Gonzalo Meléndez de Valdés, governor of Soconusco: the other "Miguel de Cervantes" in America or how it is possible to write a new biography of Cervantes

Abstract

In 1590 Miguel de Cervantes asks the Consejo de Indias four vacancies in America, including the governor of the province of Soconusco. In the Archivo General de Indias is retained the minutes of appointment in favor of Gonzalo Melendez Valdes for that position. This allows the author of this paper an approach to the America that Cervantes could be found if he had been nominated for that. Cervantes is situated in his historical context, in the fascinating time of the Golden Age, as a way to reach a new approach in biographical studies of Cervantes, that have been more determined to make sense of the references appearing in his own work (Cervantes as a character) that place it at his time (the Cervantes man).