Rodrigo de Bastidas

Rodrigo de Bastidas (1460 – July 28, 1527) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who mapped the northern coast of South America and founded the city of Santa Marta.

Early life

Rodrigo de Bastidas was a well-to-do notary of the town of Triana, Seville, a suburb of Seville. Rodrigo de Bastidas' ancestral lineage can be traced back to the Kings of Asturias and Leon. He was a direct descendant of Don Diego Ruiz de Asturias, Count of Oviedo, whose wife was the Infanta Jimena,daughter of Alfonso V of Leon. Their daughter was Jimena, who married Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, known as "El Cid Campeador". and their son was Rodrigo de Asturias, who continued the Bastidas line.

Exploration

After sailing with Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the New World about 1494, Bastidas petitioned the Spanish Monarchy to start his own quest to be financed totally with his own money. In exchange for granting Bastidas the right to explore various territories in the New World, the Crown required him to give them one fourth of the net profits he acquired. The King and Queen issued a charter that is still preserved in the National Archives in Spain. He sailed to the New World from Cádiz in October, 1499, with two ships, the San Antón and the Santa Maria de Gracia. He was accompanied on this voyage by Juan de la Cosa and Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

At the South American coast he sailed westward from Cabo de la Vela, Colombia in an attempt to reconnoiter the coastline of the......
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