MARTIN FERNANDEZ DE ENCISO
Born in Seville during the mid-15th century, Martin Fernandez de Enciso lived until 1525 but led an eventful life as an explorer, lawyer, and writer. Although Enciso headed to America, the exact date is unknown. However, historians do know that he settled on the island of Santo Domingo in 1508, making an excellent living as an attorney. In fact, he ended up with the title, “Baehiller y letrado”.
During this time, Ojeda, a navigator, had just been granted the government for that part of America as well as east of the gulf of Uraba and isthmus of Darien. However, for his to gain possession of the land and develop colonies, he needed money. With that, Ojeda approached Enciso since he was known for being both wealthy and a man with an adventuring spirit. Soon, the two men agreed that Enciso would be given the title of Alcalde Mayor of Ojeda’s government. In return, Enciso would provide the finances needed to stock a ship with provisions and a crew.
Unfortunately, Ojeda sailed to the gulf of Uraba, finding his friends had fallen to famine. Determined to return to Santo Domingo and hurry along the arrival of succors that Enciso had promised, he left Francisco Pizarro in charge of the new colony. Sixty days later, Enciso arrived in the harbor or Carthagena with a ship of provisions along with a number of stallions, 12 mare, boars, sows, spears, ammunition, swords, various other arms, and more than 150 men.
Once at Carthagena, Enciso was joined by a ship under the control of Pizarro that had left the gulf of Uraba 50 days after Ojeda left with the few remaining colonist who had survived the famine. The expedition involved shipwreck and even hostile savages but in 1510, they reached Darien. Once there, the men began erecting a city. However, Enciso provoked a mutiny by which trade with the Indians for gold was forbidden under pain of death, which was thrown out by Vasco Nunez de Balboa.
By 1512, Enciso set sail for Spain, bringing with him Balboa’s conduct before the court. Following, Pedrarias Davila was appointed governor of Darien, being told to carry out justice between contestants. Enciso went with Davila as Alguacil Mayor and after arriving, obtained the right to demand payment of a large sum from Balboa as indemnity for all of the wrongs suffered. Then in 1515, Enciso was sent as an expedition’s head to Cenu. Records tell us that they discovered large quantities of gold but did not have success in persuading or forcing the caciques to surrender to the King of Spain.
Soon after this event, Enciso returned to his country of Spain where he gave all of his time to organizing and publishing materials gathered while staying in the New World. In fact, one of these publications was a memoir that supported the commands established and those about to be established in the West Indies. This particular publication was met with great opposition from the Franciscans. Enciso became completely engrossed in his work, much that covered his theory and practice of pilotage. His most impressive work was a dissertation on the sphere to include tables of declination, method of the polar star height, construction of mariner’s compass, and more.
Unfortunately, Enciso never knew the inaccuracies that resulted from his projections nor the trouble of representing a spherical figure on a plane surface. However, when it came to the geographical writing, these were extremely accurate. In fact, these contained the first description of the result of the Spanish exploration all the way to 1519.