Hernán Pérez de Quesada
Hernán Pérez de Quesada | |
---|---|
Spanish Crown | |
Known for | Spanish conquest of the Muisca Quest for El Dorado |
Title | Governor of New Kingdom of Granada |
Term | 1539–1542 |
Predecessor | Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1538–1539) |
Successor | Luis Alonso de Lugo (1542–1544) |
Criminal charge(s) | • Mistreatment of indigenous people • Murders of Tisquesusa, Sagipa & Aquiminzaque |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Gonzalo Jiménez (brother) Francisco Jiménez (brother) Melchor Jiménez (brother) Andrea Ximénez (sister) Catalina Magdalena (sister) Isabel de Quesada (half-sister) |
Notes | |
Hernán Pérez de Quesada, sometimes spelled as Quezada,[7] (c. 1515 – 1544) was a Spanish conquistador. Second in command of the army of his elder brother, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Hernán was part of the first European expedition towards the inner highlands of the Colombian Andes. The harsh journey, taking almost a year and many deaths, led through the modern departments Magdalena, Cesar, Santander, Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Huila of present-day Colombia between 1536 and 1539 and, without him, Meta, Caquetá and Putumayo of Colombia and northern Peru and Ecuador between 1540 and 1542.
Hernán founded
Knowledge of the life and expeditions of Hernán Pérez de Quesada has been provided by his brother Gonzalo and
Biography
Early life
Hernán Pérez de Quesada was born around the year 1512 in the
Conquest in Colombia
1536 - the harsh route towards Muisca territory
The first
The troops led by the De Quesadas passed through among other settlements Tamalameque, Barrancabermeja and Chipatá where the Spanish for the first time learnt to drink chicha, the fermented alcoholic beverage of the Muisca. The almost-naked conquistadors who suffered from the difficult expedition through the jungles received cotton mantles from the Muisca people in Chipatá. The expedition passed through halted in Chía where they spent the Holy Week. After that week in April 1537, he ordered his men towards Funza, the site of the domain of the zipa. Although the army of the brothers De Quesada was reduced to 170 men, the hundreds of guecha warriors couldn't resist their superior arms and were defeated. In the meantime, zipa Tisquesusa sent messengers to the caciques in the Muisca Confederation to inform them of the arrival of the light-skinned heavily armed men. The caciques considered the invaders sacred and didn't dare to attack them.[17] Funza was conquered and founded on April 20, 1537.[18] Of the more than 900 soldiers who left Santa Marta a year earlier, only 162 survived the harsh expedition.[15]
On the same day that his brother Gonzalo founded Tenza, June 24, 1537, Hernán founded Sutatausa.[19]
First conquest by Hernán Pérez de Quesada
Name | Department | Date | Year | Notes | Map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sutatausa | Cundinamarca | 24 June | 1537 | [19] |
1538 - establishment of Bogotá and surroundings
At the start of 1538, when the troops were exhausted after almost two years in foreign terrain, the soldiers asked what was their payment for the conquest they had done. De Quesada divided the conquered treasures over his men; 40,000 pieces of fine gold, 562 emeralds and
Foundation of Bogotá
One and a half year after the victory of the conquistadors on
Return to Spain of Gonzalo, Sebastián and Nikolaus
The three leaders of the conquest expeditions; Gonzalo de Quesada, Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar, met in
Hernán in charge of the New Kingdom of Granada
1540–1541
In his search for El Dorado, Hernán explored the departments of Tolima and Huila.[1] Hernán Pérez de Quesada was only one of many explorers in the search for El Dorado.[22] After the destruction and looting of the Sun Temple in Sogamoso in September 1537, Hernán Pérez thought there was an even bigger place where the indigenous people hid their gold, called "La Casa del Sol". In his quest, starting from Sogamoso along the right banks of the Chicamocha River, he approached with a hundred men the terrain of the Lache and entered Jericó, at that time called Cheva, where he and his troops gathered the food of the original inhabitants who promptly fled to Chita.[23]
The city of Tunja, in the times of the Muisca called Hunza, was founded on 1541 by Gonzalo Suárez Rendón in an expedition ordered by Hernán de Quesada.[24] In July 1541, the Chapter of Tunja told De Quesada that he couldn't leave his empire alone. Hernán responded that "whatever he did, was in the interest of the Spanish Crown".[25]
Later in 1541, Hernán Pérez de Quesada went northward towards the later
On his southern expedition in the same year, Hernán Pérez de Quesada was the first European to reach the southeastern Colombian departments of Caquetá and Putumayo.[24] One of his soldiers, Lázaro Fonte, the lover of Zoratama, died due to the natural dangers of the jungle.[29]
Second conquest by Hernán Pérez de Quesada
Name | Department | Date | Year | Notes | Map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Motavita | Boyacá | 1540 | [7] | ||
Sasaima | Cundinamarca | Early | 1540 | [30] | |
Bituima | Cundinamarca | 1540 | [31] | ||
Nimaima | Cundinamarca | 1540 | [32] | ||
Sativasur | Boyacá | 1540 | [33] | ||
Jericó | Boyacá | 1540 | [34] | ||
Guacamayas | Boyacá | 1540 | [35] | ||
Chiscas
|
Boyacá | 1540 | [36] | ||
Chita | Boyacá | 1540 | [35] | ||
Panqueba | Boyacá | 1540 | [35] | ||
Güicán | Boyacá | 1540 | [37] | ||
El Cocuy | Boyacá | 1540 | [35][38] | ||
Pasca | Cundinamarca | Early September | 1540 | [9] | |
Nevado del Sumapaz | Cundinamarca | 1540 | |||
San Martín | Meta | 1540 | [39] | ||
Florencia | Caquetá | 1540 | [40] | ||
San José de la Fragua
|
Caquetá | 1540 | [9] | ||
Mocoa | Putumayo | 1540-41 | [9] | ||
Sibundoy | Putumayo | 1541 | [9] | ||
Popayán | Cauca | 1541 | [9] | ||
Cali
|
Valle del Cauca | 1541 | [41] | ||
Quito | Pichincha | 1542 |
Reunion with his brother Francisco and death
De Quesada reached Peru with an army of 500 men having failed to find the mythical El Dorado.
See also
- List of conquistadors in Colombia
- Spanish conquest of the Muisca
- El Dorado
- Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
References
- ^ a b c d (in Spanish) Fundaciones antecedentes a la conquista de la aldea Chicamocha
- ^ a b Isabel de Rivera Quesada - Geni.com
- ^ Banco de la República
- ^ a b (in Spanish) El enigma de la espada de Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada - El Espectador
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Familia Berrio y Jiménez de Quesada
- ^ a b Isabel de Quesada - Geni.com
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Official website Motavita
- Banco de la República
- ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Freyle, 1979 (1638), p.93
- ^ (in Spanish) Historia general de las conquistas del Nuevo Reyno de Granada Archived 2016-05-04 at the Wayback Machine - National Library of Colombia
- Banco de la República
- ^ Acosta, 1848
- ^ Zerda, 1883
- ^ Tenenbaum, Barbara A., and Georgette M. Dorn. 1996. Encyclopedia of Latin American history and culture, 332. C. Scribner's Sons.
- ^ Banco de la República
- ^ Banco de la República
- ^ a b c d e (in Spanish) Conquista rápida y saqueo cuantioso de Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Funza Archived 2015-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Official website Sutatausa Archived 2016-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
- Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas
- Banco de la República
- ^ (in Spanish) Expeditions El Dorado
- ^ (in Spanish) Jericó, un municipio de altura - El Tiempo
- ^ a b (in Spanish) Hernán Pérez de Quesada Archived 2017-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Kupchick, 2008, p.132
- ^ (in Spanish) Cúcuta - fundadores y exploradores Archived 2016-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (in Spanish) Guacamayas
- ^ (in Spanish) El Cocuy, tierra de nieve y sol - El Tiempo
- ^ Ocampo López, 1996, p.103
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Sasaima
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Bituima[permanent dead link]
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Nimaima
- ^ (in Spanish) History Sativasur
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Jericó
- ^ a b c d (in Spanish) Official website Guacamayas
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Chiscas[permanent dead link]
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Güicán
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website El Cocuy
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website San Martín Archived 2014-03-18 at archive.today
- ^ (in Spanish) Official website Florencia Archived 2016-05-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rodríguez Freyle, 1979 (1638), p.94
Bibliography
- Acosta, Joaquín. 1848. Compendio histórico del descubrimiento y colonización de la Nueva Granada en el siglo décimo sexto - Historical overview of discovery and colonization of New Granada in the sixteenth century, 1-460. Beau Press. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Rodríguez Freyle, Juan, and Darío Achury Valenzuela. 1979 (1859) (1638). El Carnero - Conquista i descubrimiento del nuevo reino de Granada de las Indias Occidentales del mar oceano, i fundacion de la ciudad de Santa Fe de Bogota, 1-598. Fundacion Biblioteca Ayacuch. Accessed 2016-11-21.
- Kupchick, Christian. 2008. La leyenda de El Dorado y otros mitos del Descubrimiento de América: La auténtica historia de la búsqueda de riquezas y reinos fabulosos en el Nuevo Mundo, 1-304. Ediciones Nowtilus S.L. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Ocampo López, Javier. 1996. Leyendas populares colombianas - Popular Colombian legends, 1-384. Plaza y Janes Editores. Accessed 2016-07-08.
- Zerda, Liborio. 1947 (1883). El Dorado. Accessed 2016-07-08. Archived 2019-07-07 at the Wayback Machine