of the finances of Hispaniola and was its military governor. He ran several private enterprises there.

After a time, Diego Caballero resigned from all his official posts and dedicated himself entirely to shipping and commerce on both sides of the Atlantic.

Slaver

He obtained a license, under the supervision of an "Oidor" (Judge) of the ‘’Royal Audiencia’’, to put together a fleet and set about capturing native Indians along the coast of Venezuela between Cabo de San Román and Cabo de la Vela - some several hundred leagues - and in the adjacent islands. This enslavement of Indians was justified by claiming they had refused conversion to Christianity or practiced cannibalism.

It seems he gave up the practice of enslavement after a year, either for fear of the Laws of the Indies, which forbade such enslavement or because of a guilty conscience. He turned away from raiding the Indians' properties and chasing Indians on the Venezuelan coast. Meanwhile, the Crown Representatives, Diego Colon and Rodrigo de Figueroa, authorized Juan de Ampies to occupy the Venezuelan cost of Santa Ana de Coro and the islands of Aruba and Curaçao, with the object of "protecting" and "pacifying" the Indians, and teaching them Christianity and inducting them into a more "organized way of life."

Ship-owner and merchant

Following his slaving activities, Caballero took over some pearl fisheries. He also bought four ships and sent his brother Alonso to Seville, where he appointed him his agent and factor. He then began to send precious woods to Seville, as well as precious metals and pearls, and other precious materials found abundantly in the Caribbean islands of Cubagua and Isla Margarita. In return, his ships came back from Spain laden with textiles and various tools, implements, and other valuable products of Spain. As the economic and commercial structure developed and there was a need for people who could be trusted to manage the various enterprises, including the many voyages of his ships. He took on many of his fellow citizens, including a nephew, Francisco Caballero, whom he appointed to run the pearl fisheries at Cabo de la Vela.

Once he was satisfied with the administration of his businesses by putting them in the competent hands of friends and relatives, he signed, on 4 August 1525, an agreement with the King, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I of Spain). This permitted the exploration of the territory corresponding to the Venezuela Province, from Cabo de San Román to Cabo de la Vela.

The affluent banking families of the Fuggers and the Welsers, being informed of the prosperity of his various enterprises, managed to prevent him from becoming Governor of Venezuela.

Before this setback, Diego increased the size of his fleet of ships, opened further commercial sea routes, and launched new pearl fisheries in Cubagua, Cabo de la Vela, and Panama.

The Church would demand better treatment of the defenseless native divers. Diego, as a "good Christian", ordered that his divers hear Mass before diving and marry their local women so that they would be less in danger and would not offend God while populating the earth. An odd but inexpensive method of increasing the number of divers. He further ordered that his "pearly flock" be given better food, plus a half pint of wine a day, shirts, shorts, shoes, hammocks, or straw beds so that they could sleep comfortably, and that they should lack nothing so that God and man were seen to be served.

Return to Spain

In 1535, he returned to Spain permanently, settling in Seville. He bought himself into the City Council by becoming a Veintiquatro, thus displaying his enormous wealth. He continued to trade with the Americas and extended his entrepreneurial activities into wine, oil, textiles, and slavery, across Spain and its Empire, including Flanders.

Retirement

On reaching old age, he decided to retire from commercial activity and, with the enormous profits he had made from the Indians, settle comfortably in Seville, where he dedicated himself to charity and the promotion of good works. Every year, in compliance with his promise, he visited the Sanctuary of Guadalupe in Extremadura to thank the Virgin for what she had done for him and to pray for his family and the salvation of his soul.

Recalling his early slaving adventures, how he had amassed so much Indian gold without having found the mythical El Dorado, he asked God to forgive him his sins and, on 27 November 1560, prayed for the souls of his pearl divers, he rendered up his soul, in the peace and prosperity he had brought to Seville.

References

Otte, Enrique, Diego Caballero, funcionario de la Casa de la Contratación, in Antonio Acosta Rodríguez, et al. La Casa de la Contratación y la Navegación entre España y las Indias Universidad de Sevilla 2003 ISBN 84-00-08206-0 [1]
Otte, Enrique et al. Sevilla, siglo XVI: materiales para su historia económica Centro de Estudios Andaluces Sevilla 2008 ISBN 978-84-606-4653-2 [2]
Las perlas del Caribe: Nueva Cádiz de Cubagua, Enrique Otte, Fundación John Boulton, Caracas 1977 ISBN 978-84-399-6754-5 [3]
Recopilación historial de Venezuela, Fray Pedro de Aguado, Tomo I, Biblioteca de la Academia Nacional de la Historia, Venezuela. ISBN 980-222-771-4 [4]