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Belalcázar Sebastián de
(1479 or 1480 to 1551)

Sebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador. He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba, Spain, in either 1479 or 1480. He took the name Belalcázar or 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 Spain for the West Indies due to fear of punishment, and as a chance to escape the poverty in which he lived.

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.

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".

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 Pasto, Santiago de Cali, and Popayán (next in importance after Quito) in 1536 and 1537, respectively.

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 Benalcazár 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 Peru. 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.

Spain, 1961, Sebastian de Belalcazar

Spain, 1961, Sebastian de Belalcazar