Luis Alegre (c. 1510 – 1573) was a Flemish soldier, in the service of the Spanish Crown, who served as conquistador and expeditionary of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay.[1]

Luis de Alegre
Expedicionario at the service of the Spanish Empire
MonarchsCharles V
Philip II
Personal details
Born
Louis Plesier

c. 1510
Flanders, Habsburg Netherlands
Died1573
Asuncion, Viceroyalty of Peru
NationalityFlemish
OccupationConqueror
explorer
encomendero
ProfessionArtilleryman
sailor
Military service
Allegiance Spanish Empire
Branch/serviceSpanish Navy
Years of service1530-c.1570

Biography

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He arrived at the Río de la Plata in the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza in 1534,[2] and later to Asunción, aboard the ship "La Marañona" in 1538. He changed his original last name "Plesier" to Alegre,[3] and attended the election of Domingo Martinez de Irala as Lieutenant Governor of Paraguay in 1539.[4] He had an active participation in the Conquest of Paraguay, receiving parcels of land, in addition to the distributions of various indigenous tribes as encomiendas for their services to the Crown.[5]

He was married to Magdalena Testanova, daughter of Blas Testanova, the first doctor of the Río de la Plata.[6] He remarriage with Catalina Lys, daughter of flemish conquistador Dionis de Lys. They had a son named Esteban Alegre, a neighbor founder of Corrientes and Buenos Aires.[7]

His last name is very common in Paraguay, and the Argentine coastal area, but a distinguished line can be drawn through Captain Casimiro Alegre, a military man with a long career during the colonial and post-colonial period of Buenos Aires.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Colección de Documentos Sobre Los Conquistadores y Pobladores Del Río de La Plata, by Jorge F. Lima González Bonorino, Hernán Carlos Lux-Wurm, 2001, ISBN 9789879768822
  2. ^ En los deltas de la memoria: Bélgica y Argentina en los siglos XIX y XX, by Bart de Groof, 1998, ISBN 9789061868606
  3. ^ Los pobladores de Buenos Aires y su descendencia, Hialmar Edmundo Gammalsson, 1980
  4. ^ Los Conquistadores del Río de la Plata, by Ricardo de Lafuente Machaín, 1943
  5. ^ Historia social de Paraguay, 1600-1650, José Luis Mora Mérida, 1973, ISBN 9788400039080
  6. ^ Opere complete: XI: Recensioni di libri (1950-1959), by Bruno Leoni, 27 May 2013, ISBN 9788864400617
  7. ^ Boletín del Instituto Argentino de Ciencias Genealógicas, Número 174, Instituto Argentino de Ciencias Genealógicas, 1992, 1992
  8. ^ Gaceta de Buenos Aires, Compañía sud-americana de billetes de banco, 1910, 1910
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