CHAPTER III
THE FOUNDING OF SANTA MARTA AND
CA RTAGEN A
I. The expedition of Bastidas. 11. Vadillo as governor. III.
Lermas administration and his interim successor. IV. Heredia
the founder of Cartagena. V. The pillaging expedition to the
graves of ZenO in 1534.
DURING the period of the early efforts to explore and
colonise New Andalucia, more successful attempts were
made to establish settlements on the northern coast of
South America, farther towards the west. In 1525,
Rodrigo de Bastidas left Santo Domingo for the continent
with four ships.' and on the 29th of July of this year
founded the town of Santa Marta. He brought to his
undertaking a determination to gain the good-will of
the natives by humane and considerate treatment. He
formed treaties of peace with the tribes who occupied the
territory about the place which he had selected for his
settlement. But this policy was not approved by his associates. He determined ) moreover, not to distribute among
his men the gold which fell into his hands, until the expenses of his military equipment had been met. On this
point there was also a disagreement, as well as with respect
to the plan to take nothing from the Indians by force.
Some of the members of the expedition, irritated by the
designs of Bastidas, and led by his lieutenant, Juan de
Capitulaci6n que so tomó can Rodrigo de Eastida para la poi>
Iacion do Ia provincia y puerta do Santa Maria, Doc. ismtd., xxii. g8106.
46
SANTA MARTA AND CARTAGENA 47
Villafuerte, formed a conspiracy to murder him. They
broke into his quarters, stabbed him, and left him for dead.
Captain Rodrigo Palomino answered his call for assistance,
and drove off the conspirators when they returned to finish
their work. Defeated in their second murderous assault,
they fled to the forest to escape the vengeance of the indignant settlers. In the forest they were pursued by the
Indians, and were obliged to seek refuge in the town.
They were here arrested, and sent to Santo Domingo for
trial, where they were condemned and executed, Some
of the conspirators, who did not dare to return to the town,
were lost in attempting to cross from Tierra FiTMC to
Santo Domingo in a boat. Bastidas appointed Palomino
his lieutenant-general, and empowered him to manage the
affairs of the colony and in this manner he recognised
the services of Palomino, who had defended him. Bastidas
then went to Santo Domingo to be treated for his wounds,
and died a little later in Cuba.'
1 Groot, Hiseoria cit Nueva Granada (Bogota, xSSg), . 5. Castellanos
states the reason of Bastidas destruction in Bib. deAnE. Esp., iv. 26o.
Segn Ins quo mas saben do rate cuento,
Fue principle y origin do sus males
No consentir hacer mattratamiento
Ni robes an aquellos naturales."
Lorento, Coiquisia del Peru, 7, describes Bastidas as ' uno de los
pores; Europeos quo on aquella época de erodes injusticias buscaban a
Ins indios, no para explotarlos desapiadadamente, 5mb para atraerlos
A la civilizacion con Ins gores apacibles del cemercie." Pedro Simon,
Las Conquistas, ii. 3, refers to Bastidas as a ' vecino de Triana en Sevilla,
hombre do buena fama, sangre, calidad y estima.' Piedrahita, lib. iii.
cap. i. See " capitulacion quo so tooth con Rodrigo do Bastidas para
Ia poblacion do la previncia y Puerto de Santa Marta," Madrid,
November 6, 1524.
The metrical chronicle of Juan de Castellanos, in its relation to the
early history of New Granada, calls to mind Ercilla's Araucana in its
relation to the early events of Chilean history. Castellanos was born
in the little town of .Alanis, in the province of Seville, in the first part
of the sixteenth century. He left Spain as a soldier, began his military
career in Porto Rico, and was later at Paria and in the islands
of Trinidad and cubagea. He was transferred to the island of
Margarita after the earthquake which caused all of the colonists of
cubagua to remove to Margarita. In 5550 he was living at Cape
48 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
II
When the death of Bastidas became known to the audiencia of Santo Domingo, that body appointed Pedro
Vadillo to be the governor of Santa Marta. Palomino,
however, refused to yield the post of authority to Vadillo,
and an armed conflict appeared to be inevitable. Vadillo
had under his command a body of only about two hundred
men, not enough to \valTant him in undertaking to suppress Palomino by force. Fortunately the two parties
agreed to unite and recognise both leaders as equal in
authority until the return of the messengers from Spain
with the decision of the court. Palomino, continuing his
campaigns against the Indians, was drowned by his horse
losing his looting in attempting to ford a river. The disappearance of Palomino left Vadillo without embarrassment in exercising his rapacious designs with respect to
the natives. He penetrated the interior of the country,
crossed the sierra Tairona, and ) by a military occupation
of many months, converted flourishing and happy valleys
do to Vela, and a little later he is known to have been at Santa Marta,
where he remained until 1552. lie was in Cartagena when that
town was taken by pirates in 1559. While here he became a priest,
and was appointed to lie the treasurer of the cathedral, but he refused
to accept this office, and removed from the diocese. He was finally
established at Tunja as the parish priest, and here he wrote his Elegies
de varones i7usrres de Ins !,zdios. At. Turin he spent his old age its
peace, but the time of his death is not known. It is known, however,
that ho was living in 188, for ITS his writings he refers to events which
occurred in that year. The first part of the Elegies was printed in 189
the second part was printed near the end of the century and the
three parts were issued together in the Iliblioteca de Antares Españotes,
in the fourth volume.
Reference may be made to three accounts of Castellanos. The
first is contained in the Introduction to the Hisioria del Nueva Reino
de Granada, by Antonio Paz y Mélia (Madrid, 1886), vol. i. 9-47. The
second is a thin volume of one hundred and six pages, by Marcos
Jiniénez de La Espada (Madrid xSSg), called Juan de Castellanos y so
hisloria del Nueno Reino de Granada. The third is Schumacher's
Lebensbild, found in Iiamburgsche Feslschn'fl sot Erinne;'nng an die
Enldeckitng Anteri/ca's (Hamburg, 1892), ii. 145-296.
SANTA MARTA AND CARTAGENA 49
into scenes of desolation and misery. From this campaign, which lasted a year, Vadillo returned to Santa
Marta with a large quantity of gold and jewels, and as
many slaves as the soldiers could take charge of, who, like
thousands that had preceded them ) were destined to perish
miserably under the tasks imposed upon them in the
islands. Reports of Vadillo's avarice and cruelty having
reached the court, he was sent to Spain for trial, but he
was lost off the coast of the Peninsula. Thus, like both
of his predecessors, the third governor of Santa Marta met
a tragic fate.'
El
Garcia Lerma succeeded Vadillo as governor of Santa
Marta, and the beginning of his administration was contemporaneous with the establishment of the rule of the
Welsers in Venezuela. In this period the authorities in
Spain made another attempt to ameliorate the condition
of the Indians. The new governor was required not to
sanction the enslavement of the natives but to exercise
all possible diligence in discovering, in the islands and elsewhere, the Indians who had been drawn from his territory and reduced to slavery. At the same time it was
made his duty to restore such persons to the districts from
which they had been taken and the audiencia of Santo
Domingo was ordered to assist in this work of justice and
humanity. It was presumed that the governor would be
assisted in attempts to execute these orders by the twenty
ecclesiastics who had accompanied him to America, and
particularly by the famous preacher, Tomas Ortiz, who
bore the title of Protector of the Indians. But the plan
involved in these orders, like other pious designs of the
Spanish government, was frustrated, because it was in
opposition to the interests of the colonists.
Acosta, Nueva Granada, yo—gi Simon, Los cairqnislas do Tierra
Th y me, ii. r g , See C.H. 4 Sri Afaçestad de Rodrip de Granada, Jul y 15,
1529, Doe. laId., 4 1, 284.
VOL. 1.
D
5° THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
Governor Lerma brought several kinds of seed from
Spain for the purpose of encouraging the cultivation of
the soil, yet his attention was directed mainly to the exploration of the interior. Sometimes the members of the
companies employed in this enterprise were received by
the Indians in a friendly manner; but often they encountered open hostility, or were decoyed into positions where
the natives might destroy them without danger to themselves. The Chimilas sometimes hung articles of gold at
their doors, and then concealed themselves hard by, where
from their ambush they might despatch the Spaniard with
their poisoned arrows when he came to take away the gold.
A number of attempts were made to explore the Magdalena
River during Lerma's administration. An expedition
under the leadership of JerOnimo Melo, a Portuguese, was
fruitless, owing to the death of Melo in an early period of
the undertaking. Under the direction of the priest,
Viana, the river was explored to its junction with the
Cauca. Viana and his men then followed this latter
stream to its confluence with the San Jorje. Throughout
their long and wearisome journey they found no inhabitants who seemed to have the gold they sought; and,
finally, worn out, half-starved, and discouraged, they constructed rafts and floated down the river, and reached
Santa Marta in the beginning of 1532.'
For the support of the ecclesiastics of the colony
Governor Lerma granted an encomienda, which was to
be held by Ortiz in their behalf. A little later Ortiz
appears as the first bishop of Santa Marta. He undertook to make more humane the treatment of the Indians
by the Spaniards, but he was able to accomplish little or
nothing in opposition to the greed of the settlers and the
practices already confirmed by custom. He, therefore,
Benedetti, Historia de Colombia (Lima, 188), 119-21: Groot,
Historia de Nueva Granada, i. 6, 7 Acosta, Nueva Granada, 97—too
Carta e relacion tie Garcia tie Lenna, January iG, 1630, Doe. med., 41,
293314.
SANTA MARTA AND CARTAGENA 51
went to Spain to give the king an account of the condition
of affairs in the colony, but died almost immediately on
reaching the Peninsula.'
The alcaldes and regidores of Santa Marta issued a
statement concerning the administration of Governor
Lerma, in which they called attention to the hostility hc
had aroused among the Indians, and to the avarice and
injustice he had displayed. They affirmed that when he
arrived, a Spaniard might safely go alone forty leagues
into the interior, and that the Indians would give him
whatever he needed without doing him any harm; but,
at the time of their writing, a company of fifteen mounted
soldiers would not dare to go two and a half leagues from
the port. In the beginning the Indians were so friendly
that when the chiefs visited the governor they brought
gold and jewels, and these things lie received without
sharing them with any other persons ; whereas, in justice,
having paid the part due the king, he should have given
some part of them to the people. And when a soldier
came to him to ask permission to go and excavate a grave
which lie had seen, lie would grant this request only on
condition that the soldier would give him a certain part
of the spoil. They affirmed, moreover, that the governor,
who had brought two miners, or stone-cutters, with him
from Spain, by employing these and other persons in his
service, he caused a number of graves to be plundered
secretly before they were known to anyone else. On the
truth of these and various other charges of greed, injustice,
and favouritism, the alealdes and regidores were willing
to stake their lives and property.'
Before the return of Viana's expedition, the audiencia
of Santo Domingo had appointed one of its members, the
• (hoot, Historia tie Nueva Granada, I. ii Acosta, Ni:eva Granada,
9'.
• ...' decimos que fbi obligainos, nuestras cabezas y haciendas, a hacer verdad y probar con toda esta cibtiad lo que en cite
mona) se conhiene, pie vá firmado dc nucitros nonibres." Dot. mid.,
iii. 499.
52
THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
oidor Infante, to occupy the post made vacant by the
death of Governor Lerma. The only noteworthy record
of the three years of this interim administration is that of
violence and plundering, of which the natives were the
victims. The governor was not disposed to abate these
evils, since he received a part of the price of the Indians
sold, and a part of the proceeds of tribute and pillage.'
lv
More important than the foundation of Santa Marta
was that of Cartagena, made by Pedro de Heredia.
Heredia had already played a part in Santa Marta before
the arrival of Governor Lerma. lie had been the lieutenant of Vadillo, and had had much experience in dealing
with the natives. He had acquired more knowledge of
their character than the majority of his associates. He
was brave, resolute, and endowed with the ability to make
his orders obeyed by the adventurers who found in the
exploration of America scope for their restless spirits. He
had inherited property in Santo Domingo, and this gave
him a position sufficiently prominent to cause Vadillo to
make him his lieutenant. 'While in the service of Vadillo,
he conceived the idea of providing for himself a career of
greater independence. Ther efore, ! shortly after the accession of Garcia de Lerma to the governorship of Santa
Marta, Heredia returned to Spain, and obtained a grant
covering the then unoccupied coast region extending from
Piedrahita, His/oria ge,utral eel iVicvo Reino de Granada, jib. iii.
cap. 3. On the 19th of April 1531, Governor Lerma wrote to the
king, informing him ' pie a Ins veinte e seis do dicho mes de liebeero
pasado, perrnitió thus Nuestrn Seffor, por nuestros defectos, que a
media noclie se quemara toda esta cibdad sin quedar cosa alguna
on ella, ansi mantenymientos, como todo to deinas de questaha bien
bastezida, mas quo nunca 10 estuvo, que a side a todos mucho e muy
general dailo e perdida: salvose esta casa do vuestra Magestad, pie
fize per su mandado, p05' seE de otros materiales pie las otras, ques
de piedra, barro e ladril]o." Doe. med., xli. 33'.
SANTA MARTA AND CARTAGENA 53
the mouth of the !vlagdalena River to the Gulf of Darien,
or Urabá. This concession imposed essentially the same
conditions as that under which Bastidas had founded
Santa Iviarta.' From the spoils of his excursions among
the natives, Heredia was able to employ a large sum to
meet the expenses of his expedition. Instructed by his experience, lie knew what articles would be useful, and was
thus able to avoid the mistakes made by some of the previous explorers, who had burdened themselves with things
that might have been suitable in Spain, but were illadapted to the circumstances of the New World.
At Seville Heredia enlisted a hundred and fifty men,
constructed two ships, and provided also a small vessel
for exploring inlets and rivers which the larger vessels
could not enter. He sailed from Cadiz near the end of
1532. He touched at Porto Rico and Santo Domingo,
where a number of other persons joined the expedition.
Among these was Captain Francisco Cósar, who had been
one of Sebastian Cabot's companions on the voyage to the
Rio de la Plata. Heredia arrived in the Bay of Cartagena
in January 1533. He had appointed Francisco César to
be his chief lieutenant, and on the 21st of January he
established a municipality at the site of the present city
of Cartagena. After the death of Ojeda and La Cosa, the
poisoned arrows of the Indians inspired a well-grounded
fear in the settlers, and they accepted San Sebastian as the
patron saint of Cartagena, because, as it was affirmed, he
had been killed by poisoned arrows, and would, therefore,
be especially solicitous to ward off similar assaults by the
Indians .2
The most peacefully-disposed governor could not
always avoid conflicts with the natives for, on account
of the treatment which they had previously received at
Dot. med., xxii. 325.
Benedetti, Historia dc Colombia, 226 Groot, if istoria de Nncva
Granada, L 14-16 Acosta, Nueva Gra,,ada, 109-113 Piedraliita, pp.
2
7982.
4 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
the hands of the Spaniards, it was difficult to make any
tribe attach great importance to Spanish professions of
friendship. Hostility became, therefore, almost inevitable whenever a European settlement was made on or
near territory occupied by Indians. Heredia wished to
enter into such relations with the natives that he could
trade with them, yet, in spite of his wishes, he found himself, in the beginning, involved in conflicts with several
tribes. But in the course of time he drew to his side
some of the tribes, by offering to assist them against their
enemies, and by rendering them various services which
indicated his friendly spirit. It was not difficult for him
to see that to establish peaceful relations with his neighbours was in keeping with a wise commercial policy; for
with the inexpensive wares which he had brought from
Spain for distribution among them, he might expect to
gain more gold than by hostile military operations. In
his most successful expedition into the interior, Heredia
pursued a policy of conciliation. He required his men to
camp at some distance from the Indian towns, in order by
this means to avoid all violence and disorder. From this
expedition he returned to Cartagena with treasure amounting to more than a million and a half of golden ducats.
Each common soldier received from this sum six
thousand ducats after the royal fifths, the governor's
portion, and the parts reserved for the hospital, the captains, and other purposes had been withdrawn. Among
the spoils there was a figure of massive gold, weighing
about one hundred and forty pounds, and representing
a porcupine. It was found in a temple, and Acosta says,
they took it away instantly, saying they could not consent to such beastly idolatry."
Nueva Granada, 118.
SANTA MARTA AND CARTAGENA 55
V
The fame of the riches acquired by Heredia and his
men soon made Cartagena the most frequented point of
Tierra Firme its excellent harbour attracted vessels
bound from Spain to the Isthmus; and the abundance
of gold distributed among the inhabitants introduced a
certain luxury and movement not characteristic of any
other settlement. Owing to the favourable attitude of the
neighbouring Indians, and their willingness to furnish the
products of their fields, there was no lack of food ; and
the vessels from Santo Domingo brought an abundance of
the various kinds of supplies that were needed. The town
grew rapidly in population, and the large amount of easilyacquired wealth gave it the appearance of great prosperity.
In the beginning of 1534, a new expedition was undertaken. It involved two hundred and fifty men, fifty of
whom were mounted; and it was more thoroughly
equipped than any of the expeditions that had preceded
it. It was noteworthy for the rich spoils derived from the
cemetery at Zend, in which the natives of the district had
been accustomed to bury their dead, together with certain
articles of value. At this point in the progress of the expedition, Heredia departed from his policy of peace and
conciliation, and ordered the cemetery and the neighbouring town to be pillaged. From the temple he took a number of bells of gold, the value of which amounted to one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and from the cemetery
and other sources enormous sums which cannot be definitely
and accurately stated in terms of a modern measure of
value. The graves at Zenfl continued to be exploited, as
if they were mines, long after the return of this expedition
to Cartagena; but when they were exhausted, and subsequent expeditions failed to reveal other extraordinary
sources of wealth, the adventurous spirits of many of the
inhabitants urged them to exploits in other fields. The
S6 THE SPANISH DEPENDENCIES
province of Darien, and the unexplored valleys of the
Atrato and the Cauca appeared to be the most attractive
fields within reach. In 1536, Governor Heredia undertook an expedition against the Dobaiba on the Atrato,
but he was not more successful than those who had failed
in a similar undertaking previously. The next year Francisco César penetrated the valley of the Cauca, which was
then the most densely populated and most thoroughly
cultivated of the territory which to-day is embraced in the
province of Antioquia."'
But during the period of these campaigns, dissatisfaction with the conduct of the governor had appeared
in Cartagena, and the complaints which were made
warranted the appointment of a visitador to examine
the charges that had been brought against him, and to
subject him to the trial known as the residencia. The
person appointed by the court to conduct the trial having
died on the voyage from Spain, the audiencia of Santo
Domingo conferred the office upon Juan de Vadillo, a
member of the audiencia, who was a brother of Pedro de
Vadillo, formerly governor of Santa Marta. The evidence
in the hands of the visitador seemed to incriminate both
the governor and his brother, Alonso de Heredia, and both
were arrested. The most serious charges were that they
had defrauded the public treasury in the distribution of
the gold taken from the graves at Zenü, and had ma!treated and enslaved the Indians. This event closed the
first period of Heredia's administration in 1537.1
Piedrahita, 86.
See letters of Juan de Vadillo to the king, dated at Cartagena,
February ii, October 13, and October 15, 1537, Doe, med., xli. 3562
420.