Chapter Two

I finally gave in during the winter of 1999 and began my research. Knowing nothing about genealogy, I sought out help from various individuals and organizations. Researchers recommended that I select those family lines that I knew the most about. As a result, I selected my mother's family line, Rivera (de Ribera). This decision was made despite knowing almost nothing about the family line.

This book “The de Riberas” is a celebration of the sacrifices made by my progenitors and those who held the same surname and a way to pay homage to the part they played in the Old World, particularly Spain, and the founding of New Spain. It is also an appreciation of their contributions to this great nation, the United States of America.

The following pages of this book contain the history of my family's Spanish and Jewish roots. My mother, Angela Rivera's family tree includes the de Riberas (Rivera), Ceballes (Ceballos), Varelas, (Barela) Quintanas, Lucero de Godoys (Godoi), and many others.

To give proper consideration to eleven generations of all my progenitors in one book would be impossible. Therefore, I will endeavor to discuss the de Riberas at some length and explain the historical conditions and life circumstances that swirled about them in New Mexico under the governments of Spain, Mexico, and finally the United States. I have attempted to include as many of the intertwined family lines and their surnames, however, information on these lines will be limited.

On the pages that follow I have placed the many coats of arms relating to these family names. In some cases they remain vacant.

Much, no, a great deal is owed to the Internet researchers who provide a wealth of information included here.

A few of the names listed below are not of my family lines, they do however, represent some of New Mexico's other prominent Hispanic families:

ANAYA - Francisco de Anaya Almazan was born in Mexico City, New Spain (Mexico) but his father came from Salamanca, Spain.

ARCHIBEQUE - Jean L'Archeveque (one of my lines) was born in 1671 at Bayonne, France, was killed by Indians. He was also a member of the LaSalle Expedition.

ARCHULETA - Ascencio de Arechuleta came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1598. He was born in 1572 in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain (one of my lines).

CHAVEZ - Don Pedro Gomez Duran y Chavez came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1600. Born in 1562, Valverde de Llerena, Spain (one of my lines).

CRUZ - Juan de la Cruz came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1598. Born in 1566, Barcelona, Catalua, Spain (one of my lines).

GARCIA - The most common Spanish name in the world. There were several different Garcias that started families in New Mexico. Among them was Juan Garcia de la Mora who was born around 1700, Villa de Pozuelo de Amalgro, Spain (one of my lines).

GONZALES - Sebastian Gonzales was born in 1592 in Coimbra, Portugal. He died in 1670 (one of my lines).

Gurulé (Jacques Grolet) was born in 1663 at La Rochelle, France (one of my lines) and a member of the LaSalle Expedition.

GUTIERREZ - Juan de Gutierrez Bocanegra came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1600. Born in 1556, Villanueva de los Infantes, Spain (one of my lines).

JARAMILLO - Jaramillos in New Mexico come from 2 different men: Alonso Varela Jaramillo came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1598. Born in 1568, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Jose Jaramillo Negrete came to New Mexico with Don Diego de Vargas in 1693. Born in 1655 in Mexico City, New Spain (Mexico) one of my lines.

LOPEZ - There were several different Lopez men that started families in New Mexico. Among them was Juan Lopez (one of my lines).

MARQUEZ - Gerónimo Marquez was born in San Lucar de Barrameda, Spain. He came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1598.

MIERA - Bernardo Miery y Pacheco was born in 1713 at Valle de Carriedo, Spain. He died in 1785.

MONTOYA - Bartolome Montoya came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1600. Born in 1572, Cantillana, Spain (one of my lines).

OLGUIN - Juan Lopez - Holguin came to New Mexico as a Conquistador with Oñate in 1600. He was born in 1560 at Fuente Ovejuna, Spain.

ROMERO - Bartolome Romero was born in 1563 at Corral de Almaguer, Spain (one of my lines).

VARELA - Varelas and Barelas come from 2 brothers: Alonso Varela Jaramillo and Pedro Varela de Losada. Alonso was born in 1568 and Pedro was born in 1574. Both were born in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Both men came to New Mexico as Conquistadors with Oñate in 1598.

VIALPANDO - Juan de Villa el Pando was born in Villa de Leon, Spain around 1670.

VIGIL - Juan Montes Vigil was born in Mexico City, New Spain (Mexico) but his father came from Siero, Spain. Juan died in Zacatecas, New Spain (Mexico) in 1682 (one of my lines).

Each family’s station in life is far more than a coat of arms. A family is about who they were, what they contributed to the welfare of their neighbors, and kindness and help they gave to those in need. Therefore, the discussion of heraldry within this book is only for the purpose of educating the reader about those who came from a lineage of knighthood. It is not a value judgment.

The family’s New Mexico story began with Don Juan de Oñate's expedition of 1598. Some of my family lines include Godoy and Varela (Below).

In 1595, the viceroy awarded the contract to Don Juan de Oñate, a wealthy and distinguished man whose father had made a fortune from the silver mines of Zacatecas and whose wife was the granddaughter of Hernando Cortés and the great-granddaughter of Montezuma. Oñate, scion of a wealthy family and a seasoned soldier, hoped to discover new wealth and to enjoy a brilliant future as its governor was officially granted the right to colonize.

After many delays in getting the expedition assembled, in January 1598, Oñate was finally able to get his caravan of eighty-four heavily loaded wagons and carts to carry the baggage and provisions and a vast herd of seven thousand head of livestock sheep, goats, cattle, horses under way. Oñate lead the way for one hundred and twenty-nine men. Many came with their families and servants and a small group of ten Franciscans who joined later. Among the family names were Abendano, Archuleta, Baca, Barrios, Bernal, Bustillo, Caceres, Cadimo, Carvajal, Chaves, Cruz, Duran, Escarramad, Garcia, Holgado, Godoy, Gonzalez, Jaramillo, Lobon, Griego, Gutierrez, Hernandez, Herrera, Hinojos, Holguin, Hurtado, Jimenez, Jorge, Holguin, Lopez, Luna, Mederos, Ocanto, Losada, Lucero, Madrid, Marquez, Martin, Serrano, Monroy, Montoya, Moran, Naranjo, Pedraza, Perez, Ramirez, del Rio, Robledo, Rodriguez, Salazar, Romero, Ruiz, Tapia, Torres, Varela, Vasquez. Many are my progenitors. My Ceballos (Ceballes) many of these lines intermarried with several of these families and the Varelas were original settlers with this group.

Blazing a new route scouted by his nephew, Vicente de Zaldivar, Oñate’s expedition struggled northward from Santa Barbara along the upper Río Conchos across the Chihuahuan desert.

Unlike previous expeditions, this one did not follow the Conchos to the Rio Grande, it headed straight across the sand dunes of the Chihuahua desert. A vanguard, after four days without water, reached the Rio Grande on April 20^th. Six days later the colony of four hundred soldiers and the others was reunited. In celebration of its survival a great feast was held.

At one point in time the expedition was suffering from great thirst. Providentially they saved by a miraculous downpour "so heavy that very large pools were formed and more than seven thousand head of cattle and mares of all kinds drank."

The exhausted travelers finally reached the Rio Grande and ascended the river a distance. On April 30, 15 98, Oñate in a formal ceremony took official possession of the entire territory drained by the Rio Grande for his monarch, Philip II of Spain, saying: "I claim these lands without limitations, including the mountains, the rivers, valleys, meadows, pastures, and waters ... pueblos, cities, towns, castles ... in the name of the King." This is a significant date in the history of the El Paso Southwest. The event, which took place at a site near that of present-day San Elizario, Texas (the river at that time ran several miles north of its present channel) which is called La Toma. The taking possession of it laid the foundation for more than two centuries of Spanish rule in the American Southwest.

Ascending the river, the expedition crossed it to the east side on May 4, at a site just west of present downtown El Paso. Oñate called this operation "El Paso del Río del Norte," an early use of the name El Paso. Near the upper reaches of the river he established his headquarters, founded a church, and formally founded the province of New Mexico.

Passing through the narrows near San Felipe Pueblo, Governor Oñate arrived at the Pueblo of Santo Domingo and, on July 7, held a council with the Indians of the surrounding country. It was assumed that the natives would be responsive to conversion in the country to the far north. In a ceremony, the native leaders swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown and Church. Later expedition member Gaspar de Villagra wrote an epic poem about the conquest.

Don Juan de Oñate established the first capital of New Mexico at San Gabriel in 1598. That historic capital is one of the oldest in the United States. It was then moved over thirty miles south to the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to Santa Fe in 1610. This is where my family lines settled.

However, before arriving in New Mexico, they came from Spain. I’d been in Spain as a young man and enjoyed it very much. But I must say I remained ignorant about its history, culture, and people. This made my job more difficult. As I began reading and researching Spain I was troubled by how negative the comments were about its history and people. When one reviews writings on any subject the descriptive language gives away a great deal about the author’s underlying thoughts and beliefs. What the writer thinks is betrayed in his/her writing. As I’m an English speaker, reader, and writer my research was limited by those books and on-line information written in English. Unfortunately, the writers conveyed a bias regarding Spanish explorers. In short, they were always cast as conquerors rather than explorers. The Spaniards were colonists rather than settlers. Spanish cruelty and exploitation was emphasized rather than their perseverance, ingenuity, and internal strength which was demanded to overcome the difficulties of being the first nation to explore vast areas of ocean and land. In fact, if credit in these areas is given it is presented as an aside.

The second area of bias that I found was that of the writer’s ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds. Writers of Anglo-Saxon (British), Anglo-American, and Northern European extraction tended to present their world view superimposed upon the historical facts and issues regarding Spain’s expansion as a world power. By this I mean to say that these writers tend to emphasize the conquistadors lust for gold, cruelty, and subjugation of the native populations rather than explaining in detail why it was done. The specter of the Black Legend and the concept of the “noble savage” are ever present lurking behind the scenes, so to speak. What frightened men do thousands of miles away from readily available resources, without help and support, left to their own devices, and forced to make what they consider to be life or death decisions with little or no experience in the matter is left untouched by the writers. Instead, the writers chose to focus upon the outcomes. To be sure as seen through 21^st Century eyes one cannot accept many of those outcomes. But these Spaniards were not in the 21^st Century, with its technology, instant communications, and deliberative political bodies familiar with ideology of the democratic nation-state with a citizen’s obligation to the rule of law.

There were few, if any, international bodies responsible for human rights and nation-state’s rights. What does this leave us with? These non-Spanish writers feel duty bound to shout out the excesses and failures of Spanish expansion in the Old and New Worlds. But they also chose to downplay the incredible difficulties faced by explorers forced to make split second decisions in relation to empires steeped in the glorification of the warrior class and dedicated to conquest of their neighbors, not to mention the practice of blood sacrifice.

As a result, I’ve chosen to include many references in historical Old World and New World timelines in an effort to provide the reader with some understanding of the complexity of Spain’s challenges given the rapid expansion of its empire, the vast areas of ocean and land that it attempted to govern, and the constant warfare it engaged in with its competitive European neighbors. One can hardly imagine managing an empire spanning the globe in a world without jets, railroads, and super highways. There were no cell phones available for use in the New World Jungles and European battlefields with which to instantly challenge decisions made by commanders. It should be noted that communications of that day took months, if not years.

Here, let me state clearly that I do not condone the brutality, murder, and destruction which took place. None of these things do I find acceptable. Neither do I find acceptable the tens of millions killed in WWI and WWII of the 20^th Century wars or the many millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis and others. I leave it to the reader to pass judgment upon the past and the men and women involved.

My grandmother, Maria Anna Amalia Ceballes, most probably Ceballos, was originally of Celt origin. The Celts arrived in Spain during the eighth to sixth Century's BC.

Coat of Arms: A red shield with a gold bend bearing the letter "F", between five saltires.

Spelling variations of the name include Caballero, Caballeros, Caballer, Caballé, Caballe and many more. The name also found in Castile, held by leaders of the Christian Reconquest of Spain against the Moorish Muslims.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Among the earliest explorers of the New World was Juan de Cavallón, who voyaged to America in the 1500s. He claimed the territory of Costa Rica for the Spanish Crown, and died in Mexico in 1565. Other early migrants to the New World bearing this surname or a variant spelling of the name included Gutierre de Caballos, who sailed to America in 1512; Diego de Caballos sailed to America in 1513; Alonso Caballero sailed to America in 1517 with his brother Diego; Juan de Caballos sailed to Venezuela in 1534; Francisco de Caballos sailed to Peru in 1534; Gregorio de Cavallos sailed to Nicaragua in 1534; Juan Caballero sailed to New Spain in 1534; Andrés de Cavallos sailed to Veragua in 1535.

The Ceballos surname originated in Santander, in northern Spain. The Ceballos' are found mainly in Spain, South America, and North America.

These were Celtic and Proto-Celtic tribes living in the remote Spanish northern mountain areas.

Today, the word Celtic usually denotes people who are descended from one of seven Celtic "fringe" provinces in Western Europe. These principal Celtic countries and regions of today are: Ireland; Scotland; Wales; Corwall; Isle of Man; Brittany, France; and Galicia, Spain.

The Celtic peoples, whose oldest remnants of their culture can be found close to eastern France, Southern Germany and Belgium, and northern Switzerland and Austria once spread from Galatia, Turkey to Celtiberia, Spain and Ireland in the first Century BC.

Many descendants of immigrants to North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand can trace their ancestry from the Celts.

Fortunately, the Celtic culture was situated on the borders of western civilization instead of in the center where major changes took place. As a result, Celtic civilization offers a window into a world that existed before many of the conventions were brought about in Western society. It has been compared in this respect to the Hindu culture of India, the other "fringe" culture of the Arian expansion in Europe. There are many similarities in their culture and their beliefs that span back to the formative years of Western civilization.

Celt, also spelled KELT, Latin CELTA, plural Celtae, is a member of an early Indo-European people. These peoples spread over much of Europe from the 2nd millennium BC to the 1st Century BC. Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and Galatia in Anatolia (Turkey).

In part, they were absorbed into the Roman Empire as Britons, Gauls, Boii, Galatians, and Celtiberians. Linguistically they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany.

The legend of the name Ceballos begins when the Romans conquered almost all of Spain. Only a few northern Iberian tribes remained free.

As the story goes, the Romans had difficulty conquering the Cantabrian tribe. Sending an envoy, the Romans proposed three separate combats. In each, one hundred skilled Roman Legionnaires would do battle against an equal number of Cantabrian warriors. The Cantabrian warriors dressed in animal furs and armed with axes and other rudimentary weapons were fierce and more agile than the armored Romans. At that first combat in Cantabria the Cantabrians won.

The second combat was held in Rome, at the Tiber River shore. Roman generals studied the Cantabrian fighting tactics and found their weaknesses, but they still lost the battle. During the third battle, as the Cantabrians were losing, their chieftain went to the center of the battleground and began to shout, "Kevelion! Kevelion!" Meaning, "Hit them in the belly". As the Romans armor didn't cover that area, the Cantabrians finally won the battle and their liberty for many decades.

After the battle, some Cantabrians remained in Italy and became part of the elite Roman fighting forces. When they returned to Spain, they were named Kevelion. That word became Ceballos as the Cantabrians adopted the Spanish language.

A typically Aryan people, the Celts blended in with the native Iberians to produce the Celtiberians. With the merging of these two groups there arose a new race. These then, divided into several tribes Cantabrians, Asturians, and Lusitanians giving their names to their respective homelands. These Celtic and Proto-Celtic tribes live to this day in the remote northern mountain areas of Spain.

Maria Anna Amalia Ceballes' mother was Marcelina Barela or Varela. These lines descended from the Oñate expeditionary force of 1599.

Coat of Arms: A shield with four vertical red stripes and a helmet at the top and other variants.

Region near Altamira, Spain. Their ancestral origin appears in ancient medieval records there. From very early on, the Varela family held lands and estates in Spain and were actively allied with other influential Spanish families. They branched out into other territories and holdings before taking the long voyage to the New World. The New Mexico Varela family can be traced to between the 11th and 12th centuries in Spain. Also, Fray Chaves' “Origins of New Mexico Families” page110, states the name Varela came from Santiago de Compostella, Spain.

My grandfather's wife was Nicolasa (Means Victorious People) Quintana. She too sprang from a noble family.

COAT OF ARMS: Quartered: 1º in azure, a gold castle; 2º and 3º in silver a sable bend; and 4º in gules, four oak stakes in pale. Bordure of gules with eight gold saltires.

The surname dates from the 12th Century. There are places named Quintana all over Spain and the surname itself is so widely diffused that no common origin has ever been identified. The province of Burgos, however, claims the name had its beginnings there, in any one its many locales named Quintana. Don Martín de Quintana lived in Burgos, had many villas and farms, and was a Grand Master in the military order of Calatrava. There are also very early and important Quintana families in Aragón, Cataluña, and València.

Antonio and Diego Quintana were in Los Angeles in 1846. Commander Quintana, from New Mexico, led the New Mexican soldiers who fought in 1846 on the side of Commander General Castro against local Spanish rebellions.

In early California, Andrés Quintana was a Spanish friar who served in Santa Clara from 1805 to 1812, when he was murdered by local Indians.

Francisco Estévan Quintana was a grantee of the La Vena ranch in 1842, near San Luis Obispo. He was still there in 1860.

Gerónimo Quintana was a grantee of San Juan Capistrano del Camote ranch, also near San Luis Obispo in 1846.

In Tubac, Arizona, in 1831, Isabel Quintana was the wife of Valentín Sotelo. As late as 1860, there were no other Quintanas in the territory.

The Quintanas of San Antonio, Texas, descend from Rafael, a native of Minorca in the Balearic Islands. Rafael had eight children by his wife, Dominga García.

In the U.S. Census Bureau study, “639 Most Frequently Occurring Heavily Hispanic Surnames,” dated March 1996, Quintana ranks 140th.

Among those who served in the military in Latin America during the colonial period, Antonio de Quintana, was Cabo de la Armadilla de Marina at Cartagena de Indias in February 1657. Esteban de la Quintana was Alférez Real at Buga, Quito, Ecuador, in June 1742, and Joaquín de la Quintana was Alférez Real and Regidor of Potosi, Bolivia, in August 1802.

Andrés Mariano de Quintana was Chantre of the Cathedral of Antequera del Valle de Oxaca, Mexico, in October 1779, and Arcediano of the same cathedral in November 1784. Antonio Nazario de la Quintana was Alcalde de la Santa Hermandad in Pisco, Peru, in September, 1810.

Don Antonio Quintana - Dueñas was appointed Marqués de la Floresta de Trifontane in November 1619; Don Gaspar Quintana-Dueñas San Vítores, Conde de Villaoquina in May 1705; and Don Felipe Quintana García, Marqués de Robrero in October 1872.

Salvador Matías de Ribera, of my mother’s clan, is the progenitor of interest in this book.

The de Ribera Coat of Arms is a yellow shield with three horizontal green stripes adorning it and Silver helmet at the top.

An inquiry into Spanish history and the de Ribera family coat of arms informs us that the Rivera surname is of Spanish local origin. Rivera was first recorded as Ribera. In Spain, a surname was derived from the name of the place where a man once lived or held land. Thus, the surname Rivera comes from the word "riparia, a Latin word derived from "ripa" meaning "riverbank or seaside." It may also mean the bank or shore of a river; strand; riverside; flood plain or delta; river, stream, or brook. In its spelling Ribera it is found as the name of villages located near Lugo, Astorga, Sergorbe, Urgel, Badajoz, Cartagena, Vitoria, Oviedo, and Mondoñedo, Spain. Many of the Riveras or Riberas from Galicia use the Galician spelling "Ribeira." Spelling variations include Rivera, Ribera, Ribeira, Rivero, Ribero, Ribeiro, and others. In its spelling Rivera, it is found in Galicia, León, Soria, València, Vizcaya, and Catalonia, and is the name of several villages located near Tuy, Orense, Santander, Coria, and Palencia. It began to be used as a surname, often with the prefix "de", to indicate the place of origin of a family.

The surname Rivera or Ribera is the ninth most common Hispanic surname in the United States. It has its highest concentration in New York City, and is most prevalent among those of Puerto Rican ancestry. It is ranked somewhere between 173 and 237 in Latin America and in Spain, spelled Rivera; it is found, on average, once in every 1,000 to 1,500 people.

Don Diego de Rivera y Cotes, Quiroga y Crema de Sandoval, was named “Conde de Quintanilla” on June 11, 1709. Doña María de los Angeles Rivera y Olavide, widow of General Arsenio Martínez de Campos y Antón, acquired the title “Marquesa de Martínez de Campos” on April 30, 1902.

Some of the first New World settlers of this name or of its variants were Hernando de Ribera, who voyaged to Brazil and Argentina with Sebastian Cabot in the 1520s. Also of note was Gabriel de Rivera, who accompanied López de Legazpi to the Philippines in the 1570s. Municipalities use the coat of arms. There were other members of the family who were early emigrants to Spain's colonies in the New World.

ESCUDOS MUNICIPALES EN QUE APARECEN LAS ARMAS DE LOS RIBERA

CIVIC ARMS INCLUDING THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE RIBERA FAMILY

Riveras can be found throughout the Americas, particularly in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico. They are also in many countries of Europe and the Philippines.

The surname is widely dispersed in the United States. In 1636, a Francisco de Rivera was living in Santa Fe in what today is New Mexico. Juan Felipe de Rivera from Zacatecas, the son of Salvador Matías de Ribera, lived there in 1716 and sired fifteen children.

A few Rivera families were identified in Texas in the late 1700's. A Galician sailor named Francisco de Rivera lived in Pensacola, Florida, with his African wife, Luisa, and their son, Cayetano. María Ignacio Rivera, wife of Mariano Cota, was born in Mexico around 1773 and died in Santa Barbara, California.

The last name Ribera or Rivera is Galician, widespread throughout the Iberian Peninsula. It also gives a Jewish origin (Sephardic) Spanish which is very old.

In 711, the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula, overcoming the Visigoth kingdom. Soon in 740, Galicia was incorporated into the Christian kingdom of Asturias. During the middle Ages, the kingdom of Galicia was ruled by its own kings, but most of the time it was leagued to the Kingdom of Leon and later to that of Castile, while maintaining its own legal and customary practices and personality. These were the beginnings of the modern day Spanish kingdoms.

From the 13th Century on, the kings of Castile, as kings of Galicia, appointed an Adelantado Maior, whose attributions passed to the Governor and Captain General of the Kingdom of Galiza from the last years of the 15th Century. The Governor also presided over the Real Audiencia del Reino de Galicia, a Royal tribunal and government body. From the 16th Century the representation and voice of the kingdom was held by an assembly of deputies and representatives of the cities of the kingdom, the Cortes or Junta of the Kingdom of Galicia, an institution which was forcibly discontinued in 1833. At that time, the kingdom was divided into four administrative provinces with no legal mutual links. During the 19th and 20th centuries grew the demand for self-government and for the recognition of the personality of Galicia, a demand which led to the frustrated Statute of Autonomy of 1936, and to the Statute of Autonomy of 1981, currently in force.

The land also had an impact on the psyche of its people. The interior of Galicia is characterized by its hilly landscape, although mountain ranges rise to 2,000m (6,600 ft) in the east and south. The coastal areas are mostly an alternate series of rías (submerged valleys where the sea penetrates tens of kilometres inland) and cliffs. The climate of Galicia is temperate and rainy, but it is also markedly drier in the summer, being usually classified as Oceanic in the west and north, and Mediterranean in the southeast. Its topographic and climatic conditions have made animal husbandry and farming the primary source of Galicia's wealth for most of its history.

With the exception of shipbuilding and food processing, Galicia was largely a semi-subsistence farming and fishing economy and did not experience significant industrialization until after the Mid-20^th Century. The population is largely concentrated in two coastal areas; from Ferrol to A Coruña in the northwest and from Pontevedra to Vigo in the southwest. To a lesser extent there are smaller populations around the interior cities of Lugo, Ourense and Santiago de Compostela.

The political capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña. Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous municipality with 296,479 inhabitants and the second most populous city with 206,411 inhabitants; while A Coruña is the most populous city with 220,581 inhabitants and the second most populous municipality with 246,056 inhabitants in its municipality. Both cities are the cores of the two major metropolitan areas.

Two languages are official and widely used today in Galicia, the native Galician, a Romance language closely related to Portuguese with which it shares the common Galician-Portuguese medieval literature, and the Spanish language, usually known locally as Castilian. 56.4% of the Galician population always speaks in Galician or speaks more in Galician than in Castilian, while 42.5% speaks always in Castilian or more in Castilian than in Galician.

The coat of arms of primitive and pure lineage or those of the solar of Galicia: In field of gold, three stripes of sinople. These same brought the house of Seville, founded by Perafán of Rivera, first Adelantado mayor of Andalusia, and most of its branches and lines, even those of Catalonia, Mallorca and the Vizcaya.

Between the houses of the De Ribera the most illustrious and ancient is that of Galicia, which began with the Roman Governor, Cayo Mario (Gaius Marius), and is of the trunk recognized as beginning with King Don Ramiro III.

The Bishop of Orense, D. Pedro Seguino, in the years 1150, added to the writings of his predecessor Bishop D. Servando. According to him, the Lord of the solar house of Rivera in Galicia, "Peerage", proceeded from the family of the marine, a descendant of the Roman General Cayo Mario (Gaius Marius), and later Governor of Galicia.

Gaius Marius had spent an uneventful year as Praetor in Rome (as Urban Praetor, Peregrine Praetor or President of the extortion court). In 114 BC Marius' imperium was prorogued and he was sent to govern Hispania Lusitania, an ancient Iberian Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro River and part of modern Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a small part of the province of Salamanca). It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people). Its capital was Emerita Augusta (currently Mérida, Spain), and it was initially part of the Roman Republic province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the Roman Empire.

Romans first came to the territory around the mid 2nd Century BC. The Roman victory over Hannibal in the second of the Punic Wars (218-201 B.C.) resulted in the expulsion of the Carthaginians. The Romans conquered East and South Spain, but met strong resistance elsewhere, notably in the north. The fall (133 B.C.) of Numantia marked the end of organized resistance, and by the 1st Century A.D. Roman control was virtually complete. Except for the Basques, the Iberian population became thoroughly romanized, perhaps more so than any subject population. Roman rule brought political unity, law, and economic prosperity. Christianity was introduced early; St. Paul is supposed to have visited Spain, and St. James the Greater is its apostolic patron. Natives of Spain contributed increasingly to both pagan and Christian literature in Latin. Among them were Seneca, Martial, and Quintilian.

A war with Lusitanian tribes followed, from 155 to 139 BC. In 27 BC, the province was created. There he engaged in some sort of minor military operation. During this period in Roman history governors seem regularly to have served two years in Hispania, Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar) and to two provinces created there in the period of the Roman Republic: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior (South) was first divided into two other provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior (East) was renamed to Tarraconensis. Next, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed Callaecia (or Gallaecia, hence modern Galicia). He was probably replaced in 113 BC.

Mauro D. de Castilla Ferrer, in his history of St. James the Apostle, Patron of Spain, writes that he was founder D. Rudisendo, Lord of the solar house of Rivera Galicia, "Peerage"; He states that the Riveras, descend through the straight male of the Count Sancho Belloso, natural son of King of León D. Ramiro III and Lord of the House of Cabrera and Rivera.

Ramiro III (961-26 June 985), King of León (966-984), was the son of Sancho the Fat and his successor at the age of only five. The Ribera family derived from the King Ramiro III of Leon in Navarra (Spain, 8th Century AD). During his minority, the regency was in the hands of two nuns: his aunt Elvira Ramírez, who took the title of queen during the minority, and then his mother Teresa Ansúrez, who had been put in a convent on her husband's death. As a consequence of this, his reign is known for its support of the clergy.

Among his acts as king during his minority, he ratified a peace treaty with Caliph al-Hakam II and he confronted Vikings who had invaded Galicia. With the conclusion of the peace treaty, the vizier Almanzor invaded his realm.

Upon reaching majority and after his wedding to Sancha (Died after 983), daughter of Gómez Díaz, Count of Saldaña, Ramiro tried to institute an absolutist monarchy which resulted in the alienation of the already separatist Galicia and Castile. This, together with the constant routs experienced at the hands of the Muslims, such as the Battle of Rueda, the Battle of Torrevicente and the worst of which took place at San Esteban de Gormaz under the regency of his aunt in 975, led the Galician nobility in 982 to proclaim Bermudo II, son of Ordoño III, king of Galicia. He lost his throne to Bermudo two years later, in 984. He had at least one child with his wife, Sancha Gómez, Ordoño Ramírez, who married Cristina Bermúdez, daughter of his rival.

Juan Bautista Labana, in his notes on the Peerage of the Count Don Pedro, manifested that they were called Rivera, as Lords of the Torre de Rivera in Galicia. This tower, other authors say rising in the so-called "land of Rivera", by strapping on the banks of the Limia River.

The Limia River (Lima in Portuguese) is in Galicia, Spain, and Portugal, with a length of 108 kilometres (67 mi). The source of the Limia is Talariño Mountain at 975 metres (3,199 ft) above sea level, close to the Paradiña village in the Sarreaus municipality (Ourense, Spain). It crosses the border into Portugal close to the Lindoso village, and reaches the Atlantic near Viana do Castelo. The Romans identified the Limia with the mythical Lethe.

Molina, in his "Antiquities of Galicia", writes: "Here the sailors took Riveras, whose solar in Galicia has been". It says that D. Juan Tamayo in his martyrology (A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighboring churches. Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources.), as the Bishop of Orense previously cited, supports the Roman origin of the marine and shore, using inscriptions preserved in rocks.

The Romans used buildings or plots of land were reserved for construction of military defensive positions. The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used buildings or plots of land reserved for or constructed for use as a military defensive position. In classical Latin the word castra means "great legionary encampment" and included "marching", "temporary" and "fortified permanent" ones, while the diminutive form castellum was used for the smaller forts, which were usually, but not always, occupied by the auxiliary units and used as logistic bases for the legions, as explained by Vegetius. A generic term is praesidium ("guard post or garrison").

The best known type of castra is the camp, a military town designed to house and protect the soldiers and their equipment and supplies when they were not fighting or marching. Regulations required a major unit in the field to retire to a properly constructed camp every day. "...as soon as they have marched into an enemy's land, they do not begin to fight till they have walled their camp about; nor is the fence they raise rashly made, or uneven; nor do they all abide ill it, nor do those that are in it take their places at random; but if it happens that the ground is uneven, it is first leveled: their camp is also four-square by measure, and carpenters are ready, in great numbers, with their tools, to erect their buildings for them." To this end a marching column ported the equipment needed to build and stock the camp in a baggage train of wagons and on the backs of the soldiers.

Camps were the responsibility of engineering units to which specialists of many types belonged, officered by architecti, "chief engineers", who requisitioned manual labor from the soldiers at large as required. They could throw up a camp under enemy attack in as little as a few hours. Judging from the names, they probably used a repertory of camp plans, selecting the one appropriate to the length of time a legion would spend in it: tertia castra, quarta castra, etc., "a camp of three days", "four days", etc.

More permanent camps were castra stativa, "standing camps". The least permanent of these were castra aestiva or aestivalia, "summer camps", in which the soldiers were, housed sub pellibus or sub tentoriis, "under tents". Summer was the campaign season. For the winter the soldiers retired to castra hiberna containing barracks and other buildings of more solid materials, with timber construction gradually being replaced by stone.

It is likely that the stones the Bishop of Orense previously cited to support the Roman origin of the marine and shore, used inscriptions preserved in rocks from a Roman castra hiberna. A legion-sized camp always placed towers at intervals along the wall with positions between for the division artillery. This probably accounts for Juan Bautista Labana’s notes on the Peerage of the Count Don Pedro, in which he manifested that they were called Rivera, as Lords of the Torre (Tower) de Rivera in Galicia.

In order to understand what was written one must understand Roman Spain. Hispania, now Spain, was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar) and to two provinces created there in the period of the Roman Republic: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.

During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was first divided into two other provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed to Tarraconensis. Next, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed Callaecia (or Gallaecia, hence modern Galicia). Since Diocletian's Tetrarchy (284 AD), the south of remaining Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginiensis, and probably then took the Balearic Islands, and all the resulting provinces formed one civil diocese under the Vicarius for the Hispaniae ('Spains'; in the western prætorian prefecture of the 'Gauls', that is, the Celtic provinces), who was also competent for Mauretania Tingitana (around Tangiers), which hence was also officially 'Hispanic'.

The area now called Galicia was first inhabited by humans during the Middle Palaeolithic period. It takes its name from the Gallaeci, the Celtic peoples living north of the River Douro during the last millennium BC, in a region largely coincidental with that of the Iron Age local Castro Culture. This is to say that before the Romans the region had a strong Celtic culture and ethos.

Galicia was incorporated into the Roman Empire at the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 BC, being turned into a Roman province in the 3rd Century of our era. By 410, the Germanic Suebi established a kingdom with its capital in Braga (Portugal) which was incorporated into that of the Visigoths in 585. In short, a Celtic-Roman area was then to be melded with peoples of Germanic origin.

As stated by those who have written on the subject, “These views have, however, very weak fundamentals, as they only say that the primitive site of this lineage, settled in Galicia, is positively certain and proven. Later a branch created Manor House in Asturias, another went to Andalusia, founding new solar in Seville.”

Where a name begins is of importance as it allows the reader to understand the genesis of a family or groups of families using a particular surname. Where that family and its name travels and settles provides an opportunity to understand the historical and political context in which the family found itself. A few key dates and historical events are provided to illustrate how the Christian Spanish families would have returned slowly from the northern Christian kingdoms into the heart of the Iberian Peninsula after defeats of the Moors.

The invasion of Christian ruled Iberia in 711 A.D. by Arab-Berber armies of the Umayyad Caliphate would have caused the non-Muslim Iberians to flee away from the bloodshed and violence and toward stronger Christian enclaves.

First Umayyad foray over the Pyrenees into Visigothic Gaul took place in 717 A.D. Gallia Comata, or "long haired Gaul", encompassed the remainder of present-day France, Belgium, and westernmost Germany, which the Romans gained through the victory over the Celts in the Gallic Wars. This reference would most probably be to areas of France.

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In 718 A.D. or 722 A.D. the battle of Covadonga in the north-west of Iberia took place, establishing a Christian principality in Asturias. The de Riberas established a family line here departing Galicia and entering after the Moorish defeat.

By 719, Islamic Umayyad rule in Iberia at its widest, covering almost all of the Iberian Peninsula and across the Pyrenees in Narbonne.

The Berber garrison was driven from Galicia in 739 A.D. The de Riberas would have been one of the Christian warrior families involved.

By 742 A.D. the Berber garrisons gave up their positions north of the Duero River to join the Berber rebellion. The Douro crosses the great Castilian meseta and meanders through five provinces of the autonomous community of Castile and León: Soria, Burgos, Valladolid, Zamora, and Salamanca, passing through the towns of Soria, Almazán, Aranda de Duero, Tordesillas, and Zamora.

Pepin the Short conquered the last Muslim strongholds in present-day France in 759 A.D. This would have relieved the Spanish Christians of a two front war scenario (Iberia proper and France to the north).

By 801 A.D., the Carolingians led by Louis the Pious conquer Barcelona, sack Lleida, and establish the Spanish March. These actions allowed the French Christians to extend control by establishing strongholds on the Balearic Sea side of Iberia.

Unfortunately, the Carolingians failed to take and hold Tarragona and Tortosa further south along the Balearic Sea side of Iberia. This forced a retreat to their Ebro marches in 809 A.D.

In 868 A.D., the conquest of the City of Porto (included the area from the Minho to the Douro River), leading to the establishment of the County of Portucale (Later Portugal), was conducted by Vímara Peres, a Christian warlord from Gallaecia. This vassal of the King of Asturias, Léon and Galicia, Alfonso III was sent to reconquer and secure the lands from the Moors. The city of Porto, Portugal is located along the Douro River (Rio Douro) estuary in northern Portugal on the Atlantic side of the Iberian Peninsula.

The capture of Coimbra by the Asturians established the County of Coimbra in 868 A.D. The County of Coimbra was a political entity consisting of the lands of Coimbra, Viseu, Lamengo and Santa Maria da Feira, in modern Portugal. It arose within the Kingdom of Asturias following the reconquest of the region, when the lands were granted to count Hermenegildo Gutiérrez, who over the next four decades was largely responsible for the resettlement of the depopulated province.

In 1085 A.D., the landmark conquest of Toledo, below Madrid and in the center of the peninsula, by Castilian forces occurred. This constituted over half of Iberia being conquered by Christian-ruled kingdoms.

The knight Jirón giving his horse to King Afonso VI of Castile. Painting by Carlos Luis Ribera. "Batalla de Zalaca, 1086" Obra de RIBERA CARLOS LUIS 1815/91. Grabado del Museo Romántico (Madrid) - EL ORIGEN DEL APELLIDO GIRON EN LA BATALLA DE LA SAGRA (AÑO 1086)

In the battle of La Sagra, in 1086, Afonso VI of Castile was lightly wounded, but his horse was killed. With the king in this great peril, a knight dismounted and offered the sovereign his horse. The king mounted and continued the fight. The knight, however, had cut a small piece of the royal mantle. After the victory, the king asked his men:

— “It was I, Sire” answered the knight Tellez. (The knight whose family would thenceforth be called Jirón ... 1086)

— “Nothing but the right to use the name Jirón [meaning “shred” or “tatter”], which identifies this piece of cloth and will remind me of the service it was my honor to render unto Your Majesty.”

Thus came into being one [Girón] of the 86 names of the Dukes of Osuna. The knight whose family would thenceforth be called Jirón “Batalla de Zalaca, 1086″

The first Crusade in 1097 A.D. ended with two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula being conquered by Christian-ruled kingdoms.

The crusade continued when in 1118, Navarro-Aragonese troops captured the Muslim strongholds of Tudela and Zaragoza in the northeastern part of the peninsula.

By 1147, the siege of Lisbon via the Second Crusade the Kingdom of Portugal defeated the Almoravids.

The Battle of Alarcos established Almohad authority in the south of the Iberia. The Battle on July 18, 1195, was between the Almohads led by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur and King Alfonso VIII of Castile. It resulted in the defeat of the Castilian forces and their subsequent retreat to Toledo. However, the Almohads reconquered Trujillo, Montánchez (The town of Montánchez in Cáceres, Spain), and Talavera in the center of the Peninsula.

By the 1200s the Ribera surname can be traced back to Gonzalo López de Rivera, Lord of the Castle of Rivera in Galicia. Source: Instituto Genealógico e Histórico Latinoamericano

The key battle Las of Navas de Tolosa in Jaén, heralds the steady political decline of the Iberian Muslim kingdoms. The Battle took place on July 16, 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain. The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal in battle against the Berber Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. The Caliph al-Nasir led the Almohad army, made up of people from the whole Almohad Empire. Most of the men in the Almohad army came from the African side of the empire.

In 1195, Alfonso VIII of Castile had been defeated by the Almohads in the so-called Disaster of Alarcos. After this victory the Almohads had taken important cities as Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Cuenca and Uclés. Then, in 1211, Muhammad al-Nasir had crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with a powerful army, and invaded the Christian territory and captured the stronghold of the Calatrava Knights in Salvatierra. After this, the threat was so great for the Iberian Christian kingdoms that Pope Innocent III called European knights to a crusade.

Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp, sneaking through the Despeñaperros Pass, being led by Martin Alhaja, a local shepherd that knew the area. The Christian coalition caught the Moorish army at camp by surprise, and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title Cabeza de Vaca for his assistance to Alfonso VIII.

According to legend, the Caliph had his tent surrounded with a bodyguard of slave-warriors who were chained together as a defense. The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard. The Caliph escaped, but the Moors were routed, leaving some 100,000 casualties on the battlefield. The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war: the tapestry covering the entrance to Al Nasir's tent was sent to the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas near Burgos where it remains on display to date, and Miramamolín's tent and standard were delivered to Pope Innocent III.

Christian losses were far fewer, only about 2,000 men (though not as few as legend had it). The losses were particularly heavy among the Orders. Those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo (bannerman of the Order of Calatrava), Alfonso Fernández de Valladares (comendator of the Order of Santiago), Pedro Arias (master of the Order of Santiago, died of wounds on August 3rd) and Gomes Ramires (Portuguese master of the Knights Templar). Ruy Díaz de Yanguas (master of the Order of Calatrava) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command.

The Caliph Muhammad al-Nasir himself died in Marrakech shortly after the battle, where he had fled after the defeat.

Cádiz and the former capital of the caliphate Córdoba are conquered by Castilian forces. On June 29, 1236, after a siege of several months, Córdoba was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile. Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. The old town contains numerous architectural reminders of when Corduba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic and capital of Hispania Baetica during the Roman Empire; and when Qurṭubah was the capital of the Islamic Emirate and then Caliphate of Córdoba, including most of the Iberian Peninsula.

King Afonso III of Portugal took Faro (in the Algarve), ending the Portuguese Reconquista in 1249.

In 1292, the King of Castile granted the Field Marshal Payo de Ribera a vast area of land next to the Montes de Toledo, which since the conquest of Toledo had been a hunting ground for bears, deer and boars for their kings, particularly Alfonso XI.

In the 1300s and 1400s Marinid Muslims seize control of some towns on the southern coast but were soon driven out, leaving only a few isolated towns in the south of Granada still controlled by the Moors.

In 1434, the Christian troops commanded by Diego Gómez de Ribera, the second Great Adelantado of Andalusia, Álora fortress was besieged. The position of Great Adelantado (aka Great Adelantado of the Border) was created in 1396 by King Henry III to protect the border with the Kingdom of Granada and granted to Per Afan de Ribera (1338-1421). This hereditary position remained kept by the Ribera family, of Galician origin and established in Seville in the 14th century, until superseded by the title of Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, granted by Philip II in 1558. Diego Gómez de Ribera succeeded his father in 1423 and was killed during the aforementioned siege of Álora. This event is recalled by the poem known as Álora la bien cercada (Álora the Well-besieged); the poem is a typical border's romancero, orally transmitted from the 14th century until compiled in several anthologies in the 19th-20th centuries. Álora fortress was besieged 1484. Independent from 1484 to 1487, Álora was subsequently incorporated to the reconquered town of Málaga. In 1628, Álora eventually seceded from Málaga, "forever".

In 1492, following the Treaty of Granada (November 25, 1491), the Moors surrender the city, completing the Reconquista.

With roots in the Middle Ages, Spanish surnames have been around since the 12th Century. Hispanic surnames can be especially important to genealogists because children are commonly given two surnames, one from each parent. The middle name (1st surname) traditionally comes from the father's name (apellido paterno), and the last name (2nd surname) is the mother's maiden name (apellido materno). Sometimes, these two surnames may be found separated by y (meaning "and"), although this is no longer as common as it once was.

Geographical Surnames are a common type of Hispanic last name. Spanish geographical surnames are often derived from the location of the homestead from which the first bearer and his family came from or resided in (River, Bank, etc.) as was the case of the Riberas. Some Spanish geographic surnames refer to landscape features.

In Spain, the nobiliary particle de is also used in two different styles. The first is a "patronymic-de-toponymic" formula, as used by, the de Ribera family. Examples of nobility particle de without patronymic include the sixteenth-century first Marquis of Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán, the conquistador Hernando de Soto, and the styling of the king of Spain as Juan Carlos de Borbón, a common tradition in Spanish culture.

The Ribera of the Asturias: In gules field, a stone castle, on waves of azure and silver, in which the head of a Moor floats; going out of its homage, half brown lion, taking two silver flags, an on top, with a cross, of azure and another fall, with a half moon also of azure.

Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community in north-west Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains most of the territory that was part of the Kingdom of Asturias in the middle Ages. Divided into eight comarcas (counties), the autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Castile and León to the south, by Galicia to the west, and by the Bay of Biscay to the north.

The most important cities are the communal capital, Oviedo (Uviéu or Uvieo), the seaport and largest city Gijón (Xixón), and the industrial town of Avilés. Other municipalities in Asturias include Cangas de Onís (Cangues d'Onís), Cangas del Narcea, Gozón, Grado (Grau or Grao), Langreo (Llangréu),Llanera,Laviana (Llaviana), Lena (Ḷḷena),Llanes,Mieres, Siero, Valdés, Vegadeo (A Veiga) and Villaviciosa (see also List of municipalities and comarcas in Asturias).

With the introduction of the Bronze Age, megaliths and tumuli were constructed. In the Iron Age, the territory came under the cultural influence of the Celts; the local Celtic peoples, known as the Astures, were composed of tribes such as the Luggones, the Pesicos, and others, who populated the entire area with castros (fortified hill-towns). Today the Astur Celtic influence persists in place names, such as those of rivers and mountains.

With the conquest of Asturias by the Romans under Augustus (29-19 BC), the region entered into the annals of history. After several centuries without foreign presence, the Suebi and Visigoths occupied the land from the 6th Century AD to the beginning of the 8th Century, ending with the Moorish invasion of Spain. However, as it had been for the Romans and Visigoths, the Moors did not find mountainous territory easy to conquer, and the lands along Spain's northern coast never fully became part of Islamic Spain. Rather, with the beginning of the Moorish conquest in the 8th Century, this region became a refuge for Christian nobles, and in 722, a de facto independent kingdom was established, the Regnum Asturorum, which was to become the cradle of the incipient Reconquista (Reconquest).

In the 10th Century, the Kingdom of Asturias gave way to the Kingdom of León, and during the middle Ages the geographic isolation of the territory made historical references scarce. Through the rebellion of Henry II of Castile in the 14th century, the Principality of Asturias was established. The most famous proponents of independence were Gonzalo Peláez and Queen Urraca, who, while achieving significant victories were ultimately defeated by Castilian troops. After its integration into the Kingdom of Spain, Asturias provided the Spanish court with high-ranking aristocrats and played an important role in the colonization of America. Since 1388, the heir to the Castilian (later Spanish) throne has been styled Prince of Asturias. In the 16th Century, the population reached 100,000 for the first time, and within another century that number would double due to the arrival of American corn.

During the 18th Century, Asturias was one of the centers of the Spanish Enlightenment. The renowned Galician thinker Benito de Feijóo settled in the Benedictine Monastery of San Vicente de Oviedo.

The Industrial Revolution came to Asturias after 1830 with the discovery and systematic exploitation of coal mines and iron factories at the mining basins of Nalón and Caudal, which turned Asturias into an industrial region. At the same time, there was significant migration to America (especially Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico); those who succeeded overseas often returned to their native land much wealthier. These entrepreneurs were known collectively as 'Indianos', for having visited and made their fortunes in the West Indies and beyond.

This hereditary position remained kept by the Ribera family, of Galician origin and established in Seville in the 14th Century, until superseded by the title of Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, granted by Philip II in 1558 to Per Enríquez-Afán de Ribera (1509-1571), aka Perafán de Ribera, second Marquis of Tarifa, fifth Count of Los Molares, Viceroy of Catalonia and Naples.

The illegitimate son of Perafán de Ribera is known as St. Juan de Ribera (1532-1611, canonized in 1960 in spite of his role in the expelling of the Moriscos from València). Ribera was appointed Archbishop and Viceroy of València and Patriarch of Antioch.

The Ribera of the house of Seville also used the solar shield of Galicia, although in some descriptions are called bands, wrongly attributed to the three stripes of sinople that contains; according to Betancourt and Nunez of the Death Penalty.

It is said that the first Jews arrived in Seville in the 6th Century BC, and were from David's family.

Biscay (in Basque and officially Bizkaia and in Spanish Vizcaya) is a province of Spain located just south of the Bay of Biscay. The name also refers to a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao.

In the Early-middle Ages, the history of Biscay cannot be separated from that of the Basque Country as a whole. The area was de facto independent although Visigoths and Franks attempted to assert their domination from time to time. Encounters between the Visigoths and Basques usually led to defeat for the latter. The Visigoths established an outlying post at the later city of Vitoria to counter incursions and the migration of Basques from the coastal regions to the north.

In 905, Leonese chronicles define for the first time the Kingdom of Pamplona as including all the western Basque provinces as well as the Rioja region. The territories that would later constitute Biscay were included in that state.

In the conflicts that the newly sovereign Kingdom of Castile and Pamplona/Navarre had in the 11th and 12th centuries, the Castilians were supported by many landowners from La Rioja, who sought to consolidate their holdings under Castilian feudal law. These pro-Castilian lords were led by the house of Haro, who were eventually granted the rule of newly created Biscay. It is unclear when this happened, but tradition says that Iñigo López was the first Lord of Biscay in 1043.

The region soon reverted to Navarre, remaining so until the Castilian invasion of 1199-1200.

The title to the lordship was inherited by Iñigo López's descendants until, by inheritance, in 1370 it passed to John I of Castile. It became one of the titles of the king of Castile. Since then it remained connected to the crown, first to that of Castile and then, from Carlos I, to that of Spain. It was conditioned on the lord swearing to defend and maintain the fuero (Biscayan laws, derived from Navarrese and Basque customary rights), which affirmed that the possessors of the sovereignty of the lordship were the Biscayans and that, at least in theory, they could refute the lord.

The lords and later the kings came to swear the Statutes to the oak of Gernika, where the assembly of the Lordship sits.

In 1398, the castle and domain of Bornos were purchased by Per Afán de Ribera, first Great Adelantado of Andalusia ("Adelantado Mayor de Andalucía," aka Great Adelantado of the Border, "Adelantado Mayor de la Frontera"). This position was created in 1396 by King Henry III to protect the border with the Kingdom of Granada and granted to Per Afan de Ribera (1338-1421).

The municipality of Bornos is located in the north of the Cádiz Province, 80 km north-east of Cádiz.

Borsno (a castle and a domain) was purchased in 1398 by Per Afán de Ribera (1338-1421), first Great Adelantado of Andalusia (Adelantado Mayor de Andalucía, aka Great Adelantado of the Border, Adelantado Mayor de la Frontera). This hereditary title, created in 1396 by King Henry III to protect the border with the Kingdom of Granada, was kept by the Ribera family, of Galician origin and established in Seville in the 14th century, until superseded by the title of Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, granted by Philip II in 1558 to Per Enríquez-Afán de Ribera (1509-1571), aka Perafán de Ribera, 2nd Marquis of Tarifa, 5th Count of Los Molares, Viceroy of Catalonia and Naples. The illegitimate son of Perafán de Ribera is known as St. Juan de Ribera (1532-1611, canonized in 1960 in spite of his role in the expelling of the Moriscos from Valencia). Ribera was appointed Archbishop and Viceroy of Valencia and Patriarch of Antioch.

Bornos is, therefore, the proud cradle of the Ribera family, whose members often stayed at Bornos rather than somewhere else and built several monuments in the town. The former Moorish castle was transformed in a palace of Plateresque style (Spanish Renaissance) in the 16th century. The palace's garden was designed on the model of Bramante's Belvedere Garden in Vatican (1501) for Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, who had travelled to the Holy Land and Italy. The Dame of the castle was said to bathe in the garden's basin to purify her body after having purified her soul in the neighboring chapel. Restored and transformed by Spanish and Italian artists in the 16th-17th centuries, the castle was purchased by the municipality from the Ducal House of Medinaceli in 1953. The logia was built as an open-air private museum by architect Benvenuto Tortello, is unique in Andalusia.

Francisco Enríquez de Ribera founded in 1505 the Monastery of St. Mary of the Rosary, famous for its cloister supported by 56 marble columns; a main religious center in the 18th Century, the monastery declined and only a small tower and parts of its wall are still visible. Fernando Enríquez de Ribera founded in 1590 the St. Bernardino Convent, used as a college by the Franciscan monks, and also nearly disappeared today.

Perafán de Ribera, in his testament, commissioned his son (St.) Juan to build the Colegio de la Sangre (College of the Blood) to house the Duke's squires and other nobles of low rank but good blood, which was achieved in 1597. Perafán's second will was the building of the Corpus Christi Convent, which was allowed by Pope Clement VII in 1593 and inaugurated in 1597 by Cistercian nuns, subsequently succeeded by Franciscan Clarisses.

The mother of Pedro Afán de Ribera was born in Tarifa, Cádiz, the son of Fernando Enriquez, a member of the Enriquez family, which descended from royal bastards living in the 14th Century. Was of the family, the Afan de Ribera, located in Sevilla and Cádiz and were involved in the slave trade and the settlement of the Canary Islands.

Saint Juan de Ribera (1532–1611), Archbishop of València, who was beatified in 1796 and canonized in 1960.

A Rivera family branch was founded in the city of València. It began with Melchor de Rivera, husband of Mrs. Maria de Borja Llanzol Olivera, natural of València, parents of José Rivera y Borja, native of València, Councilman Dean of this city and Baron of San Petrillo. He married Mrs. Louise Escorcia merchant, born in Alicante. They had Antonio de Rivera y Escorcia a native of València, Baron of San Petrillo, field Sobrarbe and Arbajon, and Knight of the order of Montesa, which entered January 7, 1758. This family Rivera (Bank) based in València and headed by Antonio Ribera y Escorcia, V Baron of San Petrillo’s title was created by Felipe IV.

Valencia or València is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, with around 800,000 inhabitants in the administrative centre. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 1.5 million people. Valencia is Spain's third largest metropolitan area, with a population ranging from 1.7 to 2.5 million.

Valencia was founded as a Roman colony in 138 BC. The city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain, with approximately 169 hectares; this heritage of ancient monuments, views and cultural attractions makes Valencia one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.

The original Latin name of the city was Valentia, meaning "strength", or "valor", the city being named according to the Roman practice of recognizing the valor of former Roman soldiers after a war. The Roman historian Livy explains that the founding of Valentia in the 2nd Century BC was due to the settling of the Roman soldiers who fought against an Iberian rebel, Viriato.

During the rule of the Muslim kingdoms in Spain, it had the nickname Medina bu-Tarab ('City of Joy') according to a transliteration, or Medina at-Turab, 'City of Sands') according to another, since it was located on the banks of the River Turia. It is not clear if the term Balansiyya was reserved for the entire Taifa of Valencia or also designated the city.

Valencia stands on the banks of the Turia or Túria River, located on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, fronting the Gulf of Valencia. At its founding by the Romans, it stood on a river island in the Turia, 6.4 km (4 mi) from the sea. The Albufera, a freshwater lagoon and estuary about 11 km (7 mi) south of the city, is one of the largest lakes in Spain.

In Catalonia they settled in Montdanar. They became viceroys of Cataluña in the North. 1554: Afán de Ribera was the 2nd Marquis of Tarifa, 4th Count of Los Molares and Adelantado of Andalucía. He served as Viceroy of Catalonia from 1554 to 1558.

The Riberas (Bank) of Montdanar, in Catalonia, they bring: In silver field, three waved strips, of gules. Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated a "nationality" by its Statute of Autonomy. Catalonia comprises four provinces:

The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain, and the centre of one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe, and it comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia, with the remainder now part of France. Catalonia is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish regions of Aragon and the Valencian Community to west and south respectively. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Arganese (an Occitan dialect).

In the 10th Century the eastern counties of the March of Gothia and the Marca Hispanica became independent from the Frankish kingdom, uniting as vassals of Barcelona. In 1137 Barcelona and Aragon formed the Crown of Aragon, and Catalonia became a maritime power and the main base for the Crown of Aragon's naval power and expansionism in the Mediterranean. Medieval Catalan literature flourished. Between 1469 and 1516, the King of Aragon and the Queen of Castille married and ruled their kingdoms together, retaining all their distinct institutions, courts, and the Constitution. During the Reapers' War (1640-52), Catalonia rebelled against the presence of Castillian army in its territory, becoming a republic under French protection. Under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, which ended the wider Franco-Spanish war, Castille agreed with France to cede it the northern parts of Catalonia, mostly incorporated in the county of Roussillon. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), the Crown of Aragon sided against Philip V of Spain, whose subsequent victory led to the abolition of Catalan institutions and the replacement of Latin or Catalan with the Spanish language in legal documents.

Branch of the family Bank in town of Cadaqués, in the judicial district of Figueres, in the province of Girona

Later, they settled in the town of Cadaqués, in the judicial district of Figueres, in the province of Girona. Cadaqués is a town in the Alt Empordà comarca, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is on a bay in the middle of the Cap de Creus Peninsula, near Cap de Creus Cape, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean. It is only a two-and-a-quarter hour drive from Barcelona, and thus it is very accessible and not only attracts tourists but people who want a second home for weekends and summers. In 2002, Cadaqués had an official population of 2,612, but up to ten times as many people can live in the town during the peak of the summer tourism season.

They were admitted in courts, and since the 15th Century, enjoyed the privilege of Knights. Juan de Ribera was Inquisitor of Catalonia. Some of its lines resided in Barcelona.

Some of its lines resided in Barcelona. Barcelona is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain and the country's 2nd largest city, with a population of 1.6 million within its administrative limits. Its urban area extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of around 4.5 million people, being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. About five million people live in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 ft) high.

Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination.

House of Ribera in Mallorca had its beginning in the year 1678, in which Don Bernardo de Ribera y Pascual. He was born in the Catalan town of Cadaqués, and descendants of the Bank of Andalusia. He married in the city of Majorca with Doña Carlota (Coloma) Llaneres. The line was with succession.

Mr. Bernardo Ribera and Marquis’, grandson of the expressed Bernando D., was Captain of Sea and commanded the jabeque "Name of Jesus", which in November 15, 1740 while in the channel of Oran, with only eighteen men, fought heroically, and beat the crew of thirty-six boats and boats of the English squad.

Mr. Gerónimo Ribera and Marquis, a member of the Mallorcan Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country; He served as an important person to King D. Carlos III, as Armando Privateers against the enemy, already having played an honest role with a proven record had been a committed supplier of all army cargo in the conquest of Minorca, which took place in 1781. He had already made a loan of more than thirty thousand pesos, to meet urgent expenses of the Royal Navy. For these and many other services S. M. awarded him by resolution of the Board of the Chamber of March 26, 1787, with a perpetual privilege of nobility, extended to all of his descendants, issued in Aranjuez to 24th of May of the same year.

Don Juan Ribera y Noguera came to serve in the Royal Navy, embarking on the expedition that went to the island of Santa Catalina in the Brazil: was later found in the famous fighting.

Majorca, or Mallorca (Catalan: Mallorca) Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest island in the Balearic Islands archipelago, in Spain. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca (in the municipality of Palma). The anthem of Majorca is La Balanguera.

The name derives from Latin insula maior, "larger island"; later Maiorica, "the larger one" in comparison to Minorca, "the smaller one".

The first to colonize the island were the Phoenicians, an ancient people of the Middle East. They arrived around the 8th Century BC and established numerous colonies there. It was ultimately occupied by the Carthaginian Empire. After the Second Punic War, Carthage lost all of its overseas possessions and the Romans took over. The island was occupied by the Romans in 123 BCE under Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus. It flourished under Roman rule, during which time the towns of Pollentia (Alcúdia), and Palmaria (Palma) were founded. In addition, the northern town of Bocchoris, dating back to pre-Roman times, was a federated city to Rome. The local economy was largely driven by olive cultivation, viticulture, and salt mining. Majorcan soldiers were valued within the Roman legions for their skill with the sling.

In 427, Gunderic and the Vandals captured the island. Roman rule was not restored until 465. Geiseric, son of Gunderic, governed Majorca, using it as his base to loot and plunder the Mediterranean.

In 534, Majorca was conquered by the Byzantine Empire, led by Apollinarius, and administered as part of the province of Sardinia (see also Gymnesian Islands). Under Byzantine rule, Christianity flourished and numerous churches were built.

From 707, the island was increasingly attacked by Muslim raiders from North Africa. Recurrent invasions led the islanders to petition Charlemagne for help.

In 902, Issam al-Hawlaní conquered the Balearic Islands, ushering in a new period of prosperity under the Emirate of Córdoba. The town of Palma was reshaped and expanded, and became known as Medina Mayurqa. Later on, with the Caliphate of Córdoba at its height, the Moors improved agriculture with irrigation and developed local industries.

After the Caliphate was dismembered in 1015, a new, more decadent era started. Majorca came under rule by the Taifa of Dénia, and from 1087 to 1114 was an independent Taifa. During that period the island was visited by Ibn Hazm. However, in 1114, an expedition of Pisans and Catalans, led by Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, overran the island, laying siege to Palma for eight months.

After the city fell, the invaders retreated due to problems in their own lands, and were replaced by the Almoravides from North Africa, who ruled until 1176. The Almoravides were replaced by the Almohad dynasty until 1229. Abú Yahya was the last Moorish leader of Majorca.

In the ensuing confusion and unrest, King James I of Aragon launched an invasion which landed on Santa Ponça, Majorca, on September 8-9, 1229 with 15,000 men and 1,500 horses, entering the city of Medina Mayurqa on December 31, 1229, and annexing the island to his Crown of Aragon after a campaign which climaxed on October 30, 1230.

After the death of James I in 1276, his kingdom was divided between his two sons. James II became king of the new, and brief, Kingdom of Majorca. In 1285, Alfonso III of Aragon, son of Peter III of Aragon, seized power and his uncle James was forced to flee the island.

The successor of Alfonso III returned the power to James II. After his death in 1311, he was succeeded by his son Sancho I of Majorca. James III, nephew of Sancho, and only nine years old, became king in 1324. However, in 1344, King Peter IV of Aragon invaded, and re-incorporated the island into the Crown. James III was forced to flee to Rosselló.

Branch of the family Bank in Central America Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala

One of his descendants branch in Central America Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala during the conquest of the region where he was governor of Costa Rica.

Returning again to the Alcázars, Jerónima de León, another sister of the poet Baltasar del Alcázar, also married into a suspect family. Her husband Pedro de Ribera was the son of Licentiate Luis Sánchez de Ribera and María de Palma, natives of Cordova. Pedro appears in the Sevillian Protocols along with his brother Diego as an investor in the trade with the Indies. In 1546 he leased the property of Almuedana from the Countess of Gelves, mother of that same Count of Gelves who employed the poet Baltasar del Alcázar as his financial administrator.

Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. The old town contains numerous architectural reminders of when Corduba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic and capital of Hispania Baetica during the Roman Empire; and when Qurṭubah was the capital of the Islamic Emirate and then Caliphate of Córdoba, including most of the Iberian Peninsula.

It has been estimated that in the 10th century Córdoba was the most populous city in the world, and under the rule of Caliph Al Hakam II it had also become a centre for education under its Islamic rulers. Al Hakam II opened many libraries on top of the many medical schools and universities which existed at this time. Such universities contributed towards developments in mathematics and astronomy. During these centuries Córdoba had become the intellectual centre of Europe and was also noted for its predominantly Muslim society that was tolerant toward its minorities.

The first historical mention of a settlement dates, however, to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir, when the general Hamilcar Barca renamed it Kartuba, from Kart-Juba, meaning "the City of Juba", the latter being a Numidian commander who had died in a battle nearby. Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 B.O.T. In 169 the Roman consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. Between 143 and 141 B.O.T. the town was besieged by Viriatus. A Roman Forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 B.O.T. The famous Cordoba Treasure, which mixes local and Roman artistic traditions, was buried in the city at this time. It can now be found in the collections of the British Museum.

At the time of Julius Caesar, Córdoba was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior Baetica. Great Roman philosophers such as Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, orators such as Seneca the Elder and poets such as Lucan came from Roman Cordoba. Later, it occupied an important place in the Provincia Hispaniae of the Byzantine Empire (552-572) and under the Visigoths, who conquered it in the late 6th Century.

Córdoba was captured in 711 by a Muslim army. Unlike other Iberian towns, no capitulation was signed and the position was taken by storm. Córdoba was in turn governed by direct Muslim rule. The new Muslim commanders established themselves within the city and in 716 it became a provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus.

Different areas were allocated for the services in the Saint Vincent Church shared by Christian and Muslims, until the former Mosque started to be erected on the same spot under Abd-ar-Rahman I. In May 766, it was chosen as the capital of the independent Muslim emirate of al-Andalus, later a Caliphate itself. During the caliphate apogee (1000 AD), Córdoba had a population of roughly 500,000 inhabitants, though estimates range between 350,000 and 1,000,000. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Córdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world as well as a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. The Great Mosque of Córdoba dates back to this time; under Caliph Al-Hakam II Córdoba had 3,000 mosques, splendid palaces and 300 public baths, and received what was then the largest library in the world, housing from 400,000 to 1,000,000 volumes. Upon a change of rulers, though, the situation changed quickly. "The vizier al-Mansur–the unofficial ruler of al-Andalus from 976 to 1002—burned most of the books on philosophy to please the Muslim clergy; most of the others were sold off or perished in the civil strife not long after.

The Rivera of Navarre also used the solar shield of Galicia, although in some descriptions are called bands, wrongly attributed to the three stripes of sinople that contains; according to Betancourt and Nunez of the Death Penalty.

Navarre, officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France. The capital city is Pamplona.

During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a pre-Roman tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, included the area which would ultimately become Navarre. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, except for coastal areas Oiasso today known as Gipuzkoa. Not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops.

Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area. The Vascones (to become the Basques) included neighboring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD 778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. Two generations later, in 824, the Basque chieftain Iñigo Arista was elected King of Pamplona supported by the Muwallad Banu Qasi of Tudela, so establishing a Basque kingdom that developed and was later called Navarre. That kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of Sancho III of Navarre, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony (Early-11th Century).

When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons. It never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims (the Francs) poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200 Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, leaving the kingdom landlocked. Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads.

The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, whose descendants intermarried with French dynasties. However, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. The death of Queen Blanche I of Navarre (1441) inaugurated a civil war period between the Beaumont and Agramont confederacies with the intervention of the Castilian-Aragonese House of Trastámara in Navarre's internal affairs. In 1512, Navarre was invaded by Ferdinand the Catholic's troops, with the monarchs of Navarre Catherine and John III withdrawing to the north of the Pyrenees, and establishing a Kingdom of Navarre-Bearn, led by Queen Jeanne d'Albret as of 1555.

To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile (1515), but keeping a separate ambiguous status, and a shaky balance up to 1610—King Henry ready to march over Spanish Navarre. A Chartered Government was established (the Diputación), and the kingdom managed to keep home rule. Tensions with the Spanish Government came to a head as of 1794, when Spanish premier Manuel Godoy attempted to suppress Navarrese and Basque self-government altogether, with the end of the First Carlist War definitely bringing the kingdom and its home rule (fueros) to an end (1839-1841).

The Rivera of the Canary Islands bring the same weapons of the shield of Galicia, although in some descriptions are called bands, wrongly attributed to the three stripes of sinople that contains of Galicia also used the solar shield of Galicia according to Betancourt and Nunez of the Death Penalty.

As used by the Rivera of Canary Islands, includes this Blazon; quarterly coat of arms: 1. and 4., azure, with a white Hound; 2., Sable, with a band of gold position in heads of dragons of the same metal; and 3., sable, with a silver Castle.

The Canary Islands or Islas Canarias, also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago located just off the southwest coast of mainland Morocco, 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the southern border of Morocco. The Canaries are one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities and are among the outermost region of the European Union proper. The islands include (from largest to smallest): Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Algranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara and Roque del Oeste.

The capital of the Autonomous Community is shared by the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Province of Las Palmas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, except for a brief period in 1910. Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, as it remains at present. The third largest city of the Canary Islands is La Laguna (a World Heritage Site) on Tenerife.

During the times of the Spanish Empire the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas because of the prevailing winds from the northeast.

The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Island of the Dogs", a name applied originally only to Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained "vast multitudes of dogs of very large size". What is certain is that the name of the islands does not derive from the canary bird; rather, the birds are named after the islands.

The Ribera de Benabarre (Huesca) is a town in the Aragonese county of Ribagorza, in the province of Huesca, Spain. Traditionally, Benabarre was the capital of the historic County of Ribagorza, which was more expansive in territory than today, and included the comarca of Alta Ribagorça, now in the province of Lleida, Catalonia.

The County of Ribagorza or Ribagorça was originally the independent creation of a local Basque dynasty, later absorbed into the Kingdom of Navarre, and then into the Crown of Aragon. Historically it had a strong connection with the counties of Sobrarbe and Pallars. Its territory was the valleys of the rivers Ésera, Isábena, and Noguera Ribagorzana. The seat of its counts was at Benabarre. Other notable towns include Benasque, Graus and Pont de Suert. Today the western portion of the county roughly corresponds to the Aragonese comarca of Ribagorza, with its administrative centre in Grass; the eastern portion roughly corresponds to the Catalan comarca of Alta Ribagorça.

They bring: in field gules, an armed wing of iron sword of silver, tip above and below it, one intern lamb, of silver. Branches are recorded in several Aragonese towns since 1626.

The ancestor of the Ribera's family in Cáceres was Alfón de Ribera, el Doncel, son of the Adelantado of Andalusia, Don Perafrán de Ribera. In time of Banderías (disputes between nobility factions in 15th Century) he was governor of the castles of Azagala and Alburquerque, and he met death when he left Seville in 1443, and a group of supporters of Infantes de Aragón killed him.

Coming from Galicia, the Ribera linage started its enlargement in second half of the 14th Century. They were representatives, as Adelantados Mayores de Andalucía, of the royal authority, in a Seville divided by the rivalries of the local aristocracy.

At the end of the 15th Century, after the union by marriage with the Enríquez linage, (from the House of Trastámara), who reigned in Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Naples

They took the surname Enríquez de Ribera and lived their golden century as the city of Seville turned into the metropolis of the West Indies, being awarded with the titles of Marquis of Tarifa (1514) and Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules (1558), two of these members were appointed viceroys of Naples, a position highly coveted amongst the aristocracy.

In 1559, Afán de Ribera was appointed Viceroy of Naples and held on to this position until his death.

The family broke into 5 branches, one of them moved to Naples (16th Century), and they became viceroys of Naples, Sicily, and also of Venice. This Italian Branch of the family also includes a saint, his name was Giovanni Afan de Rivera, and though he lived in the 16th Century he was canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1960.

Pedro Afán de Ribera, 1st Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, Virrey y Capitán General de Cataluña y Nápoles (died 1571), also known as Pedro Enriquez Afan de Ribera or Per Afán de Ribera y Portocarrero or Perafán de Ribera y Portocarrero, was a Spanish nobleman most notable for his twelve-year-long service as Viceroy of Naples, Viceroy of Cataluña and 1st Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules.

Pedro Afán de Ribera was born in Tarifa, Cádiz, the son of Fernando Enriquez, a member of the Enriquez family, which descended from royal bastards living in the 14th Century. His mother's family, the Afan de Ribera, were located in Sevilla and Cádiz and were involved in the slave trade and the settlement of the Canary Islands.

In the province of Jaén, Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, Perafán (but eagerness) of the Riverside family became "Adelantados" (governors) of Andalusia, in the southern part of Spain during the "Reconquista" (the process of conquering again from the Moors all the Iberian Peninsula).

This House, also known as the House of Alcalá de los Gazules, was created for the Ribera lineage of Galician origin and became established in Seville at the beginning of the 14th Century. The true founder of the House and the promoter of the social ascent of the lineage was Per Afan de Ribera "the older", as proclaimed by his great-great grandson, the 1st Marquis of Tarifa, on the stone of his tomb, which is one of those he commissioned from the Aprile workshop in Genoa to honor his ancestors' memory.

Per Afán de Ribera "El viejo" I Adelantado Mayor de Andalucía

Parents:

Ruy López de Ribera

[?-Algeciras, 1344]

Spouses and children

o [1404] Luis Méndez Portocarrero, Señor de Benacazón y Mocejón (?-?) [with issue]

One of its most enlightened descendants flourished at the beginning of the 15th Century, was advanced to high station in Andalusia as Captain General of the frontier of the Kingdom of León and Chief Justice of the city of Úbeda is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia. He lived to very old age and was to have a stem which was an illustrious branch of the family Bank in Andalusia, which was followed by:

My progenitor of these de Riberas was Salvador Matías de Ribera, born in Puerto De Santa María, España, in the Andalusian area across the bay from Cádiz in 1675. Salvador Matías married Juana De Sosa Canela and had a child. He passed away on 1712 in Santa Fe, Nuevo Méjico (New Mexico).

To the left is the Flag of Andalucía. Its area is 87,300 - km sq., approximately 17.3 % of the Spanish territory. It stretches from the southeast to the southwest of the country. Andalucía has five hundred miles of coastline of which seventy-percent is sandy beaches. The Mediterranean seaboard is graced by the Costa de Almeria, Costa Tropical and the glamorous, cosmopolitan Costa del Sol, while the Costa de la Luz lies along the Atlantic shore to the west of Gibraltar.

Once Spain's poorest region, Andalucía and specifically the provinces of Malaga, Granada, and Seville is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. With sandy beaches, beautiful countryside, spectacular mountain ranges, and fabulous monuments the region attracts thousands of tourists each year.

Its high-spirited people live life to the full and are well known for their exuberance, warmth and hospitality. Andalucía is also home of flamenco and bullfighting best enjoyed at the regions countless ferias and romerias.

The Andalucía’s fascinating cities and dazzling shores; the region is sprinkled with tiny unspoiled villages and whitewashed towns. There one can find many pueblos blancos, such as Casares, Gaucin and Frigilana.

But perhaps the most unique feature of this enchanting region is the remnants of its Moorish past. The Moors a mixture of Berbers and Arabs invaded Spain from North Africa by the Straits of Gibraltar and occupied the peninsula for more than seven centuries. They called it the al Andalus. From 710, when they first landed in Tarifa, within a mere four years they had virtually conquered the entire peninsula.

They soon withdrew to the southern part of the peninsula, where they established, in the towns of Cordoba, Seville and Granada, one of the most sophisticated civilizations of the middle ages. Each of these Andalucía n capitals boasts spectacular remains of their monuments, the most unforgettable of which is, undoubtedly, Granada's Alhambra Palace.

The Andalucía is composed of eight provinces. Each one is named for its capital city: Cádiz, Cordoba, Jaen, Huelva, Almeria, Malaga, Granada and Seville. The de Riberas were originally from Galicia, Spain before emigrating to the south across the bay from Cádiz.

Cádiz is the capital of the province of the same name in the Spanish region of Andalucía. The city is sited on a long narrow peninsula in the southwest corner of Spain, surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in 1100 BC, it's credited with being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the western world.

Flag of Cádiz

Christopher Columbus started two of his major voyages from here and secured a glittering future for the port which was to become the major trading center with the Americas.

Cádiz is still a working port and both the city and wider province remain popular holiday destinations for thousands of Spaniards who flock here each summer. It's a relatively small city, with a population of about 160,000, divided into two distinct sections - the charming old quarter with its narrow alleyways, delightful plazas and flower-filled balconies and the modern industrial area where wide boulevards overlook the Atlantic.

The de Riberas originally came from ancient territories of Galicia, Spain. The town was located near Santiago de Compostella. There the family can be traced back to between the 11th and 12th centuries, where their ancestral origin first appeared in ancient medieval records.

Very early, the de Riberas held lands and estates and actively allied with other influential families. They branched out into other territories and holdings, before taking the long voyage to the New World. A few of my other lines (Varela, Gurule, Archuleta, Romero, Garcia, Chavez, and Olguin) are listed on this map.

Santander City Map

The original de Riberas were of the Celtic and Proto-Celtic tribes living in the remote Spanish northern mountain areas. Later, branches were of Jewish origin.

There are many indicators that the name Rivera may be of Jewish origin, emanating from the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain.

When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian Peninsula. The approximately 750,000 Jews living in Spain in the year 1492 were banished from the country by royal decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews of Portugal were banished several years later. Reprieve from the banishment decrees was promised to those Jews who converted to Catholicism. Though some converted by choice, most of these New-Christian converts were called CONVERSOS or MARRANOS (a derogatory term for converts meaning pigs in Spanish), ANUSIM (meaning "coerced ones" in Hebrew) and CRYPTO-JEWS, as they secretly continued to practice the tenets of the Jewish faith.

Research has found that the family name Rivera is cited with respect to Jews & Crypto-Jews in at least 17 bibliographical, documentary, or electronic references:

5) Sephardic names extracted from the book, "Finding Our Fathers", by Dan Rottenberg. Each name is followed by a short biography and references for additional information. This book is a fine reference for those interested in learning Jewish genealogy research. The publication explains how and where to conduct research and can be purchased on this site through Amazon.com.

(29) "Sangre Judia" ("Jewish Blood") by Pere Bonnin. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in inquisition records. Los Apellidos estan sacados de las listas de penitenciados por el Santo Oficio, de los censos de las juderias y de otras fuentes que indican claramente que la persona portadora del apellido es judia o judeoconversa. Tiene Vd. sangre judia? (~)

(45) Apellidos de Judios Sefardies (Surnames of the Sephardic Jews) from the site Comunidad Israelita Pincipado de Austurias.

(46) "Diciionario Sefaradi De Sobrenomes" ("Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames"): This reference provides thousand of Sephardic names of immigrants to Brazil. The authors have attempted to provide the ports of departure of these immigrants. The source of this information is also available.

The Gutiérrez family and its relationship to the Ribera family are a case in point. Merchant Pedro Gutiérrez (husband of Beatriz de la Sal) and his brother Ruy Díaz de Segura, whose profession of trapero (old-clothes dealer) was traditional among the Conversos and their ancestors were among the richest Sevillian businessmen at mid-century. Ruy Díaz de Segura owned three ships engaged in the carrera de Indias: the caravel Santa María del Cabo, the Santa María de la Regla in association with his cousin Pedro de Medina, and the Santa María de la Consolación. In 1525, he was one of the three converso merchants who tried to purchase the farm of the almojarifazgo of Santo Domingo. His brother Pedro Gutiérrez served as his factor in Santo Domingo during the years 1524 to 1527. Upon his return to Seville he devoted himself to the Afro-American slave trade, often in association with Lucas de la Sal. Jerónima de León Y del Alcázar

Returning again to the Alcázars, Jerónima de León, another sister of the poet Baltasar del Alcázar, also married into a suspect family. Her husband Pedro de Ribera was the son of Licentiate Luis Sánchez de Ribera and María de Palma, natives of Cordova. Pedro appears in the Sevillian Protocols along with his brother Diego as an investor in the trade with the Indies. In 1546, he leased the property of Almuedana from the Countess of Gelves, mother of that same Count of Gelves who employed the poet Baltasar del Alcázar as his financial administrator.

The union of Jerónima de León and Pedro de Ribera is just another example of intermarriage among the New Christian families and once again reveals the Converso origin of the Alcázars. Three generations of Alcázars were linked through marriage to a large group of families of similar background whose wealth was derived from trade. These families constituted the governing, mercantile, and intellectual elite of Seville during this period.

As for the Celtic side of the de Riberas, today, the word Celtic usually denotes people who are descended from one of seven (now eight) Celtic "fringe" provinces in Western Europe. These principal Celtic countries and regions of today are Ireland; Scotland; Wales; Corwall; Isle of Man; Brittany, France; and Galicia, Spain.

Many Celtic descendants of immigrants to North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand can trace their ancestry from the Celts.

Fortunately, the Celtic culture was situated on the borders of western civilization instead of in the center where major changes took place. As a result, Celtic civilization offers a window into a world that existed before many of the conventions were brought about in Western society. It has been compared in this respect to the Hindu culture of India, the other "fringe" culture of the Arrian expansion in Europe. There are many similarities in their culture and their beliefs, which span back to the formative years of Western civilization.

Celt, also spelled KELT, Latin CELTA, plural Celtae, is a member of an early Indo - European people. These peoples spread over much of Europe from the 2nd millennium BC to the 1st Century BC. Their tribes and groups eventually ranged from the British Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and Galatia in Anatolia (Turkey).

Galicia, where the de Riberas originally settled, is located in the northwestern corner of Spain. Its residents are proud of their distinctive Gallego dialect and way of life.

And yes, there is a Galician National Tartan, Tartan Gallaecia. It is Galicia’s most popular tartan. Tartan Gallaecia combines white and blue threads as in the colors of the national and historical flags of the country. The tartan's cobalt blue threads represent Galicia's national color and the navy blue threads represent the Atlantic Ocean. The silver threads on the tartan represent Galicia's stormy seas, as well as the white snow on the Galician Highlands and the nation's thousand rivers.

How is it worn? The kilt is wrapped around the waist and secured by the straps and buckles, with the kilt pleats at the back. The kilt should be pulled around from right to left and the strap passed through the hole and buckle and then around the top apron left to right over the right hip and strapped to the buckle. This is done to ensure that the top edge of both sections fall together. The kilt is worn high with the top of it over the wearer’s belly button. Kilts are not like pants. They sit higher around your middle.

Next place the broad belt through the belt loops at the back and fasten tightly with the top edge of the kilt. When worn, the bottom of the kilt should rest just above the knee, leaving the knee on display. Finally you can reach down under your kilt to pull your shirt into place. (Try doing that with regular pants!)

Galicia has several large industrialized cities and some major ports, but its communities are mostly small, rural villages subsisting on fishing, farming, or forestry. Emigration has been widespread.

The maritime climate produces Spain’s wettest region and correspondingly lush landscapes with plantations of pine and eucalyptus. Deep fjord-like tidal inlets known locally as rías, interspersed with sandy bays and rocky headlands characterize the coast.

Four separate provinces make up the region. The capital of Provincia de La Coruña is Santiago de Compostela, once the third most important shrine in Christendom (after Jerusalem and Rome). And it has been the goal of countless pilgrims since the cult of Saint James began during the middle ages. Modern pilgrims still flock to this fine cathedral city. The cool climate and the beautiful shoreline also attract many summer holiday visitors, and tourism increasingly bolsters the local economy.

The land of Asturias is heavily forested, and its high rainfall and cool temperatures are ideal for its dairy industries and apple orchards, which produce world-famous cider. The abundance of rivers and the rocky coastline along the Bay of Biscay make fishing important as well. The backbone of the economy, however, is mining and metallurgy - particularly coal and iron mining and steel manufacturing. The industry is concentrated in the Río Nalón Valley, forming an urban triangle between the cities of Avilés, Gijón, and Oviedo, which is the capital of the province.

The Pyrenees is one of the major mountain chains of Europe, forming the border that separates France and Spain. The range extends for almost 270 miles from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, with more than fifty peaks topping 10,000 feet. Wild and beautiful, the range is characterized by the towering cliff walls of its cirques, over which waterfalls plunge into small mountain lakes. Caves and underground rivers are also common in the area. The highest ice cave in Europe, the Grotte Casteret, is there.

The French side drops much more steeply than the Spanish, which descends gradually southward into various minor ranges and counter ranges. There is a small amount of permanent snow near the summits of the higher peaks, but glaciers in the Pyrenees are few and small.

The weather is fairly settled in the summer, though hot on the Spanish side. The western portion of the range has more precipitation than the comparatively dry east.

Although the Pyrenees are lower than the Alps, they have fewer passes, and have historically been a more significant barrier.

Today, however, the mountains are easily accessible from hut or camp, and all peaks have an easy route, ideal for less experienced mountaineers. There are also a few ice climbs and some fine rock climbing on granite and limestone.

The family remained in the New Mexico region of the United States and then began spreading across the country in the 20^th Century.

The descendants of Salvador Matias de Ribera related to my family line are as follows:

............................................... + Maria De La Candalaria Crispin 1784 -

...................................................... 6 Jose Luis Rivera 1810 - 1891

.......................................................... + Maria Isabel Martin 1817 - 1880

................................................................. 7 Jose De La Anastacio Rivera 1840 - 1905

..................................................................... + Maria Nicolasa Quintana 1843 - 1909

............................................................................ 8 Isidro Rivera y Quintana 1870 - 1939

................................................................................ + Maria Anna Amalia Ceballes 1878 - 1977

........................................................................................ 9 Angelita Rivera 1920

........................................................................................ 9 Emeregildo Rivera 1903

........................................................................................ 9 Mary Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Fedelia Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Adolpho Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Geneviev Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Esteban Rivera 1916

........................................................................................ 9 Louisa Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Luciano Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Altagracia Rivera

........................................................................................ 9 Malisandro Rivera

............................................................................ 8 Anecito

............................................................................ 8 Felix

............................................................................ 8 Magdaleno

............................................................................ 8 Maria

............................................................................ 8 Gregoria

............................................................................ 8 Pabla

................................................................. 7 Crustino Rivera

................................................................. 7 Ascocion Rivera

................................................................. 7 Felipe Rivera

................................................................. 7 Lorenzo Rivera

................................................................. 7 Pablo Rivera

................................................................. 7 Luciano Rivera

The book will proceed with an expansion on the various themes touched upon in chapters one and two and include names and details of the lives of the de Ribera families in both the Old World and New World.

Lineage is an uncertain and complex proposition. To be sure Catholic Church records are of great importance in the attempt to establish lineage. However, this in itself cannot ensure that the information held therein is necessarily correct. The use of DNA is the only definitive way to determine one’s line without error. As we move further into the 21^st Century, technology will make these endeavors easier. Unfortunately for now, one must rely on the old methods.

The reader is asked to review the information in this book and use it to determine which geographic “Branch” would provide the most logical extension to his or her line. In Spain, mine clearly led to Cádiz by way of Galicia. In the New World, the entry of Salvador was much more direct and easier to follow. Thereafter, the Ribera line became more easily traceable.

The exploits of the Ribera men and women were extensive and heroic. It must be remembered that none was without fault.