Clipart courtesy of Karen’s Whimsy

At this point we do not know who were the first Moragas to travel to the New World. However, Martín de Moraga, possibly born in Baeza, Spain, was cited on a list of immigrants to Cuba in 1511.

While some members of the Moraga family were making their way to New Spain / Mexico during and shortly after the Cortés expedition in 1519, other family members in Spain began immigrating to South America, with stops in present-day Nicaragua, Peru and Chile.

Hernando de Moraga Galindo y Gomez joined other former Cáceres families and immigrated to Peru in the 1530s with Pizarro. He eventually made his way south to Chile by 1547. His children included Hernando Moraga, Juan Galindo Moraga and Mencia Moraga, all born in Santiago.

Sources report the son of Conquistador Francisco Pérez Valenzuela, 1528 to 1599, Francisco Pérez de Valenzuela y Buisa, married Mencía de Moraga y Rivera.

Clipart courtesy of Karen’s Whimsy

Other Cáceres family members include Bernardo de Moraga, a minor and an orphan, who arrived in Chile in 1578.

The Moraga name can still be found in both Cuba and Chile and in other locations throughout Central America.

While Benito Moraga y Nidos and his wife, Marina Moraga de Carvajal, remained in Cáceres, their son Gaspar Moraga y Nidos Monroy traveled to the New Spain / Mexico in 1570.

• Various sources report that the Moraga family originated in the high Basque country in northern Spain. While we are still searching for a location in the Basque region where the Moraga family came from, visit O’Higgins Tours at  The Basque in Chile for information on the Moraga family in South American and its connection to the Basque culture.