Baltasar Maldonado

Shield of the Maldonado family

Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado,^[4] (?, Salamanca, Castile - 1552, Bogotá, New Kingdom of Granada) was a Spanish conquistador who first served under Sebastian de Belalcázar in the conquest of Quito and Peru, the foundations of Cali and Popayán, and later in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca.^[1]

Baltasar Maldonado is known as the conquistador who defeated the last ruling main cacique of the Muisca; Tundama, who he killed with a large hammer in late December 1539. Subsequently, Baltasar Maldonado took part in the Quest for El Dorado led by Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the southern regions of present-day Colombia. After this failed expedition, where many of the Spanish soldiers died of diseases, poisoned arrows and drowning in the numerous rivers of the Llanos Orientales and western Amazon River basin, Baltasar Maldonado returned to Popayán and Cali and traveled back to Bogotá, the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada where he died in 1552.^[1]

The adventures of Baltasar Maldonado during the first half of the 16th century have been described by scholars Juan de Castellanos and Juan Rodríguez Freyle in his work El Carnero.^[3][5][6]

The Maldonado family

The Maldonado family was a distinguished family in Salamanca, Spain. Notable is Francisco Maldonado, who was a leader in the Revolt of the Comuneros. Various conquistadors and other people involved in the Spanish colonization of the Americas of the Maldonado family are known in history; Rodrigo Arias de Maldonado, conquistador in New Spain, (Francisco) Arias Maldonado, who also served under De Belálcazar and became encomendero of Sora in Boyacá, Juan Maldonado, another conquistador in Colombia and son-in-law of Ortún Velázquez de Velasco, Juan Prieto Maldonado, conquistador in Tunja, Francisco Maldonado Dorado del Hierro, serving under German conquistadors Georg von Speyer and Nikolaus Federmann and later encomendero of Sasaima and Bituíma, Diego Carasquilla Maldonado, who became oídor for Santa Fe de Bogotá in Lima, Francisco de Grado Maldonado, son of Isabel Maldonado, was conquistador in Peru.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]} Another Isabel Maldonado was married to two conquistadors; Pedro Núñez Cabrera and after his death with Miguel Holguín y Figueroa.^[16] Alonso Maldonado y Guzmán was the son-in-law of conquistador in Mexico Francisco de Montejo, the Elder.^[17]

Biography

Baltasar Maldonado was born in Salamanca in a family of hidalgos as son of Francisco Maldonado, who served under Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba.^[3] He married Leonor de Carvajal y Mendoza, and the couple got four children; two sons and two daughters: Alfonso Maldonado y Carvajal, Alonso Maldonado, María Maldonado y Carvajal and Ana Maldonado de Carvajal.^[2][18] The sister of Leonor de Carvajal married successively Jorge Robledo, Pedro Briceño and president of the Audiencia Francisco Briceño.^[3]

Spanish conquest

Before reaching the Muisca Confederation, Baltasar Maldonado was active in the conquest of Quito, Popayán and the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes, terrain of the Pijao and Quimbaya

The Vargas Swamp (Pantano de Vargas), close to Paipa, was the location of the final battle against Tundama, where in late December 1539 Baltasar Maldonado killed the cacique with a large hammer

Baltasar Maldonado traveled from Spain to Santo Domingo and later to Santa Marta.^[3] He was a soldier in the conquest expedition of Sebastián de Belalcázar who founded San Francisco de Quito on December 6, 1534, and Peru and was sent northwards into the later New Kingdom of Granada with his later brother-in-law Jorge Robledo and Álvaro de Mendoza.^[1][4] They reached the central part of the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes in 1539, where the troops encountered resistance of the Pijao, Quimbaya and other indigenous groups.

He accompanied De Belalcázar on his journey from Popayán, founded on January 13, 1537, towards the Bogotá savanna in the Eastern Ranges where the conquistadors encountered the other two groups; the eastern expedition led by Nikolaus Federmann and the main expedition under command of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. After the foundation of Bogotá on August 6, 1538, the soldiers participated in the Battle of Tocarema two weeks later to submit the Panche to the west of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. During this time, Baltasar Maldonado was involved in the conquest of the Central Ranges, and sent east by Jorge Robledo to the Muisca Confederation on the Altiplano.

Conquest of Tundama

The mythical El Dorado, famously depicted in the Muisca raft, formed the motive for expedition leader Hernán Pérez de Quesada to travel to the Llanos Orientales, with Baltasar Maldonado as his main captain. Many soldiers, among which Lázaro Fonte, died of diseases, poisoned arrows shot by the natives and drowning in the many rivers of the flatlands

While most of the Muisca Confederation was submitted to the Spanish rule; first the zipa of Bacatá in April 1537, then the zaque of Hunza four months later and shortly after the iraca Sugamuxi in Suamox, the northernmost territories were still controlled by the cacique Tundama, whose bohío was built on an island (the La Tolosa hill, north of the present-day town centre) in the lake of the settlement with the same name, today known as Duitama. Tundama was the last cacique of Duitama and the caciques of Cerinza, Chitagoto, Icabuco, Lupacoche, Sátiva, Soatá and Susacón were loyal to him.^[19] Tundama, other than the earlier caciques of the Muisca resisted heavily against the European invaders and punished one of his people who suggested to surrender by cutting off their ears and left hand.^[20] Tundama declared a "death war" against the Spanish soldiers and gathered an army of 10,000 guecha warriors.^[19]

It was Baltasar Maldonado who was the conquistador to defeat Tundama and 4000 other Muisca in December 1539, a struggle that took two weeks, culminating in the Battle of the Vargas Swamp, close to Paipa, where 280 years later the famous Vargas Swamp Battle by Simón Bolívar would be fought.^[19][20][21] Tundama was killed by Baltasar Maldonado with a large hammer.^[19]

Quest for El Dorado

Baltasar Maldonado traveled various parts of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, home to the Muisca, most notably the northeastern part where he defeated Tundama

Maldonado crossed the western part of the department of Caquetá towards the south

The western region of the southern department of Putumayo was visited by Baltasar Maldonado in Mocoa and Sibundoy

The mythical city of gold El Dorado was a common legend in the early days of the conquest of what later would become Colombia; the troops of Gonzalo de Quesada were drawn from the relative safety of the Caribbean coast in Santa Marta towards the heart of the Andes, while around the same time the southern expedition led by De Belalcázar heard similar stories in Quito. After the establishment of the New Kingdom of Granada, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada left for Spain with de Belalcázar and other soldiers who participated in the conquest and left the reign of the new colony in the hands of his brother, Hernán Pérez de Quesada. Hernán organised an expedition to search for the mythical lands of gold towards the southeast of the Altiplano; the vast flatlands of the Llanos Orientales. The troops left Bogotá in September 1540 and passed through Pasca, that was founded by fellow conquistador Juan de Céspedes, three years earlier.^[5]

The conquistadors passed the mountains of the Eastern Ranges and crossed the Guaviare and Papamene Rivers. While crossing one of the many rivers of the Llanos, a horserider of the expedition, Jorge Olmeda, drowned with his horse and an indigenous woman he had taken with him. The Spanish honoured him by naming this the Olmeda River. The soldiers reached La Fragua, a settlement populated by the Choque in the present-day department of Caquetá, where Hernán Pérez de Quesada decided to stay for a while to rest. He sent Baltasar Maldonado ahead to search for other settlements in the area. Maldonado tried to cross a river but he was halted by the indigenous people living there, who shot poisoned arrows at the conquistador, forcing him to retreat. At night, Baltasar Maldonado and his men attempted to defeat the indigenous a second time, this time successfully by ambushing them on a small island in the river. The hurt natives fled and many drowned in the waters. Hernán Pérez de Quesada with the other remaining soldiers joined the troops of Maldonado again in Mocoa, Putumayo to the south. From here, the expedition went back into the Andes to search for food.^[5]

Baltasar Maldonado walked for three days, finally encountering a lush valley in Sibundoy, terrain of the Inga and Kamëntsá. This valley was part of the jurisdiction of the earlier founded Popayán and the colleagues of Maldonado from four years earlier lived in the area. Maldonado, however, was unaware of this and returned to his expedition leader Hernán to report the location of the valley. The troops marched back and found the conquistadors, among which Molina, Cepeda and others.^[5] From here, the expedition that failed to find El Dorado returned to Cali, formerly founded by De Belalcázar. Baltasar Maldonado, who had spent years in the conquest of Colombian terrain, returned to Bogotá via Pensilvania.^[6] He died in the capital in 1552.^[1]

Conquest expeditions by Baltasar Maldonado

Popayán, the city he helped founding with De Belalcázar, is located in the heart of the Cauca Department

Maldonado passed through Caldas twice; in 1539 traveling north towards the Muisca Confederation and between 1541 and 1550 again back to Bogotá, the former Muisca capital, where he died in 1552

Name	Department	Date	Year	Notes	Map
Quito	Pichincha	6 December	1534	[1]
Cali (1)	Valle del Cauca		1536
Popayán (1)	Cauca		1537
Falán	Tolima		1539	[22]
Mariquita	Tolima		1539	[23]
Manzanares	Caldas		1539	[4][24]
Marquetalia	Caldas		1539	[4]
Duitama	Boyacá	15 December	1539	[19]
Pasca	Cundinamarca	Early September	1540	[5]
Nevado del Sumapaz	Cundinamarca		1540
San Martín	Meta		1540	[25]
Florencia	Caquetá		1540	[26]
San José de la Fragua	Caquetá		1540	[5]
Mocoa	Putumayo		1540-41	[5]
Sibundoy	Putumayo		1541	[5]
Popayán (2)	Cauca		1541	[5]
Cali (2)	Valle del Cauca		1541	[6]
Pensilvania	Caldas		1541-1550	[27]

See also

List of conquistadors in Colombia

Spanish conquest of the Muisca

El Dorado

Duitama, Hernán Pérez de Quesada

Sebastián de Belalcázar, Tundama

References

Bibliography

• 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.

Further reading

• 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.

External links

• (Spanish) The conquest of Tundama