Ayllón, Lucas Vázquez de (1475?-1526), a Spanish explorer in North America. He settled in Hispaniola in 1502 and became a judge on the supreme court of this Spanish island colony. Hearing rumors of a land of great wealth, Ayllón sent out an exploring expedition, which in 1521 reached the coast of the Carolinas. He received a royal charter for the region north of Florida, and in 1526 attempted to found a colony with 500 to 600 settlers, probably at the mouth of the Pee Dee River. The colony was abandoned after Ayllón and many others died of fever.