The Niño Brothers were a family of sailors from the town of Moguer, who participated actively in Christopher Columbus's first voyage—generally considered to constitute the discovery of the Americas by Europeans—and other subsequent voyages to the New World.
The four Niño brothers, Pedro Alonso, Francisco, Juan, and Bartolomé were already sailors with prestige and experience in Atlantic journeys before playing a distinguished part in Columbus's first voyage to the New World. Their friendship with the Pinzón Brothers, and especially with the oldest of them, Martín Alonso Pinzón, influenced their participation in Columbus's project. The participation of the Pinzón Brothers in the Columbian enterprise was the key to overcoming the doubts among the region's sailors; the help of the Niño Brothers made it possible to defeat the opposition among the men of Moguer to taking on an enterprise of uncertain outcome. On Columbus's first voyage, Pedro Alonso Niño was pilot of the Santa María, Juan Niño was master of La Niña, of which he was the owner, and Francisco Niño is believed to have been a sailor on La Niña. The Niños took part as well in Columbus's second and third voyages. Between 1499 and 1501 they traveled on their own account, with the merchants Cristóbal and Luis Guerra, following the route of Columbus's third voyage to the Gulf of Paria on the South American mainland in what is now Venezuela. Pedro Alonso was named by the Catholic MonarchsFerdinand and Isabella chief pilot of the Ocean Sea as recompense for his services to the crown. He was also one of the teachers of Prince John, the ill-fated son of Ferdinand and Isabella, whom he taught the art of mapmaking.
The Niño family
Little of the following is known with absolute certainty, especially with respect to Columbus's first voyage. As discussed at length in Alice Bache Gould's documented list of the participants in Columbus's first voyage, almost all of the information we have is assembled by cross-comparing numerous incomplete and sometimes mutually contradictory documents. For example, there is nothing explicit in the documents related to the expeditions to distinguish the two Francisco Niños, but certainly the pilot was not the cabin boy. It is imaginable that in some cases, where discrepancies are not so obvious, two people with the same name may have been conflated, especially because the first serious scholarly effort to create a comprehensive list of the voyagers dates from 1884, nearly four centuries after the fact. Even Juan Niño's ownership of La Niña is open to some doubts, though it is clear that he was master of the ship.
The Niño Brothers
Juan Niño, the oldest of the brothers, was master and owner of the caravelLa Niña on Columbus's first voyage. Upon their return, he accompanied Columbus to Barcelona after staying several days at home in Moguer. He was also on the crew of the second and third voyages of Columbus. With his brother Pedro Alonso he traveled to the Gulf of Paria.
Pedro Alonso Niño was born in Moguer around 1468. A sailor since his youth, he learned his trade on the coast of Africa. In 1492, on Columbus's first voyage, he was pilot of the Santa María. In 1494 he traveled again with Columbus, but returned rapidly to Spain, as he was in Cádiz on 7 March 1494. Although he was enlisted for the third voyage, in the end he was not able to go. He was given the title of Grand Pilot of the Indies the first such together with Juanoto Berardi, and in 1495 and 1496 captained several ships to the New World. In 1499 he became associated with the merchants Guerra, with whom he made a sea voyage to the Gulf of Paria, where they obtained many pearls, explored a good deal of the coast, variously trading with natives and battling them. He died in 1502, returning to Spain on the Santa María de la Antigua. Contemporary records sometimes refer to him as Peralonso Niño.
Francisco Niño, the youngest brother, is believed to have been a sailor on Columbus's first voyage, was pilot of La Niña on the second voyage, and pilot of the caravel Santa Cruz on the expedition of Pedro Fernández Coronel. At the time of his death, he was mayor of Puerto de Caballos, now Puerto Cortés, Honduras.
Alonso Pérez Niño, son of Juan Niño, traveled on Columbus's second voyage. He died some three decades later in Trinidad, doing battle with the Caribes.
Bartolomé Pérez Niño, son of Pedro Alonso Niño, was probably Columbus's second voyage, possibly pilot of the caravel San Juan; definitely was on Columbus's third voyage and with Pedro Alonso Niño on the expedition of Cristóbal Guerra to Paria.
Francisco Niño, son of Pedro Alonso Niño, was the youngest person to travel with Columbus to the East Indies, as a 14-year-old cabin boy on the second voyage. In 1516 he crossed the Atlantic again, as an official on the caravel Sancti Spiritus.
Andrés Niño, son of Juan Niño, was named Royal Pilot of the Southern Sea 12 July 1514 and set sail in 1519 to explore the Pacific coast of Central America before dying in 1525 in what is now El Salvador.
