It was during the administration of Castilla that the bay of Amatique was discovered, and the port of Santo Tomás founded. The immediate cause of the establishment of this port was a piratical raid in 1603 on Puerto de Caballos, which town had for some time been exposed to attacks from corsairs. In that year a squadron of eight vessels, under command of Pié de Palo and a mulatto named Diego, with a force of more than twelve hundred men entered the harbor, and notwithstanding the brave resistance of Captain Juan de Monasterio, who had only two ships, they defeated him and captured his vessels.[XXXV‑3]
This disaster induced the president to order an exploration to be made with the object of discovering a more secure site; and in March of the following year Estévan de Alvarado, assisted by Francisco Navarro, an experienced pilot, surveyed the coast. Their favorable report of the bay of Amatique[XXXV‑4] induced the audiencia to give orders for the founding of a town which was called Santo Tomás de Castilla in compliment to the president.[XXXV‑5] The removal of the population of Puerto de Caballos was effected as quickly as possible, and by the beginning of 1605 the commerce of Guatemala on the Atlantic was carried on through the new port.[XXXV‑6] Although the advantages of San Tomás were evident and the king approved of the change, no fortifications had been constructed there for several years at least. In 1607 eight Dutch pirate vessels appeared in the bay just as Monasterio was ready to sail for Spain, but on this occasion the pirates were driven off with the loss of one ship sunk, the rest of the squadron having sustained much damage.[XXXV‑7] So inactive was the Spanish government in taking measures for the protection of the town that Monasterio determined to fortify it himself, and in 1609 mounted seven pieces of artillery on a large rock near the shore.
Though situated on a spacious harbor, easy of access, and well sheltered from the winds, the new settlement did not prosper; for the surrounding country was so sterile as not to yield provender enough, even for the mules employed in transporting merchandise. It was consequently gradually abandoned for Puerto Dulce, lying to the west.
GOMERA SUCCEEDS CASTILLA.
In August 1609 Antonio Peraza Ayala Castilla y Rojas, conde de la Gomera, was appointed by royal cédula to succeed President Castilla, and entered upon his duties in 1611, during which year his predecessor died while undergoing his residencia.[XXXV‑8] The new president gave but little satisfaction to the people of Santiago. He extorted money from the settlers by unlawful means,[XXXV‑9] and three years after his installation violent disturbances broke out. The political condition of the country attracted the attention of the viceroy of Mexico, and the visitador Juan de Ibarra was sent, in 1614, to investigate the affairs of the audiencia. Matters became more complicated. Gomera was suspended, and retired to the town of Patulul. The whole province was divided into factions and the people so incensed that a riot was imminent. This state of affairs continued until 1617, when Gomera was reinstated in the presidency, which office he held until 1626, when he retired to his birthplace in the Canary Islands.[XXXV‑10] He was succeeded by a man of very different character, one Juan de Guzman,[XXXV‑11] who, having lost his wife on the voyage to Guatemala, lost with her all interest in life. After governing for a term of five years with a mildness and beneficence which ill suited the grasping disposition of his associates, he was, as it were, driven from the presidency by their persistent disagreement with his views.
Alvaro de Quiñones y Osorio, marqués de Lorenzana, was the next to fill the presidential chair,[XXXV‑12] being transferred from Panamá. His spirit of covetousness was in strong contrast with the unselfish disposition of his predecessor, and he soon became extremely unpopular. Gambling was a favorite pastime in the capital of Guatemala, and while the president strictly prohibited all gaming in private houses, his own palace was converted at night into a regular gambling establishment, of which he reaped the profits, frowning upon the moneyed men who cared not to frequent his tables.[XXXV‑13] In 1642 he was succeeded by Diego de Avendaño, and on his voyage to Spain the vessel on which he had taken passage foundered, and he was lost. Avendaño's rule was marked by integrity and disinterestedness. He died in August 1649, and the presidency was given to the licentiate Antonio de Lara y Mogrobejo, who held office till 1654.
CONDITION OF THE COLONISTS.
The condition of the colonists during the first half of the seventeenth century was prosperous. The city put on an appearance of wealth and even grandeur. Magnificent private residences, and large mercantile houses filled with valuable goods, surrounded the public squares and stood upon the principal streets; while stately churches, with richly furnished interiors, convents and nunneries of different orders, and public institutions were scattered throughout the capital. Daily markets in which all kinds of provisions in great abundance were disposed of at low prices proclaimed the absence of poverty,[XXXV‑14] while the wealth of the merchants was such as to make them the peers of any in the New World. Nor was the prosperity of the country behind that of the city. Agriculture thrived and immense tracts of lands were under cultivation. But the most prominent industrial feature were the numerous and extensive cattle and sheep farms which had been established in the province, and which furnished meat for the surrounding towns at a price within reach of the poorest inhabitant.[XXXV‑15] Commerce was no less prosperous, and an extensive trade was carried on by mule trains with Mexico, Chiapas, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and on the oceans with Peru and Spain.
"This city," says Thomas Gage, who lived for three years in Santiago, "may consist of about five thousand families, besides a Suburb of Indians called el Barrio de Sto Domingo, where may be two hundred families more. The best part of the City is that which joyneth to the Suburb of Indians, and is called also el Barrio de Santo Domingo, by reason of the Cloister of Saint Dominick, which standeth in it. Here are the richest and best shops of the City, with the best buildings, most of the houses being new and stately. Here is also a daily Tianguez (as they call it) or petty Market, where some Indians all the day sit selling Fruits, Herbs and Cacao, but at four in the afternoon, this Market is filled for a matter of an hour, where the Indian women meet to sell their Country slap (which is dainties to the Crioltans), as Atolle, Pinole, scalde Plantains, butter of the Cacao, puddings made of Indian Maiz, with a bit of Fowl, or fresh Pork in them, seasoned with much red biting Chille, which they call Anatamales."
"The climate is very temperate, far exceeding either Mexico or Guaxaca. Neither are the two forenamed Cities better stored with fruits, herbs for sallets, provision of flesh, Beef, Mutton, Veal, Kid, Fowls, Turkies, Rabbets, Quails, Patridges, Pheasants, and of Indian and Spanish Wheat, than is this City: from the South Sea (which lyeth in some places not above twelve leagues from it), and from the rivers of the South Sea Coast, and from the fresh Lake of Amatitlan and Petapa, and from another Lake lying three or four leagues from Chimaltenango, it is well and plentifully provided for of fish. But for Beef there is such plenty, that it exceeds all parts of America, without exception, as may be known by the Aids which are sent yearly to Spain from the Country of Guatemala, where they commonly kill their Cattel, more for the gain of their Hydes in Spain, than for the goodness or fatness of the flesh, which though it be not to compare to our English Beef, yet it is good mans meat, and so cheap, that in my time it was commonly sold at thirteen pound and a half for half a Rial, the least coyn there, and as much as three pence here."[XXXV‑16]