Baltasar Maldonado
Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado, (c.1510, Salamanca, Castile – 1558, Santafé de Bogotá, New Kingdom of Granada) was a Spanish conquistador who first served under Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, and later in the army of Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca. In 1539, Maldonado defeated the last ruling "Cacique" ("royal ruler") of the Muisca, Saymoso (called ""Tundama"" by the Spaniards). Maldonado took part in a quest for "El Dorado" led by Hernán Pérez de Quesada in the southern regions of present-day Colombia. After this failed expedition, Maldonado went to Popayán and  Cali and traveled back to Santafé de Bogotá, the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada where he died in 1552. The adventures of 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". Early life. Maldonado was born in Salamanca in a family of hidalgos, the son of Francisco Maldonado, who served under the Duke of Alba. He married Leonor de Carvajal y Mendoza, and the couple had four children; two sons: Alfonso Maldonado y Carvajal and Alonso Maldonado; and two daughters: María  Maldonado y Carvajal and Ana Maldonado de Carvajal. The sister of Leonor de Carvajal married successively Jorge Robledo, Pedro Briceño, and president of "Audiencia" Francisco Briceño. Spanish conquest. Maldonado traveled from Spain to Santo Domingo and Santa Marta. He was a soldier in Sebastián de Belalcázar's expedition of conquest. De Belalcázar had founded San Francisco de Quito (now Peru), on December 6, 1534. The expedition subdued the area and was sent northwards into territory that was later formed into the New Kingdom of Granada accompanied by Álvaro de Mendoza and Maldonado's future brother-in-law, Jorge Robledo. They  reached the central part of the Central Ranges of the Colombian Andes in 1539, where the troops encountered resistance from the Pijao, Quimbaya, and other indigenous groups. Maldonado accompanied De Belalcázar on his journey from Popayán (founded on January 13, 1537), toward the Bogotá savanna in the Eastern Ranges where the conquistadors encountered two other expeditions: an eastern expedition led by Nikolaus Federmann, and the main expedition of conquest under the command of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Immediately after Bogotá was established (August 6, 1538), the soldiers participated in the Battle of Tocarema in late August to over-power the  Panche who lived to the west of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. During this time, Maldonado was involved in the conquest of the Central Ranges, and sent east by Jorge Robledo to the Muisca Confederation on the Cundiboyacense . Conquest of Tundama. The Muisca Confederation was separated into federations: The "Zipa" of Bacatá (the central federation), the "Zaque" of Hunza (the southern federation), and the "Iraca" Sugamuxi in Suamox (the northern-most group). Before Fall 1537, the first two had submitted to Spanish rule: Bacatá in April 1537; and then Hunza four months later. The northernmost territories of Suamox were still controlled by  the "Cacique" (or 'King') Tundama, whose "bohío" was built on an island 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. 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. Tundama declared a "death war" against the Spanish soldiers and gathered an army of 10,000 guecha warriors. Maldonado  defeated Tundama and 4000 other Muisca in a December 1539 battle, a struggle that took two weeks, culminating in the Battle of Vargas Swamp, close to Paipa, where 280 years later the famous Battle of Vargas Swamp by Simón Bolívar would be fought. Tundama was killed by Maldonado wielding a large hammer. Quest for "El Dorado". 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 Cundiboyacense; the vast flatlands of the Llanos Orientales. The troops left Bogotá in September 1540 and  passed through Pasca, that had been founded by fellow conquistador Juan de Céspedes three years earlier. 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 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, 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. 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 were Molina and Cepeda. The expedition to find "El Dorado" had failed because 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. Maldonado's expedition returned to Cali (formerly founded by De Belalcázar). Later life and death. Maldonado, who had spent years in the conquest of Colombian terrain, returned to Bogotá via Pensilvania. He died in the capital in 1552. The Maldonado family. The Maldonado family lived 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 from  the Maldonado family are known in history.