Juan Tafur (1500, Córdoba,

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

, Castile - ?, ?) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

conquistador who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca people. He was a cousin of fellow conquistadors Martín Yañéz Tafur,

Hernán Venegas Carrillo Hernán Venegas Carrillo Manosalvas (1513 – 2 February 1583) was a Spanish conquistador for who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and Panche people in the New Kingdom of Granada, present-day Colombia. Venegas Carrillo was ...

and Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela. Juan Tafur was five times encomendero (mayor) of

Santa Fe de Bogotá Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

. He also received the encomiendas of

Pasca Pasca is a town and municipality in the Cundinamarca department of Colombia located in the Andes. It belongs to the Sumapaz Province. Pasca is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the capital Bogotá. It borders F ...

Chipaque Chipaque is a municipality and town in the Eastern Province of the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. The municipality of is located at an altitude of in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes with its westernmost part situated in the E ...

and Usaquén. The encomienda of Suesca was shared between Tafur and

Gonzalo García Zorro Gonzalo García Zorro ( 1500 – 1566) was a Spanish conquistador who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca people. García Zorro was ''encomendero'' (mayor) of Santa Fe de Bogotá for seven terms, and received the '' encomiendas' ...

. Knowledge of the life of Juan Tafur has been provided by the work ''

El Carnero ''El Carnero'' ( en, The Sheep) is the colloquial name of a Spanish language colonial chronicle whose title was ''Conquista i descubrimiento del nuevo reino de Granada de las Indias Occidentales del mar oceano, i fundacion de la ciudad de San ...

'' (1638), by

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

Juan Rodríguez Freyle.

Biography

Family

Juan Tafur was born in the year 1500 in Córdoba,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. His parents were Juan Pérez Tubera and Isabel Díaz Tafur. Tafur took the surname of his mother.Juan Tafur
- Geni Other family members were also conquistadors: Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela,

and Martín Yañés Tafur.Rodríguez Freyle, 1638, p.62

American Expeditions

In 1518 he left Spain for the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

under the command of Pedro de los Ríos, governor of Tierra Firme in Panama. De los Ríos sent Tafur with two ships to retrieve the dissatisfied members of the Pizarro expedition. In 1531 or 1533, Tafur left for Santa Marta, where he was sent to the Valle de Upar, together with conquistadors Antonio de Lebrija,

Juan de Sanct Martín Juan de Sanct Martín, also known as Juan de San Martín, was a Spanish conquistador. Little is known about De Sanct Martín, apart from a passage in ''El Carnero'' (1638) by Juan Rodríguez Freyle and '' Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino ...

, Juan Muñoz de Collantes and Juan de Céspedes to force the submission the

Chimila people The Chimilas or ''Ette Ennaka'' are an indigenous people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia. Their Chimila language is part of the Chibcha language family, of which there were estimated to be around 1000 speakers in 1998. At the time of the ...

to the Spanish.Rodríguez Freyle, 1638, p.66 In April 1536, Tafur was appointed cavalry leader in the expedition led by Gonzalo Jiménez de QuesadaAcosta, 1848, p.400 which left the Caribbean city of Santa Marta in search of '' El Dorado''.Lista de los que consiguieron el descubrimiento del Reino de Granada con el General don Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, en el año de 1538
-

Banco de la República The Bank of the Republic ( es, Banco de la República) is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress ...

Tafur participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca people and received the encomiendas of

, Usaque, Itaque and

, where he built the first church in 1538.Official website Chipaque

-

- Soledad Acosta de Samper The encomienda of Suesca was shared between Juan Tafur and

.Rodríguez Freyle, 1638, p.112

Mayoralties

Juan Tafur was five times encomendero of Santa Fe de Bogotá: in 1541 succeeding Antonio Díaz de Cardoso and preceding Juan Díaz Hidalgo; from 1546 to 1547 succeeding Juan de Céspedes and succeeded by Pedro de Colmenares; in 1552 between the reigns of Juan Muñoz de Collantes and Gonzalo Rodríguez de Ledesma; in 1554 succeeding

and before Juan Ruiz de Orejuela; and finally in 1559 after the rule of Gonzalo Rodríguez de Ledesma and preceding Antonio Bermúdez.List of mayors of Bogotá - 1538-1599
/ref> In 1552, he requested 72

emeralds Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p. ...

from Diego de Aguilar.Los caballeros de la conquista
/ref>

Mistreatment of native Americans

He committed various atrocities against the indigenous people, including against the Panche people to the west of the

Bogotá savanna The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of and an average altitude of . The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ran ...

. He mistreated the ''Cacique'' (leader) of Pasca and the ''Cacique'' of Chita, whose body he threw at the dogs.Rodríguez Freyle, 1638, p.67 In 1543, he was convicted for the mistreatment of the indigenous Muisca of Pasca.

Personal life

Juan Tafur was married three times: to an unnamed woman; to Antonia Manuel de Hoyos; and to Francisca de Ulloa. He had a daughter named Isabel Tafur.

Encomiendas

References

Bibliography

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