about 5,000, and a city centre with several arterial roads, dominated by the Paris Church of Our Lady of Granada, the castle, the San Francisco convent and the Santa Clara monastery. There was much economic activity and the many ships visited the port. This was the situation of Moguer when it played a significant role in the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. Moguer provided some of the sailors for the voyage, as well as the caravel, Niña, built in Moguer around 1488 and apparently owned by the Niño brothers of Moguer. On several occasions, Columbus came to Moguer seeking help. Ultimately, he gained the important support of the Niño brothers; the cleric Martín Sánchez; the landowner Juan Rodríguez Cabezudo (who took custody of Columbus's son Diego while Columbus went on his first voyage); and Inés Enríquez, abbess of the Santa Clara Monastery and aunt of King Ferdinand. The Catholic Monarchs had ordered the towns of the Andalusian coasts to provide assistance to Columbus and by means of a commission directed the town of Moguer to comply with this provision. Columbus seized two boats in Moguer in the presence of the notary Moguer Alonso Pardo; these boats were later discarded as unsuitable on the advice of Martín Alonso Pinzón. Later, upon his arrival from America, Columbus came promptly to the church of the Monastery of Santa Clara to fulfill a vow made when the Niña encountered a severe storm on the return voyage. Early modern era During the sixteenth century, the village went through an era of commercial prosperity centered on colonization of, and trade with, the Americas. Many moguereños participated in the discovery and evangelization of the new lands, among them Pedro Alonso Niño, discoverer of the coasts of Paria (Venezuela); Bartolome Ruiz, navigator, pilot on the "Famous Thirteen" expedition Francisco Pizarro and hence co-discoverer and of the Pacific; fray Antonio de Olivares, founder of the city of San Antonio, Texas; Alonso Vélez de Mendoza, leader of the group who repopulated the island of Santo Domingo (Hispaniola); the Franciscan Quintero, who accompanied the expedition of Hernán Cortés to Mexico; fray Andrés de Moguer, the first chronicler of Mexico; Diego García de Moguer, who took part with Ferdinand Magellan on the first trip around the world; and Juan Ladrillero, considered an independent discoverer of the Straits of Magellan. The seventeenth century was a time of hardship for the Spanish monarchy, and