of the Chorotega), and Nicarao. Central Highlands, 1530–1603 In 1530, an alliance of Matagalpa tribes launched a concerted attack against the Spanish, with the intention of burning the colonial settlements. In 1533, Pedrarias Dávila requested reinforcements to pursue the Matagalpa and punish their revolt, in order to discourage neighbouring peoples from allying with them against the Spanish. By 1543, Francisco de Castañeda founded Nueva Segovia in north-central Nicaragua, some 30 leagues from León. By 1603, the Spanish had established their dominion over seventeen indigenous settlements in the north-central region that the Spanish named Segovia. The Spanish drafted warriors from these settlements to assist in putting down ongoing indigenous resistance in Olancho, in Honduras. Fringes of empire: Eastern Nicaragua From relatively soon after European contact, the Atlantic coast of what is now Nicaragua fell under the influence of the English. This region was inhabited by natives that remained beyond Spanish control, and was known to the Spanish as Tologalpa. Tologalpa is poorly defined in colonial Spanish documentation; Tololgalpa and Taguzgalpa together comprised an extensive region stretching along the Caribbean coast eastwards from Trujillo, or the Aguan River, to the San Juan River, and as far back as the Chontalean Mountain Range (Cordillera de Chontales). Taguzgalpa was that part of the region that now falls within the modern borders of Honduras, and Tologalpa was that part that now falls within Nicaragua. However, together they formed one single Province that was created by a Royal Order of February 10, 1576. From the second half of the 17th century, both regions were together referred to as Mosquitia or Mosquito Coast. Very little is known about the original inhabitants of Mosquitia, beyond that they included the Jicaque, Miskito, and Paya. In 1508, Diego de Nicuesa was given the governorship of the Governorate of Veragua, a region stretching along the Caribbean coast from the Belén River in Panama to Cape Gracias a Dios, on the current border between Nicaragua and Honduras. In 1534, a license to conquer and colonise the region was issued to Felipe Gutiérrez y Toledo, governor of Veragua, who abandoned his plans to settle the area. In 1545, governor of Guatemala Alonso de Maldonado wrote to the king of Spain, explaining that Taguzgalpa was still beyond Spanish control, and that its inhabitants were a threat to those Spanish living on the borders of the region. In 1562, a new license of conquest was