Person

Pedro de Mendoza

c. 1487–1537 · 16th century

Pedro de Mendoza was a Spanish nobleman and conquistador to whom Charles V granted the Río de la Plata governorate in 1534. He led a large expedition that founded the first settlement of Buenos Aires in 1536, but hunger and attacks by local peoples forced most settlers away. Ill, he sailed for Spain in 1537 and died at sea.

Pedro de Mendoza
Image: Taken by the uploader, w:es:Usuario:Barcex · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Governorate of the Río de la Plata

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pedro de Mendoza. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pedro-de-mendoza
MLA
“Pedro de Mendoza.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pedro-de-mendoza. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Pedro de Mendoza.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pedro-de-mendoza.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pedro de Mendoza’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pedro-de-mendoza (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻