Diego de Ordaz

Diego de Ordaz, also Diego de Ordás (; 1480–1532), was a Spanish explorer and soldier.

Early career Diego de Ordaz was born in 1480 in Castroverde de Campos, Zamora province, Spain. He arrived in Cuba at a young age. Serving under the orders of Diego Velázquez, he participated in the earliest exploratory expeditions to Colombia and Panama.

According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, he was a stutterer. He was recognized for his contribution to the victory over the Aztecs obtained at the Battle of Centla near Río Grijalva in Tabasco on March 25, 1519.

Together with two comrades, he was the first European to climb to the top of the volcano Popocatépetl - a feat which made a great impression on the indigenous allies accompanying Cortés. In recognition of De Ordaz's military deeds, on October 22, 1525, the emperor Charles V issued a decree permitting him to use a coat-of-arms featuring a view of the volcano. the estuary area of the Amazon River (discovered by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón in 1500, but not explored since). Unable to find the Amazon, Ordáz traveled the Orinoco River more than 1000 miles. During his travels, he learned from the natives of an El Dorado-like kingdom known as Meta (possibly the same location as the Manõa recorded in secondary sources) said to exist beyond a mountain on left bank of the Orinoco River. After failing to find Manõa, he decided to return to Spain but died in 1532 on the Atlantic.

Legacy

In 1952, a planned city called Puerto Ordaz was founded in Venezuela on the banks of the Orinoco River; today it is one of that country's principal cities.

Diego de Ordaz was one of the principal characters in the anonymous historical novel Jicoténcal published in Philadelphia in 1826 and attributed to several different writers like Felix Varela, José María Heredia, and Félix Mejía.

Literature Fundamental primary sources to the voyage of Ordáz on the Orinoco are: Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés: Historia General y Natural de las Indias. Vol. II, Libro 24, CapitulosII – IV. Madrid 1959, pp. 388–399. Juan de Castellanos: Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias. Elegía IX, Canto 1. 2. Bogotá 1997, pp. 159–173.

Besides, but mingled with second-hand information: Fray Pedro Aguado: Recopilación Historial, Parte 2, Vol. III. Libro 4, Capitulo 7–19. Bogotá 1957, pp. 303–351.