Baltasar Maldonado
| Baltasar Maldonado | |
|---|---|
| Born |
unknown Salamanca, Castile |
| Died | 1552 Bogotá, New Kingdom of Granada |
| Nationality | Castilian |
| Other names | Baltazar Maldonado |
| Occupation | Conquistador |
| Years active | 1536-1552 |
| Employer | Spanish Crown |
| Known for |
Spanish conquest of the Muisca Defeat of Tundama Quest for El Dorado |
| Spouse(s) | Leonor de Carvajal y Mendoza |
| Children | two sons: Alfonso Maldonado y Carvajal & Alonso Maldonado two daughters: María & Ana Maldonado de Carvajal |
| Parent(s) |
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| Family | Jorge Robledo (brother-in-law) |
| Notes | |
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Baltasar Maldonado, also written as Baltazar Maldonado, (?, 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.
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.
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.
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 Bituima, 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. Another Isabel Maldonado was married to two conquistadors; Pedro Núñez Cabrera and after his death with Miguel Holguín y Figueroa. Alonso Maldonado y Guzmán was the son-in-law of conquistador in Mexico Francisco de Montejo, the Elder.
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