Francisco de Arobe was a leader of the coastal Afro-Indian Maroon communities of Esmeraldas in early colonial Quito, the recent time Ecuador.
Born during the 1560s to an African slave, Andrés Mangache and a woman who was an indigene of Nicaragua, they both found their way out together of a ship tied to the Esmeralda coast.
During the late 1550s and 1560s, Arobe’s father Andrés Mengache began the Maroon communities and by 1577, Francisco’s father was killed in a clash with nearby native communities, leaving Arobe and his brother Juan Mangache amongst the two “mulatto” leaders of Maroon communities.
That same year Francisco lost his father, the maroon leader, Alonso de Illescas tried and failed to submit Francisco and Juan to his leadership. Francisco de Arobe who had a peaceful character with the Spanish in 1578 accepted the catholic religion and agreed to the construction of a church in his town, Bahía de San Mateo.
Arobe on the other hand got married to a woman named Doña Juana and had at least two sons. By the 1580s, the brothers were dealing directly with Spanish colonizers. Juan often visited Quito, here he was showered with gifts from Rodrigo de Ribadeneyra in return for aid in setting up a colony of Spanish settlers in Esmeraldas.
Arobe put his community under the religious command of Mercedarian Fray Juan de Salas in 1589, and is believed to start up a church also beginning a village in San Mateo which he and his people went on to occupy in 1598.
SEE ALSO: Don Francisco De Arobe – Maroon King Of Ecuador
Arobe by this time had gathered so much esteem for helping out travelers whose ship had been damaged and managed to get up on the Esmeraldas coast. The Royal judge, Juan Barrio de Sepulveda turned to Esmeraldas in order to pacify the Maroons. This caused Francisco in 1599 to travel to Quito with two of his sons, Pedro and Domingo, to pledge his loyalty to the Crown.
On the visit to Arobe, the Royal court authorized a famous portrait by the native artist Andrés Sanchez Galque. The painting features the brand “don,” a title of minor nobility, and paves the way for the names of Arobe and his sons.
Judge Barrio tells of them as rulers over Esmeraldas and “lords of the land.” Arobe was also conveyed with the military title of captain. After which the portrait was gifted to King Philip IV, leaving it in the royal collection until the late nineteenth century.
However, Arobe dies out of the historical record after 1599, his children however continue his lineage of rule over the Maroon communities for generations.
To conclude, his portrait is referenced as the first signed painting of the Americas and has become one of the most accepted portraits of the early colonial period.
SEE ALSO: Emotan – The Market Woman Who Became A Royal Aide
