in 1604, the king of spain, philip iii, observing the growing lack of crown control in the north and western parts of hispaniola, granted governor antonio de osorio and archbishop agustín dávila y padilla the power to take whatever action they deemed prudent in order to stop the incursion of foreign contraband as well as contact between catholic subjects of the crown and heretics. the origin of the problem was that the residents of puerto plata, montecristi, bayajá and yaguana traded their products (especially cured meat and hides) with the french, the english and the dutch, and received contraband goods in return. this traffic had been carrying on from the middle of the 16th century and kept growing year by year. the king's order forced the officials to carry out the depopulation of the regions in which smuggling was rampant, so that the crown’s subjects could be moved to a location closer to the capital of the island, santo domingo. when the people of the northwest first heard about this order, the town councils began to raise petitions in which they requested the abolition of the measure. however, governor osorio, who upon the death of the archbishop dávila y padilla had to face the situation alone, decided to comply with the letter of the royal ordinance. in mid-february 1605, royal representatives left for the northern part of hispaniola to proclaim that the people of the area would be forgiven crimes committed against the spanish crown resulting from the practice of trafficking with foreigners and heretics, but only under one condition: that they would collect all their personal belongings, slaves, cattle and other property, and move to the southeast, to locations pre-determined by the royal authorities of santo domingo. (some officials of the spanish "audiencia" tried to suppress the royal order, since their own smuggling interests would also be affected.)