Cristóbal Cabral

Cristóbal Cabral (?-?) was a Spanish army officer. He served in the cavalry participating in the actions tending to control the advance of the aborigines (Pampas) against the civil populations in the Argentine territory.

Among his various missions is that of having been the mediator between the cacique Cacapol (father of Cangapol) and the Spanish government.

Biography
Cabral was born in Buenos Aires, son of Juan Cabral de Melo and Ana de Saravia, belonging to a noble family of the city. He was married twice first to Juana Maciel del Aguila González de Acosta, daughter of Juan Maciel del Aguila and Bernarda González de Acosta. And second to Juana de Illescas, daughter of Juan de Illescas and Isabel Paula de Ferreyra Pasos.

In late 1730 the territories of the province of Buenos Aires, inhabited by the Spanish settlers, his slaves and a large number of mestizos were continuously attacked by the malones (Indians raids). Following these events the Governor Miguel de Salcedo proceeded with plans for make peace with the aborigines.

In 1740 Salcedo dismisses to Capt. Juan de San Martín and appoint the Maestre de campo Cristóbal Cabral, to lead expeditions. In command of 700 men, Cabral was accompanied by German Jesuit Mathías Strobel. His mission concised in penetrate into the lands south of the Río Salado with the aim of reaching a peace agreement with the pampas. He met with a group of Tehuelche chiefs in the Sierras Cairú where the cessation of the raids took shape on November 2, 1741.

In 1744, Cabral led an expedition against the Pehuenche indians that had ravaged the villages of Arrecifes, Carmen de Areco and Lujan. He had arrested to Indian chief Calelial, killing some of their men. The Cabral's cavalry regiments were armed with flintlock rifles with bayonet.

His last armed confrontation against the Indians was in 1754, in the present territories of La Matanza and Morón where the Captain Cabral defeats the fearsome cacique Yaite, in a bloody battle that ended with the surrender of the querandíes. After obtaining peace was founded the Catedral Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje: Morón.

Cristóbal Cabral and his second wife were the parents of José Luis Cabral, a well-known lawyer from Buenos Aires during the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata. He was descendant of Amador Vaz de Alpoim and Margarita Cabral de Melo, natives of Azores, and members of the Portuguese nobility His ancestors had settled in the city around 1600.