José de Zúñiga y la Cerda


José de Zúñiga y la Cerda was a Spanish nobleman, field marshal and governor of Spanish Florida and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia.

Early years

José de Zúñiga y la Cerda was born in 1654. He served twenty-seven years in the Spanish Netherlands, rising to the rank of field marshal. He participated in the defense of the town of Melilla when it was besieged by the Moors.

Governor of Florida

King Carlos II of Spain named Zúñiga Governor and Captain General of Spanish Florida on January 30, 1699. The oath of office with instructions concerning the responsibilities of his appointment was administered by the court of the Casa de Contratación in Seville, on May 20, 1699. He was given a license to carry four slaves, and he sailed to New Spain in the fleet commanded by General Manuel de Velasco y Tejada on May 23, 1699.
Zúñiga was governor of Florida from 1699 until 1706. In 1701, he appointed Juan de Ayala y Escobar as "visitador general" of Apalachee to investigate the terms of the peace that the native tribes there had made with other peoples, such as the Apalachicola people. During his administration he improved the castle or fortress and the town defenses of St. Augustine, the capital of the province. In 1702 St. Augustine was besieged by English troops under Colonel Moore, who lacked heavy artillery to capture the fort. The siege resulted in the burning of the town outside the fort. Zúñiga y la Cerda ordered the remaining Spanish missions in Apalachee and Timucua Province to be moved closer together for defensive purposes. The English and their Indian allies fled with the arrival of a relief flotilla commanded by Esteban de Berroa and Capt. Lope de Solloso, leading a team of Galician recruits and militia troops from Havana. Zúñiga's term as governor of Florida ended on April 9, 1706.

Governor of Cartagena de Indias

Zúñiga was appointed governor of Cartagena de Indias in 1706, to replace Juan Diaz Pimienta. He served until 1710, and returned to Spain in the only boat of the fleet of Admiral Antonio de Ulloa that survived a storm in the Bahamas. He died in 1725.