Nicolas de ovando biography of william

Nicolás de Ovando (b. 1451; d. 1518), governor of Hispaniola. Born in Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, Ovando was a member of the military Order of Calatrava. On 3 September 1501 the crown ordered him to Hispaniola to investigate the administration of Francisco de Bobadilla and to reestablish order. Ovando arrived in April 1502; his large fleet had departed Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, with some twenty-five hundred colonists, including Bartolomé de Las Casas, a man who would later achieve fame as the Protector of the Indians. Using ample force and authority, Ovando completed the "pacification" of the island, subduing both native Americans and Spanish malcontents, and returning unruly colonists to Spain in chains.

Ovando also exercised some more positive imperatives. He sought to establish new towns and cities, following a general gridiron pattern that later came to characterize town planning in Spanish America. Santo Domingo was refounded on the