Bazán, Juan Gregorio (?–1570)
Bazán, Juan Gregorio (?–1570)
Juan Gregorio Bazán (d. 1570), conquistador of Tucumán province and lieutenant governor. Begun in 1549, the permanent occupation of Tucumán was characterized by jurisdictional conflicts between Spaniards. Bazán, born in Talavera de la Reina, Spain, was present at the founding of Santiago del Estero (1553) and of San Miguel de Tucumán (1565), and became governor of the town of Esteco in 1567. He unsuccessfully combed the countryside for Indians to serve as laborers for newly founded towns. The Lules Indians attacked him and his party on their return from Peru, where he had gone to meet his newly arrived family. Bazán was killed, as was his son-in-law, Diego Gómez de Pedraza, who uttered a phrase during the battle that has remained part of Argentine folklore: "Caballero soy y no voy huyendo" ("I am a gentleman, and I do not flee").
See alsoConquistadores .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Roberto Levillier, Descubrimiento y población del norte argentino (1943).
Ricardo Levene, A History of Argentina (1963).
Additional Bibliography
Serrano Redonnet, Jorge. A. La sangre del conquistador Juan Gregorio Bazán. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Dunken, 1997.
Nicholas P. Cushner