The conquest of New Granada was a colonization process in the history of Colombia. It corresponds to the period in which the Crown of Castilla y León discovered the current Colombia, and imposed its social, cultural and economic system on it. This period dates from 1499 to 1550, when the last great cities of the country were founded. The conquest as a stage of study is part of the Spanish era in America, to which the so-called colonization also belongs, and which lasted for 4 centuries..

The conquest began with the Spanish discovery of inhabited lands, followed by their subsequent occupation, and finally the settlement of towns and cities.

Background

The arrival of Columbus in the Americas at the end of 1492 gave the Castilian crown the opportunity to explore and conquer new territories, expanding its borders and wealth.

The first group of Europeans that sailed the coasts of what is now Colombia, was the expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda on the coasts of the La Guajira peninsula in Cabo de la Vela. Ojeda returned to Spain and persuaded the Catholic Monarchs who gave him capitulations that allowed him to occupy the territories, from the Gulf of Venezuela to Cabo de la Vela, founding the fleeting governorship of Coquivacoa in 1501 (which lasted three months) and with It also included the ephemeral population of Santa Cruz, near the Castilletes lagoon, named after the colonists, which supplied water to the inhabitants, making the peninsula of La Guajira the first Hispanic governorate and the oldest in the American continental territory., being Alonso de Ojeda the first governor of the mainland.

In 1510, Martín Fernández de Enciso arrived at the Gulf of Urabá, where he founded Santa María la Antigua del Darién, a town that did not last long, since it never prospered due to its wide bay, impenetrable jungle, great rainfall, high temperatures and strong humidity. These unfavorable climatic factors, together with the rivalry between Spaniards and the lack of interest in Spain in administering these remote territories, made it technically impossible to send settlers to populate the area. At that time, it was inhabited by various Chibcha indigenous groups, including the Cunas, who inhabited the surroundings of the Gulf of Urabá and the lower Atrato, the choces or citarares that inhabited the upper Atrato, the Noanamaes, located in the basin of the San Juan, and the Baudes that inhabited the Pacific coast.

Development

Alonso de Ojeda Expedition

Alonso de Ojeda, who had already made an expedition in 1499, in which Juan de la Cosa and Américo Vespucio embarked, decided to continue with the work of Enciso and formed a new expedition that left Hispaniola and towards January of In 1516 he founded, on the banks of the Atrato River, the second attempt at Spanish settlement on the mainland, San Sebastián de Urabá.

Later, another expedition commanded by Diego de Nicuesa left Hispaniola, which met up with that of Ojeda in time to rescue it from a misstep. Nicuesa continued his expedition separately, and after being shipwrecked he founded the city of Nombre de Dios , which also failed. He returns to Urabá with a ship made from the remains of the expedition's initials. There he is prohibited from disembarking and he heads to Hispaniola, disappearing on the way. It seems that an inscription was found on a tree in Cuba, where it said: "The unfortunate Nicuesa died here".

Just like La Antigua del Darién, already depopulated, San Sebastián de Urabá is once again abandoned by its inhabitants, who return to more attractive destinations such as Santo Domingo, or to Spain itself, unfairly staining the names of Nicuesa and Ojeda.

In 1525 Rodrigo de Bastidas began to explore the north of Colombia. In the middle of the same year, he founded the city of Santa Marta in the Bay of Gaira, the first city, still inhabited, founded in Colombian territory by Spaniards. Santa Marta is located in a deep bay, which made it perfect as a port, a characteristic that the first foundations lacked. In addition to the bay, the surroundings of Santa Marta had sparse vegetation and was far removed from the impenetrable jungles and swamps of the Urabá area. The natives of the areas surrounding Santa Marta, of the Tayrona culture, had already prepared the land and cultivated certain fruits and vegetables, which solved their supply and food problems.

Bastidas drew the plan of the city and began to build it with what he had at hand, until he met the members of the Gaira tribe who lived nearby. These, without knowing the language and customs of the Spanish, tried to interact with the conquerors and it was useless, until reaching the point where some of the Spaniards attacked the natives and hostilities began. Bastidas, it is not known if by his will or forced by him, the extermination of the Tairona culture began, one of the most developed in present-day Colombia. Tribe by tribe, Bastidas destroyed and plundered everything he saw for almost 70 kilometers around Santa Marta, until the last Taironas escaped to the Sierra Nevada, forming the tribes we know today as the Kogi, Ijka and Sanká (Wiwa). and Malays). Later, the area of Santa Marta was named Governorate of Santa Marta and the Guajiro territory was disputed with Nueva Andalucía and from there most of the explorations started towards the interior and areas to the south of the north coast of Colombia.

The Atlantic coast was discovered by Américo Vespucci, the person who discovered America together with Christopher Columbus, his traveling companion. The person who discovered the Pacific coast was Francisco Pizarro.

Conquest

Travel of the conquerors in Colombia:
Alonso de Ojeda (1499-1501)
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1513)
Pedro Arias Dávila (1513-1519)
Pascual de Andagoya, Diego de Almagro and Francisco Pizarro (1515-1529)
Pedro de Heredia and his lieutenants (1532-1538)
Sebastian de Belalcázar (1533-1539)
Lieutenants of Sebastián de Belalcázar (1533-1539)
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1536-1538)
Nicolas de Federmán (1537-1539)

From 1492 to 1510, the first foundations of cities took place, such as Santo Domingo (General Captaincy of Santo Domingo), and among others the extinct San Sebastián de Urabá and Santa María la Antigua del Darién in the province of Nueva Andalucía and Urabá and Castilla de Oro respectively. The first problems that arose regarding the jurisdiction of the crown over these lands was that the first conquerors, despite recognizing the authority of the Catholic Monarchs, established rules to suit them and even, in some cases, they wanted to establish separate domains. For this reason, the crown decided on a unified policy regarding the Indies:

1. The establishment of an economic authority for the Indies, which was the Casa de Contratación de Sevilla, which in turn granted licences to those who wanted to cross the Atlantic.
2. That the explorers authorized by the House of Recruitment will be dedicated to exploring, and nothing else, reporting what has been seen. A special licence was required to establish cities and integrate the territory. Although this had certain flaws.
3. After these two conditions, the House of Recruitment would establish the laws of Indias, with the sanction of the King.

Pedro de Heredia

Although the first explorer of the Colombian Caribbean coast was Rodrigo de Bastidas, Bastidas' work rather belongs to the field of the first explorations, in addition to the condition of Adelantado (the person authorized to explore and conquer a certain territory) was conferred on Bastidas after the founding of Santa Marta. Pedro de Heredia continued Bastidas' work: exploring the lands of the Colombian Caribbean coast.

Pedro de Heredia, part of Spain with the mission of exploring the areas south of the already established province of Nueva Andalucía (Santa Marta). After spending the night in Santa Marta, Heredia continued his journey south, and came across the mouth of the Magdalena River, which had already been seen before by Bastidas, Colombia's main fluvial artery. At the end of the year 1532, Heredia continued south, skirting the coast, until he found a fence of sticks on a mound near the beach.

Heredia was accompanied by the famous cartographer Juan de la Cosa, who had proposed to make a general map of the Indias. Juan de la Cosa, with his prodigious memory, when he entered with the hen of Heredia to the vicinity of that village, something reminded Cartagena, (Murcia, Spain) and commented on his impressions to the Adelantado. It is said that the name of the current Colombian city came out.

This cannot be true, because Juan de la Cosa died in 1510, when he was part of the Alonso de Ojeda expedition. Ojeda ignored La Cosa and attacked a tribe of ferocious and indomitable indigenous people who died in Turbaco, near where Cartagena is currently located. "Hear not only attacked them, but, forgetting the prudence and disobeying the supplications of his lieutenant, he interned to the neighboring people, where the Indians defended themselves with so much haughtiness that they killed with arrows poisoned to a large number of Spaniards, surrounded the same boss who would have perished in that place, if Juan de La Cosa did not help him at the cost of his life.

On January 10, 1533, the day of San Sebastián, Pedro de Heredia arrived on the shores of what is now the island of Manga, in the bay of Cartagena. But even so, he did not officially found Cartagena on that date, as some historians claim. An Indian from the Calamari, named Catalina, was learning the rudiments of Spanish, until she defended herself with it. With this knowledge, she offered herself as an interpreter for Heredia, while she falls in love with him. She takes Heredia to the areas best supplied with water. With the new interpreter, the Calamari Indians take advantage, deciding to set up an ambush for the invaders. Upon Heredia's arrival at the indigenous settlement, he did not find anyone; only to an old man named Corinche, who told him the tragic story of an epidemic that affected this town (which was a lie).

This paragraph and the next paragraph must be corrected given the inconsistencies that they contain. Please note the following historical information about the conqueror Diego de Nicuesa, who was also the first musician to arrive in the Colombian Caribbean. This jacarandoso notario Andaluz, "as a man of cape and guitar cast them out of guapetón scupidor by the colmillo", composer of villancicos, sang serenatas mounted on his mare reministing with its hulls to the son of its small small small small pot of precious stones, recamada of gold and nacar, "said a native adolescent of the village of Z With this act, Nicuesa empowered a character to fulfill his historical role, which, years later, would be key to achieving the submission of almost all Aboriginals from the present departments of Bolivar and Atlantic, with the honorable exception of the Turks. "

In the place where Calamarí was located, Heredia noticed the lack of water and the aridity and scarcity of vegetation. Corinche told Heredia (through Catalina) that in the area of Yurbaco (Turbaco) there was water, and more temperate climates. Marching towards Yurbaco, Heredia crossed all sorts of undergrowth. And upon reaching Yurbaco, he was received by a procession of Indians prepared to attack him. Corniche disappeared, and in that battle in Yurbaco, Heredia was unharmed. Having almost annihilated the Calamaríes in that battle, Heredia returned to Calamarí, and that first of June, 1533, he demolished the chief's hut, and drove a stake with a sign that read "San Sebastián de Calamar", as a reminder of the first day they arrived in the area, and the Calamari Indians who inhabited it. By the end of 1533, everyone agreed with Juan de la Cosa (see above) that the city should be renamed, and indeed its name was changed to Cartagena de Indias.

Heredia devoted himself more to erecting the first buildings, sending with the chaplain who was in his fleet a request to the Casa de Contratación to send monks, masons, and other supplies to build the city. The town that Heredia developed at the beginning was made of wood, and was always at risk of fire (one of these consumed half of the town in 1535), reducing its chances of continuing to exist. But by the middle of that year the first supplies from Spain began to arrive, which allowed Heredia to enter the swamps of Manga, Bocagrande, Manzanillo and the Crespo area, until he discovered the Ciénaga de Tesca (De la Virgen). Having made a path through the Bocagrande reservoir, the first settlers had access to Tierrabomba stone, quite light but solid for construction.

With the city underway, Heredia proceeds to explore the areas surrounding the bay of Cartagena; First, he took care of securing the city's quarry, Tierrabomba, and reached an agreement with the Carex Indians, who inhabited that area. Later, he went to the eastern coast of the Outer Bay, where the Cospique tribe was, with which he also had an understanding. Finally, he explored the Island of Barú, where he met the Bahaire, with whom he did not have such a fluid relationship, but was able to avoid conflicts.

Catalina recommended Heredia not to go too far into the jungle, due to the dangers that this entailed, Heredia obeyed her companion. Although he explored by sea, the areas of Labarcé, Golfo de Morrosquillo, Bahía de Cispatá, Arboletes, Golfo de Urabá and Puerto Obaldía, finishing exploring the Colombian Caribbean coast. Even so, in 1536, he authorized his bold brother, Alonso de Heredia, to explore to the southeast and south of the new Province of Cartagena. Alonso de Heredia began to explore the jungles and savannahs, although we have no data on his exploration, since few thought that they would come out alive. Even so, it seems that he founded Santa Cruz de Mompox at the end of 1537. Alonso de Heredia returns to Cartagena immediately after his expedition, by 1540, he is seriously ill, which delays the land exploration of the interior areas.

Pedro de Heredia began to be famous in Spain for his feats: taking a city forward in the middle of a semi-desert beach; finish exploring the coasts of "Tierra Firme", even reaching the feared coasts of Urabá of bad memory due to the terrible experiences of Nicuesa and Ojeda; His brother began to explore the interior, as his graduate, something that no advance had done, and although Alonso failed, he inspired further explorations of those unknown areas. Then, he was accused by the Council of the Indies, the supreme executive authority in relation to the Spanish Americas, of a homicide, which was a lie, and on the trip to Seville, seat of the Council, his ship sank. Symbolic burials were held both in Cartagena and in his hometown.

Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada

After Alonso de Ojeda's unsuccessful exploration of the interior areas, entering them became the ambition of many of the aspiring adelantados. In 1538, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada asked, from Santo Domingo, permission from the Casa de Contratación to explore the inland areas of "Tierra Firme", entering through the "Río Grande de la Magdalena&#34.;, discovered years before by the Adelantado of Santa Marta, Don Rodrigo de Bastidas, in addition to continuing the unfinished work of the Licenciado de Mompox, Pedro de Heredia, who died of malaria in Cartagena de Indias Cartagena, Quesada also wanted to take the credit to find the wonderful civilization of El Dorado, which according to the stories settled in the heights of the interior; Jiménez de Quesada thought that this fluvial artery reached Peru, where he would find the lost treasures that Francisco Pizarro Pizarro had not found in Peru.

Jiménez de Quesada left Spain on the expedition led by Fernández de Lugo Pedro Fernández de Lugo and his son Alonso Luis de Lugo. According to the files of the Casa de Contratación (Archivos de Indias), the Fernández de Lugo expedition had the objective of administering the Governorate of Santa Marta, because Bastidas lost control, and the Tayronas counterattacked. Jiménez de Quesada went with Fernández as Justice Mayor of the town of Sta. Marta. In 1537, Pedro Fernández de Lugo named Jiménez de Quesada Captain General of an expedition that would go up the Magdalena River, searching for the golden cities of Peru.

Jiménez leaves Santa Marta with several ships, and arrives at Bocas de Ceniza, the point indicated in Juan de la Cosa's maritime charts as the mouth of the Magdalena River. After three or four months, Jiménez de Quesada decided to disembark somewhere on the eastern bank of the Magdalena River, near the current department of Cundinamarca.

It is presumed that the place where Jiménez de Quesada disembarked with his men is near the current city of Girardot (Cundinamarca). Actually, Jiménez de Quesada was not affected so hard upon his arrival in these places, since the Muiscas had already cleared part of the undergrowth, and in certain cases, had cut down trees to cultivate, hastening the arrival of Jiménez de Quesada, who wanted to go to Peru, direct to Bacatá.

At the end of 1537, Jiménez de Quesada arrived in the Sabana de Bogotá, naturally, scaring the indigenous people, because their appearance, clothing and horses (absolutely unknown to them) were strange to them; There were even some who claimed that it was Bochica, who was returning after years of absence. The arrival of the "strangers" it provoked an immediate meeting of the chiefs of the Muisca Empire with the Zipa Zaquezazipa, who agreed to eliminate the invaders.

In a hurry to find El Dorado, Jiménez de Quesada founded a rudimentary Bogotá on an unspecified date, apparently where the "Chorro de Quevedo" but the Muiscas did not tolerate this town within their territories and in the blink of an eye the town was burned. Furious, Jiménez de Quesada attacks the Indians starting the war.

After months of fighting, the Muiscas were defeated but not eliminated. Jiménez de Quesada decides to entrust a commission with the search for a suitable site for the foundation of a capital of these new lands. By March 1538, the commission ruled that the site would be Teusaquillo, already used by the ancient settlers as a recreational area, due to the nearby water sources, it had stone and wood at a short distance, in addition to the imposing presence of the Eastern Hills that they would form a good rear guard for the city. Then Jiménez de Quesada decides to build a church, on the Teusaquillo site. They chose the day of the Transfiguration for the foundation, and that clear morning of August 6, 1538, after the mass celebrated by Fray Domingo de las Casas, General Don Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada plants a cross in the middle of a square of sand., and in the north corner a stake, with a sign that named the city: SANTAFÉ DE BOGOTÁ, CAPITAL OF THE NEW KINGDOM OF GRANADA.

The name of the city and the region is easily decomposed: The archaic "Santafé", like "la Villa" or "Santa Cruz de" or "Santiago de" It was adapted to the taste of the founder, but it reminded us of the beginning of the Hispanicization process, which in Latin America was never completed; Bogotá, is the hispanicization of the muisca "Bacatá", a reminder of the ancient city with a Castilian tone; and the "New Kingdom of Granada" it is a mere association of the area of the city with the Granada of Spain, a city in a savannah, relatively cold at the foot of some hills. Other theories affirm that it was a delusion of Quesada himself, since he, who was from Granada, was excited to invent his own Granada and govern it, it has been said that this is false, since geographical theory has more weight and logic. The first church in the city, that of the Humilladero, was the depositary of the cross planted in the square and an image brought by Jiménez de Quesada for centuries, until they were transferred to the primate cathedral. And so Bogota was founded.

Quesada, whose intentions were not to populate or found cities, dedicated himself to anxiously searching for "El Dorado", although he was unsuccessful, leaving the city without a Mayor or Judge, although he appointed Fray Domingo de las Casas as Prelate of the city. After so many failures, Jiménez de Quesada gave up on "El Dorado" and finally the Government of the New Kingdom of Granada fell into the hands of Alonso Luis de Lugo.

Jiménez de Quesada, in addition to establishing the fluvial route that would move Colombian colonial life, and exploring the Muisca Empire, founded the nerve center of the Spanish administration, and Bogotá is still the capital of independent Colombia. This is merit enough to be remembered.

Sebastian de Belalcazar

Undoubtedly one of the most prolific in the colonizing campaign, Belalcázar founded several important cities in present-day Colombia. Authorized by the Casa de Contratación to explore the area north of Túmbes, the site of Pizarro's landing in Peru in 1521, lands that Pizarro left unexplored, as he continued south. Supposedly the mission was to see if there was gold in these regions, but Sebastián de Belalcázar was looking for more than that; he wanted to shine and make himself known, not as a gold digger, but as a Founder of Cities, a civilizer and urbanizer of the Americas. This was the work of Belalcázar in the aforementioned region.

Belalcázar, arrived on the coast of Ecuador in mid-1533 from Santo Domingo, and began his journey northward, meeting the northern peoples of Tahuantinsuyu (Empire of the Four Provinces - Inca Empire), which after the fights between Huáscar and Atahualpa, broke away from the Empire and were dissolved. Belalcázar immediately set about finding a place to found a city in the mountains, and by 1534, he founded San Francisco de Quito (Quito, Ecuador).

Belalcázar's journey continues south, as the indigenous guides tell him about the gold of the Pastos and the Tumacos (which was little). He arrives at the pasture area, and finding nothing, he does what he likes: founding cities, and he founds La Asunción de Popayán (Popayán, Colombia) in 1537, then he continues down and finds the Tumaco, who were in decline, and founded La Villaviciosa de la Concepción de Pasto (now San Juan de Pasto, Colombia).

The year 1537 was still running and, from Pasto, Belalcázar retraces his steps to the north, passing through Popayán, Cali, and climbing the Central Cordillera to reach the plains of Tolima, where he meets the haughty Pijaos, with whom He has problems, crosses the Magdalena River, and begins to climb the highlands, thinking that the area was uninhabited. To his surprise, he arrives in Santafé de Bogotá and finds that it was already founded by Jiménez de Quesada. Belalcázar insists that he is the founder, but eventually gives up. Thus, Belalcázar returned and went down to the Magdalena River, and on the other side he founded the Villa de Neiva (Neiva, Colombia) in the year 1539; from there he began to found small intermediate towns that would later become land trade enclaves.. In this concept, Belalcázar was ahead of his time.

Association with Jorge Robledo

In his plan of intermediate cities, Belalcázar continues in his plan of small towns, founding Villa de Buenaventura (in 1541), after founding San Jorge de Cartago (Cartago, Colombia) near Cali. From Cartago, Belalcázar goes north, through the valley between the central and western mountain ranges; joining Mariscal Jorge Robledo he founded Santafé de Antioquia in 1541, later Santiago de Arma in 1543, Villa de Madrigal, in 1544 and La Villa de Caramanta, in 1549, creating a network of main and intermediate towns crucial for colonial evolution.

Belalcázar finally decides to visit the city of Cartagena de Indias, and he dies there at the end of 1551. Belalcázar is one of the most distinguished figures of the conquest, thanks to his mission to urbanize and homogenize the National territory.

Nicolás de Federmán and Ambrosio Alfinger

Nicolás de Federman, was an explorer hired by the German bankers of the Welser Family to explore the Spanish territories in America. Federman's explorations did not produce foundations as his mission was merely economic. Federman left Lisbon, the site of the Welsers' American operations, towards the Venezuelan coasts already explored by Juan de Ampies, the founder of Coro (Venezuela). He arrives near Cabo de la Vela and founds Riohacha. Subsequently, he arrives in Santafé de Bogotá shortly after its foundation by Jiménez de Quesada, and even intends to take over its foundation. In 1534 he is replaced by Jorge de Espira. Federmán's expedition brought the first chickens that were known in these territories.

For his part, Ambrosio Alfinger was also a German explorer, who is credited with being the first to set foot in Colombia. He settled in Santa Ana de Coro, a place he founded in present-day Coro, in Venezuela. After several administrative problems, Alfinger died in Chinácota, in present-day Norte de Santander. The department would be filled with German influence centuries later, thanks to Alfinger's expeditions and the economic problems of the Spanish Crown in the 18th century.