Luna y Arellano, Tristán de, << LOO nuh ee ah reh YAH noh, trihs TAHN deh >> (about 1515-1573), was a Spanish conquistador and explorer . He founded Spanish colonies in what are now Florida and Alabama . De Luna was the cousin of Antonio de Mendoza, the first Spanish viceroy (king’s representative) of New Spain , Spain’s territory in North and Central America. He was also the cousin of Juana de Zúñiga, the wife of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés .
De Luna was born in Borobia, Spain, in about 1515. He arrived in New Spain in about 1530. He married Isabel de Rojas in 1545, and the couple had two children. De Luna served on an expedition to what is now the southwestern United States with the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in the early 1540’s. In 1548, he helped crush an indigenous (native) rebellion in Oaxaca, a city in what is now Mexico . Luis de Velasco, the second viceroy of New Spain, then chose de Luna to lead an expedition to the East Coast of what is now the United States. De Luna also was given the title of governor of Spanish Florida.
The expedition’s purpose was threefold—to found a settlement on the Gulf of Mexico ; establish a Spanish outpost on the East Coast, near the current South Carolina-Georgia border; and find an overland route between the two places. De Luna sailed from what is now Veracruz, Mexico, on June 11, 1559. He landed at what is now Pensacola Bay in northwest Florida on August 14. The group that arrived in Florida included 500 soldiers, 1,000 other colonists and servants, and dozens of horses. De Luna founded the colony of Santa María Filipina at the landing site.
Five days later, on August 19, a hurricane destroyed many of the expedition’s ships and most of its supplies. Most of the settlers then traveled up the Alabama River to an abandoned American Indian settlement called Nanipacana, in what is now Alabama. They renamed the place Santa Cruz and settled there. But after several months, they left it and returned to the Gulf Coast.
The Spanish viceroy of New Spain sent relief ships to the colony, but the ships did not bring enough goods to adequately resupply the expedition. Troubles continued for de Luna. They included conflict with his followers and failure to reach the East Coast by an overland route.
In 1861, de Luna was relieved of his duties as expedition leader and governor. Months later, Santa María Filipina was disbanded. De Luna went to Spain to give King Philip II his account of the expedition and to ask for money. He had spent all his wealth on the expedition. But the king denied his request. The expedition also had left de Luna ill. He returned to Mexico in 1567 and died on Sept. 16, 1573.
