Diego de Vega

Diego de Vega was a Portuguese merchant, and the first banker in Buenos Aires. He held a prominent role in the last years of the Portuguese-Spanish control of the Atlantic slave trade.

Originated from the Castillan market town of Medina del Campo, Diego arrived at the port of Buenos Aires in 1601. In the subsequent period, he made a fortune by selling contraband slaves for use in the Peruvian silver mines. His business and cooperation with the Angolan slave merchants lasted for years, and he was known as the wealthiest person in Buenos Aires. Diego married Blanca de Vasconcelos, the daughter of Mendo de Vasconcelos in 1605.

His ruin was caused by government’s decision from 1622 prohibiting the overland route for slave transport which linked the new colony of Buenos Aires with Chile and Bolivia. Instead, the government insisted on a long roundabout route to Peru and Pacific colonies via Panama which they could easily control and tax.