List of conquistadors in Colombia

This is a list of conquistadors who were active in the conquest of terrains that presently belong to Colombia. The nationalities listed refer to the state the conquistador was born into. Granada and Castile are currently part of Spain, but were separate states at the time of birth of the early conquistadors.

Important conquistadors and explorers were Alonso de Ojeda, who landed first at Colombian soil and founded the first settlement Santa Cruz,^[1] Rodrigo de Bastidas, who founded the oldest still remaining city Santa Marta, Pedro de Heredia, who founded the important city of Cartagena in 1533, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, who was the leader of the first and main expedition into the Andes (1536–1538), with his brother second in command and many other conquistadors, 80% of whom who didn't survive,^[2]^[3] and Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar who entered the Colombian interior from the northwest and south respectively.

Pre-Columbian cultures

Chibchan Nations

SW cultures

Pre-Columbian peoples, civilisations and cultures of four language groups; Arawakan, Carib, Chibcha, and the isolated Páez language, existed in Colombia with after the Muisca, the Tairona, Calima, Quimbaya and Zenú as important ones

Conquistadors in Colombia

Name leader in bold	Nationality	Years active	Indigenous people encountered bold is conquered ~~conquest failed~~	Year of death	Notes
Alonso de Ojeda	Castilian	1499–1502 1509–10	~~Wayuu~~ Kuna (2)	1515	^[4]
Christopher Columbus	Genovese	1502–1504	Kuna (1)	1506	^{[note 1]}
Francisco Pizarro	Extremaduran	1509–10 1513 1515–29	Kuna (2, 3, 4) Inca	1541
Martín Fernández de Enciso	Castilian	1509–10 1513–17	Kuna (2, 3)	1528	^[5]
Vasco Núñez de Balboa	Extremaduran	1513–19	Kuna (3)	1519
Pedro Arias Dávila	Castilian	1513–19	Kuna (3)	1531	^[1]
Pascual de Andagoya	Basque	1515–29	Kuna (4), Inca	1548	^[1]
Diego de Almagro	Castilian	1515–29	Kuna (4) Inca	1538
Bartolomé Ruiz	Castilian	1515–29	Kuna (4)	1532
Sebastián de Belalcázar	Castilian	1514–39	Paez Pijao (1) Sutagao (1) Muisca	1551	^[1]^[3]
Jorge Robledo	Castilian	1514–46	Paez Pijao (1) Nutabe	1546	^[1]^{[note 2]}
Juan de Ampudia	Castilian	1514–41	Paez, Pijao (1), Nutabe	1541
Pedro de Añasco	Castilian	1514–41	Paez, Pijao (1)		^[6]
Baltasar Maldonado	Castilian	1534–52	Inca, Paez, Pijao (1), Quimbaya, Pantágora, Muisca, Choque, Inga, Kamëntsá	1552	^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]
Rodrigo de Bastidas	Castilian	1524–25	Tairona	1527	^[1]
Juan de Céspedes	Castilian	1525–43	Tairona, Chimila (1, 2) Muisca Panche (1), Sutagao (1)	1573 or 1576	^[2]^[3]^[11]^[12]^[13]
Ambrosius Ehinger	Bavarian	1529–33	Tairona, ~~Wayuu~~ Chimila (1), Motilon (1), Chitarero (1)	1533	^[1]
Pedro de Heredia	Castilian	1532–38	Zenú	1554	^[1]
Alonso de Heredia	Castilian	1532–38	Zenú		^[1]
Alonso de Cáceres	Extremaduran	1532–38	Zenú
Georg von Speyer	Palatinatian	1535–38	Motilon (2) Chitarero (1)	1540
Nikolaus Federmann	Bavarian	1535–39	Motilon (2), Chitarero (1) U'wa, Lache (1) Muisca	1542	^[1]^[3]
Miguel Holguín y Figueroa	Extremaduran	1535–39	Motilon (2), Chitarero (1), U'wa, Lache (1), Muisca	1576>	^[2]^[14]
Luis Lanchero	Castilian	1533–39 1541–1559	Muzo	1562	^[15]^[16]
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada	Granadian	1536–39 1569–72	Tairona, Chimila (2) zipa zaque Panche Pijao (2)	1579	^[1]^[2]^[3]
Juan Maldonado	Castilian	1536–39 1569–72	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche, Pijao (2)		^[2]^{[note 3]}
Pedro Ruíz Corredor	Castilian	1533–1601	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Inca	1601+	^[2]^[17]
Juan de Albarracín	Castilian	1536–1539	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche		^[2]
Juan Tafur	Castilian	1518–1541	Tairona, Chimila (1,2), Muisca, Panche		^[2]^[18]
Martín Yañéz Tafur	Castilian	1520–1544	Zenú, Kuna, Panche		^[2]^[19]
Antonio Díaz de Cardoso	Portuguese	1526–41	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche		^[2]^[20]
Gonzalo García Zorro	Extremaduran	1536–1544	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche	1566	^[2]
Gonzalo Macías	Extremaduran	1536–39 1569–71	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche, Pijao (2)	1571~	^[2]^[21]
Hernán Pérez de Quesada	Granadian	1536–39 1540–42	Tairona, Chimila (2) Muisca, Panche Lache (2), Chitarero (3) Achagua, Guayupe, Choque, Inga, Kamëntsá	1544	^[2]^[3]
Gonzalo Suárez Rendón	Castilian	1536–39	Tairona, Chimila (2) zipa, Panche zaque	1590	^[2]^[3]^[22]
Juan del Junco	Asturian	1536–41	Tairona, Chimila (2) Muisca	15??	^[2]^[23]
Martín Galeano	Extremaduran	1536–39 1540–45	Tairona, Chimila (2) Muisca, Panche Muzo	1554~	^[2]^[3]^[24]
Lázaro Fonte	Castilian	1536–39 1540–42	Tairona, Chimila (2) Muisca, Panche Lache (2), Guayupe	1542	^[2]^[3]
Juan de Sanct Martín	Castilian	1536–39 1540–45	Tairona, Chimila (2) Muisca, Panche Guane Achagua		^[2]^[3]
Hernán Venegas Carrillo	Castilian	1536–47	Tairona, Chimila (2), Panche	1583	^[2]^[25]
Ortún Velázquez de Velasco	Castilian	1536–39	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche, Chitarero (2)	1584	^[2]^[26]
Bartolomé Camacho Zambrano	Extremaduran	1536–39	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche		^[2]
Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela	Castilian	1536–39	Tairona, Chimila (2), Muisca, Panche		^[2]
640+ conquistadors ~80%	mostly Castilian	April 1536 - April 1537	Diseases, jaguars, crocodiles, climate, various indigenous warfare	1536 1537	^[2]^[3]
Gaspar de Rodas	Extremaduran	1539–81	Paez Pijao Nutabe	1607	^[27]
Juan Maldonado	Castilian	1543–72	Chitarero (4)	1572
Pedro de Ursúa	Navarran	1545–61	Panche ~~Muzo~~ Chitarero (5) Tairona	1561	^{[note 4]}
Juan Taborda	Extremaduran	1545–69	Nutabe	1569	^[28]
Juan Freyle	Castilian		Panche ~~Muzo~~ Chitarero (5) Tairona		^[29]^[30]

Notes

^ Although the country Colombia is named after Columbus, he has never seen the present country of Colombia.
Panama, where he disembarked in 1503, was part of (Gran) Colombia until 1903
^ Executed by the Governor of New Granada
^ Not the same as Juan Maldonado, who was only 11 in 1536
^ Murdered on expedition by some of his men