assumed command ofHernando de Soto's expedition upon the latter's death, was born in Badajoz, Spain, in 1505, the son of Alonso Hernández Diosdado Mosquera de Moscoso and Isabel de Alvarado (otherwise given as Isabel de Figueroa), natives of Zafra. A nephew of the noted conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, Moscoso married his first cousin, Leonor de Alvarado, the daughter of Pedro de Alvarado's brother Juan and the widow of Gil González de Ávila. He had two brothers in the Soto expedition, another Juan de Alvarado and Cristóbal de Mosquera. Little is known of Moscoso's early career. After joining his famous uncle in New Spain, he followed him into Peru and there became associated with Soto. When discord between the Almagros and the Pizarros caused Soto to return to Spain in 1536, Moscoso followed.
