Miguel Díez de Aux

Miguel Díez de Aux y Haina, known as "The Younger" (1496, Haina - c. 1560, New Spain) was a Spanish mestizo conquistador. Born in Hispaniola to a Spanish father and Taíno mother, he later served under Hernán Cortés in the conquest of the Aztec Empire and retired with great wealth. He is considered the first documented mestizo in the history of the Americas.

Early life He was born in Hispaniola. His father, Miguel Díez de Aux the Elder, hailed from the Aragonese lower nobility and served as Bartholomew Columbus' servant in his 1494. The Elder and five other conquistadors had run away from the settlement of La Isabela after he mortally wounded another Spaniard in a duel, leading them to plant their own settlements in the Haina area of the island, along with the Ozama River. There he married by the native rite a Taíno chieftainess who got later baptized as Catalina, eventually giving birth to Miguel the Younger. He was their second child, after a first one who died soon. Aux learned from the indigenous about the existence of gold and farmable land, leading him and his family to return to La Isabela, where he was exonerated from his crime thanks to his findings and the fact that his opponent hadn't died as Aux believed. Aux commanded one of the Spanish brigantines during the siege of Tenochtitlan, the first showing in a career as a land conquistador in which, according to comrade and chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo, he served excellently in a long list of conquests.

In 1541, Díez sued Cortés' brother-in-law Andrés de Barrios, whom he accused of having capitalized on his connections to illegitimately receive lands in Metztitlan which belonged to Aux, while Barrios accused him of murdering native chieftains of said lands. The tribunal of the Council of the Indies, presided by García de Loaysa y Mendoza, was initially unfavorable to Aux due to his eccentric manners, which saw Aux lying down on the ground on his cape and pointing his dagger to his own throat while asking the judges to execute him on the spot if he was lying. Loaysa had Aux expelled from the room, but he ultimately declared him right and ordered part of the lands' tribute to be directed to Aux to compromise with the accusation, under the condition he was banished from them for two years. He left two daughters as his heirs.