Sebastián de Belalcázar Sebastián de Belalcázar ( 1479 or 1480 – 1551 ) was a Spanish conquistador . Early life . He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba , Spain , in either 1479 or 1480 . He took the name Benalcázar as that was the name of the castle - town near to his birthplace in Córdoba . According to various sources , he may have left for the New World with Christopher Columbus as early as 1498 , but Juan de Castellanos wrote that he killed a mule in 1507 , and fled to Spain for the West Indies due to fear of punishment , and as a chance to escape the poverty in which he lived . Americas . He entered Nicaragua with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba in 1524 , and became the first mayor of the city of León in Nicaragua . He remained there until 1527 , when he left for Honduras as a result of internal disputes among the Spanish governors . Briefly returning to León , he sailed to the coast of Peru , where he united with the expedition of Francisco Pizarro in 1532 . Conquest of Ecuador . In 1534 , after having helped Pizarro battle native tribes , he set off to conquer Quito in Ecuador , using funds obtained as compensation from his previous campaigns . Quito had been the northernmost city of the Inca Empire , but before Belalcázar could take it , Inca general Rumiñahui sent the treasure in the city deep into the Andes and then burned the city . Belalcázar founded the new city of Quito with Diego de Almagro , honoring Pizarro by naming it in full " San Francisco de Quito " . His battles , though , were not entirely honourable . At a village called Quinche near Puritaco , he found that all the men were away fighting with the national army . To make an example of these people ( and to vent his frustration at finding so little treasure ) , he ordered all the women and children to be slaughtered . ' A feeble excuse to justify cruelty unworthy of a Castilian ' , was the verdict of Herrera , the official Chronicler of the Conquest , to Benalcazar ' s excuse that this was done to terrify other natives into returning to their homes . Conquest of Colombia . Moving northward into present day Colombia in search of El Dorado in 1535 , he entered the Cauca River Valley , founding the southwestern Colombian cities of Santiago de Cali in 1536 , and Pasto and Popayán ( next in importance after Quito ) in 1537 . Crossing overland to the Magdalena River Valley , he entered the highlands of central Colombia , which had also been reached by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and Nikolaus Federmann , a German , in 1539 . The three presented their dispute before King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V . The King granted Belalcázar rule of the area with the title of governor of Popayán and the honorary title of adelantado in May 1540 . As so often happened among the conquistadors , land squabbles developed again , this time between Belalcázar and Pascual de Andagoya ( 1495 – 1548 ) , who also claimed the governorship of Popayán . Belalcázar successfully defended his lands , and took over some of Andagoya ' s . He then intervened in a disagreement between supporters of the families of Pizarro and Almagro in Perú . In 1546 , he ordered the execution of Jorge Robledo , who governed a neighboring province in yet another land - related vendetta . He was put to trial in absentia in 1550 , convicted and condemned to death for the death of Robledo , and other offenses pertaining to his constant involvement in the various wars between other conquistadors . A victim of his own ambition , he died in 1551 before he could begin the voyage back to Spain to appeal the decision , in Cartagena , Colombia .