Luis Fajardo de Córdoba

Don Luis Fajardo de Córdoba was a Spanish Conquistador, military commander and nobleman.

He was a second son of Don Luis Fajardo, 2nd Marquis of Los Vélez and Doña Leonor Fernández de Córdoba.

He was Captain-General of the Armada of the Ocean Sea, Conqueror of La Mamora, Knight of Calatrava and Commander of Moral.

He married Doña Luisa de Tenza, Lady of Espinardo in Murcia. Their children included Don Juan Fajardo de Entenza y de Guevara, Córdoba y Velasco, 1st Marquess of Espinardo, and Don Alonso Fajardo de Entenza y de Guevara, Córdoba y Velasco, Spanish Governor-General and Captain-General of the Islands of the Philippines from July 3, 1618 to July 1624.

In 1605 and again in 1606, Don Luis commanded the Flota de Barlovento (the Windward Fleet), sent to the Caribbean to root out contraband tobacco growers; and European traders, mainly Dutch, who were violating the Spanish monopoly. It proved to be too expensive and was not sent out in 1608.

Don Luis next job was suppressing the corsairs of the western Mediterranean. He destroyed the pirate fleet at Tunis belonging to John Ward and Kara Osman, in the summer of 1609.

King Philip III then had Don Luis take charge of transporting the last 100,000 Moriscos (Christianized Moors) from Spain to Morocco. Don Luis then capture the pirate base of Larache, Morocco, in 1610, and tried to plug the channel to pirate haven at La Mamora (Medhia) at the West bank of the mouth of the Sebou river.

In 1612, a Spanish fleet of 4 ships under Fajardo's command intercepted Jehan Philippe de Castelane's vessel near Mehdya and took it to Lisbon (then part of Spain) and convicted the crew of piracy. Among the ship cargo, there was Sultan Zaydan's library, that Castelane took after not being paid for its transportation. Two years later the collection was transmitted to El Escorial for permanent storage, where most of it is still held.[1] [2]

In August 1614 Don Luis led a ninety-nine ship to La Mamora, with orders to occupy the site and erect the pre-fab fort brought with them. Most of the pirates were at sea, and the few in port fled up the river. The huge fleet would have been irresistible in any case.