Explorers in the New World

Christopher Columbus

Pedro Cabral

Portuguese Exploration

Vicente Yß±ez Pinz≤n

Amerigo Vespucci

Other European Explorers

The Conquistadors

Amazon Explorers

Francisco de Orellana

Lope de Aguirre

Pedro de Teixeira

Sir Walter Raleigh

Charles Marie de la Condamine

Madame Isabela Godin

Baron Alexander von Humboldt

Theodore Roosevelt

Colonel Percy Fawcett

Joe Kane

Lope de Aguirre

The story of Lope de Aguirre is undoubtedly one of the most bloodthirsty and shocking of all Amazon legends. Although only the second journey along the Amazon, the journey itself was only a minor matter. The real concerns were the frequent murder, intrigues, and rebellion that accompanied it. After their journey along the Amazon, Aguirre and his men then went onto terrorise the citizens of the Caribbean island of Margarita, before taking their bloody rebellion to Venezuela where it concluded in the small town of Barquisimeto.

The story starts in the beginning of 1559, with the appointment of Pedro de Urs·a by the viceroy of Peru to lead a major expedition, to travelling down the Amazon with 300 soldiers, horses and other provisions, in search of the Omaguas (as encountered 17 years previously by Orellana) who were thought to hold the key to the secret of El Dorado.

Pedro de Urs·a

Urs·a seemed like a good choice to be leader – he was young and very charming, quickly finding favour with Peru’s rulers. He was also very experienced, having arrived in New Granada (now Colombia) in 1545 at the request of his uncle to take over administration of the province of Bogotß. Although aged only 20 at the time, he quickly succeeded, cleaning up the province’s corrupt administration and ensuring that everything was running well. Urs·a is described to have been "generous, honourable, perfect, possessed of sweetness of temper, and a universal favourite". The only criticism that was made against him at that time was that someone so young should not have been able to conduct their affairs so well. Urs·a eventually moved onto other roles. He led an expedition against the Musos Indians in 1549 (the exception to Urs·a’s "sweetness of character" being a story that after signing a truce, he invited several of the Indian chiefs to a pageant – where he had them all killed), and he fought with distinction against the Tairona Indians in 1552. After this, he spent two years successfully leading an army of 200 Spaniards against a fierce and determined band of rebellious slaves in Panama.

A bad start to the journey

This expedition started out very badly – one of the sponsors, a dubious priest by the name of Pedro Portillo, withdrew his money at the last minute and was forced at gun-point to make good on his promised contribution (and trebling it). To make matters much worse, Urs·a’s second-in-command was murdered early on by two trusted lieutenants who were jealous of the other man’s position. They were subsequently put on trial and hanged. Even Urs·a brought problems upon himself by taking his mistress along on the journey – he appeared to be so distracted by her that he paid little attention to his duties as expedition leader.

But, by far the worst hindrance to the expedition was the quality of the men that it had recruited. They could easily be described as the dregs of the conquest! They were greedy, dishonest, highly aggressive, and very tough. Worst of them all was Lope de Aguirre, nicknamed "The Wolf".

Lope de Aguirre: "The Wolf"

Aguirre was aged about 50, and was a very tough and seasoned soldier – having fought against Indians and in various rebellions (for both sides). He also had experience as breeder and breaker of horses, but it was his other exploits which were most interesting.

• He started off in the New World working as a grave-robber, plundering Indian tombs for gold and other treasures. He incurred the anger of his superiors when he protested against the uneven way that he was forced to divide their ill-gotten gains. They dismissed him and tried to have him posted far away – but he rebelled, seizing a ship and sailing to a nearby colony where he protested against the governor who he believed had cheated him. The governor was dismissed, but Aguirre received nothing for his efforts.

• Aguirre served with Gonzalo Pizarro in wars against the Indians, sustaining injuries and suffering in what was an extremely difficult campaign. Later, when Pizarro had returned from his own Amazon exploration and took up arms against Peru’s new viceroy (who had assassinated his brother, Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror and former Marquis of Peru), Aguirre fought against him.

• After the campaign against Pizarro, Aguirre was forced to flee to Central America. During his time there. he explored the area around Lake Nicaragua, searching unsuccessfully for an outlet to the Pacific.

• He later seized the city of Nombre de Dios (in Panama) from a rebellious governor, in the name of the King. Aguirre was defeated in the battle which followed, and fled again.

• He went to seek fortune the silver mines of Potosφ. Again, he was unsuccessful, and merely ended up incurring the anger of the local magistrate who sentenced him to 100 lashes strapped to the back of a donkey. The charge was raised against him for possessing Indian porters – which had recently made illegal (despite vigorous opposition from settlers). However, because this law wasn’t rigorously enforced, it is probable that the magistrate decided on this action for other reasons – perhaps he simply disliked the vile and arrogant Aguirre. Aguirre was maimed for life as a result of this punishment, and swore revenge against the magistrate. He got it – three and half years later when he followed the (now ex-) magistrate to Lima. The ex-magistrate was found stabbed through with a dagger, and stuck to his table. Aguirre took sanctuary in Cuzco Cathedral, then blackened himself and escaped disguised as a Negro servant.

• Soon afterwards, Aguirre took part in a rebellion against new laws imposed by the country's viceroy. He was defeated and sentenced to death – but remained in hiding for two years, before being offered amnesty if he switched sides. He was wounded while fighting for the viceroy, and returned to Cuzco

Aguirre also had an Indian wife and a daughter, but for all his travelling and adventures we can imagine that they spent long periods of time hardly ever seeing him. Finally, there was one more thing about Aguirre: his hard lifestyle, and the many injuries that he'd sustained had left him crippled – cruelly twisted, both in body and in mind.

A Twenty Month Delay

The expedition left Lima in February 1559, but did not set out on the river until October 1560 – over twenty months later! The reason for the delay was the building of boats, enough to carry the 300 soldiers, their horses, livestock, and other provisions. Their was also the final collection of sponsorship money, and delays associated with murder of the second-in-command (and the trials that followed). Several months before the main party was finally ready to leave, and advance party went ahead to build a fort and to prepare boats for the journey along the river.

In the end, the boats proved unsatisfactory. They were poorly built, and used unseasoned wood – quickly springing leaks or falling apart. The problem was fixed by repairing the boats and making replacement rafts, but it meant that there was a lot less room than had originally been planned. Only 40 of the 300 horses could be taken, and far fewer provisions. Many of the men threatened to leave and return to Lima – but by threatening to bring charges of mutiny against anyone who attempted to leave, and with a lot of cajoling, Urs·a managed to keep all of his men.

The Initial River Journey

Once underway, the river journey seemed to proceed as well as any other expedition – but all the time, discontent was simmering just below the surface. There is little doubt that Lope de Aguirre was busily doing his best to ensure it.

There were the usual things – much like Orellana before them, the expedition spent much of their time in search of food, and meeting up with local Indians. Like Orellana, Urs·a stressed the importance of treating the Indians well, even punishing his own men if they failed to do so. Meanwhile, many of the men stole goods from the expedition's supplies until a new priest, backed by Urs·a, went around threatening to excommunicate them all if the goods were not returned. Excommunication was the worst punishment for any Spaniard in those days (even worse than death) – it meant being thrown out of the church. Urs·a's men were outraged, he seemed to be treating his own people very badly, and favouring the Indians instead of them. There was still no sign of El Dorado or the gold that they had set out to find.

The men began to talk – sometimes in whispers, and sometimes they talked loudly because Urs·a seemed too distracted by his mistress to be paying any attention. Slowly, a plot emerged, with Lope de Aguirre as the ringleader. They planned to mutiny against Urs·a, and approached one of the high-ranking officers to choose him as their new leader. The officer's name was Fernando de Guzmßn – he was well liked by the men and didn't like Urs·a either. The date chosen for the mutiny was January 1 1561.

The Mutiny

On the appointed day (January 1, 1561) a small group of the rebels walked over to Urs·a's tent. On being asked what they were doing there, one of the rebels drew a knife and made for Urs·a. There was a short stuggle, but Urs·a was stabbed and killed. "Liberty, liberty, long live the King, the tyrant is dead," yelled the rebels.

When Urs·a's deputy heard the commotion, he rushed to the tent to see what had happened. He saw the rebels, and set upon them with his sword – but he was soon disarmed and killed also. Then, to make sure of their victory, the rebels murdered the close friends and associates of Urs·a and his deputy in case they make any trouble or tried to avenge the deaths. The rebels won the day, and appointed their new leaders – Fernando de Guzmßn and Lope de Aguirre.

The new leaders still felt insecure. They ordered that no-one should speak in low voices or whispers in case they were plotting revenge, and that no-one was to leave their tents at night. They also ordered that Urs·a's personal supply of wine was to be distributed among the men to help them celebrate the victory.

Lope de Aguirre, "The Traitor"

Soon after the mutiny, its leaders met to decide what to do. The reason that most of the men had joined the expedition was to search for the legendary El Dorado, and all the gold that was rumoured to be there. As such, many of the men thought that this was what they should do. Lope de Aguirre didn't agree – he argued that there was much more gold back in Peru, where they had started, and that it was much easier to get (presumably by stealing it and plundering it from others). He thought that even if they did find El Dorado the authorities back in Peru, hearing of the mutiny, would still send in soldiers to punish them. A better idea, he suggested, was to go back to Peru and to fight the authorities there where, if they won they would be free and would have all access to undreamed of riches from Peru's gold and silver mine. Unfortunately, for Aguirre, he lost the argument and reluctantly agreed to the others' plans to look for El Dorado – but, this was only a temporary measure because, all the while, he kept plotting to get his own way.

In the meantime, the leaders were worried how the authorities would respond to their mutiny. They decided to write a statement to say why they had mutinied, and asking every man in the expedition to sign it. Essentially, this statement was a letter to the authorities to say that even though they had mutinied, it had simply been because Urs·a had not been doing his job and had been mistreating his men – therefore no member of the expedition should be punished for the actions that they had taken. The first person to sign this statement was Fernando de Guzmßn. He then passed it to Aguirre, who signed also it . . . writing "Lope de Aguirre, the traitor". When asked about this, Aguirre matter-of-factly replied that they had killed the King's representative they would certainly be punished, and that no collection of signatures would be able to prevent it.

Murders, Reprisals, and the New Prince

For five days after the mutiny, the expedition did not move. They stayed put, arguing over what should be done – should they continue the quest for El Dorado, should they turn around and return to Peru, and if they were to return to Peru how would they be treated by the authorities? The murders and reprisals against Ursuß's loyal friends and anyone suspected of plotting against the mutineers continued. When the expedition did start moving, it travelled for only for one day before stopping again. This time the stop proved more permanent – realizing that their boats would be unsuitable for the expedition's needs downriver, Guzmßn ordered the refurbishment and modification of their existing boats and also the building of some new ones. Construction of the boats would take several weeks.

Trapped in a remote area of the Amazon, and with nothing for the majority of the soldiers to do, the intrigues became more disruptive – with Aguirre continuing to manipulate the events. Anyone who had openly disagreed or argued against him previously was eliminated – one by one they were arrested by the officers of the camp, and then strangled. Anyone rumoured to have said anything against the new leaders or who behaved "oddly" was also arrested and strangled. Guzmßn usually only found out about the deaths afterwards, so was unable to do anything about it. Whenever Aguirre was queried about his actions, he reassured Guzmßn that the men had been traitors plotting against Guzmßn's leadership, and that the deaths had been necessary for the good of the expedition. Guzmßn was cleverly deceived by Aguirre's mixture of flattery, lies and pre-arranged displays designed to "prove" his loyalty, so that eventually Guzmßn trusted Aguirre and almost no one else. The rest of the men were eventually asked to prove their loyalty by disavowing the King of Spain, and accepting Guzmßn now raised to the title of "Prince of Tierra Firme and of Peru". Any return to Peru would now mean war and rebellion against the Spanish monarchy and its governor.

Other members of the expedition, able to see what Aguirre was up to, found it impossible to act against him – they were arrested and executed at the merest hint of "disloyalty". Furthermore, Aguirre and his followers were always armed, and even slept with their weapons, so that any attack against him was likely to have been met with fierce resistance.

In addition to its own internal problems, the expedition suffered another crisis – there were shortages of food. A party of soldiers had been organised to forage for food in the forest and from Indian villages – but mistreatment by the soldiers had angered the local Indians who were no longer willing to trade gifts for food, and who attacked and almost wiped out the foraging party. Another expedition intended to avenge the Indian attack was also heavily beaten. However, this crisis made Aguirre's schemes even easier to implement.

Journey along the Amazon, and the Downfall of the New Prince

After several weeks of boatbuilding and intrigues, the expedition set out again. During this time a new plan had also emerged – instead of returning directly to Peru, the expedition would continue down the Amazon, exiting into the Atlantic then sailing north-west to the Caribbean island of Margarita (off the coast of Venezuela). From there they would sail to Panama, raise an army composed of the many disatisfied peasants and runaway slaves, and march down the Pacific coast to conquer Peru (which, at that time also included Ecuador and some of Colombia).

Fernando de Guzmßn, the rebels' new Prince took relished his new royal title – he was now referred to by everyone as "Your Excellency" and even took to dining alone, feasting at a table with all the pomp and formality as befitting royalty. Not knowing of the way in which his new position had been created for him by Aguirre's schemes and slaughter, he was unaware of just how insecure his power really was.

The expedition travelled as fast at they could, hoping to reach Margarita and Panama without any delay – before the enthusiasm for their venture had any time to wane. The journey was accompanied by continued violence and bloodshed, with Aguirre slowly consolidating his grip on power – yet more soldiers "disloyal to the cause" were murdered by Aguirre and his cronies. Eventually, it was time for Aguirre to get rid of Guzmßn and (finally) to proclaim himself as the expedition's new leader. The spate killings had resulted in a split among the Spaniards, which Aguirre turned to his advantage. One night when camped on a long uninhabited island in the middle of the river, he carried out his plan. One group of Spaniards had camped on one end of the island, with Guzmßn and his followers camped on the other end. Aguirre and his men camped in the middle. Aguirre told his followers that the leaders of other group was planning to murder Guzmßn – and therefore ordered for them to be captured and executed in the night. At dawn, he told his men that a party of men had already been sent to kill Guzmßan and therefore they had to rush to his aid to protect him. Once at Guzmßn's camp, several of his most loyal men were killed in the confusion, with Aguirre and two of his men then sneaking into the unsuspecting Guzmßn's tent and killing him by firing their arquebuses at him. The island on which all these killings took place became known as "The Town of Butchery".

After the latest mutiny, Aguirre spoke to the men. He told them of Guzmßn's failure as a leader, then appointing his friends and followers to high posts and titles. He named himself "General" and his expedition the mara±ones – partly because the name of the Amazon river at that time was the Mara±≤n and also because of all the plotting and intrigues (mara±as, in Spanish) that had occurred along the way.

There were more deaths as the expedition continued. Some Spaniards were killed for alleged disloyalty, and other Spaniards and Indians were killed in accidents (such as overturning canoes, disease, and in attacks by hostile Indians). In one place, on deciding that there was no longer enough room in the expedition's remaining two boats to carry them, some of the Indians who had been brought along from Peru as servants and guides were abandoned on an island – facing an almost certain death at the hands of the local Indians or of starvation.

Leaving the Amazon, and the Journey to Margarita

Aguirre's flotilla of boats emerged from the Amazon into the Atlantic on July 1, 1561 (some think that the flotilla may actually have emerged from the Orinoco river in Venezuela by following a, then unknown, canal which links the two river systems via the Ri≤ Negro). They promptly set sail on the ocean, headed for the island of Margarita. Afraid that the men in the second boat might be tempted to abandon him, Aguirre removed all the navigational aids from the vessel and ordered that they follow him by sight – with a lantern being afixed to the stern so that they could follow him at night. The voyage to Margarita took seventeen days.

They arrived at a port near the island's capital. On hearing of the arrival of the unusual travellers who had journeyed down the Amazon from Peru (and unaware who they really were) the island's governor ordered food and supplies to be provided to them, then went down to meet them. Aguirre met with the governor, bluffing him about his real intentions. While Aguirre and the governor were talking, the expedition's soldiers disembarked from the ships and took the governor and his officials prisoner. They then looted and terrorised everyone on the island – stealing jewellery, gold, money, ammunition, clothes and other merchandise, and anything at all that they wanted. Anyone who got in their way had their houses burned and were killed.

The intrigues among Aguirre's men also continued. Yet more men were killed for suspicions of disloyalty. When faced with this charge, one of Aguirre's most enthusiastic followers, a man called Ant≤n Llamoso, resorted to drinking the blood of another slain follower – proclaiming that the slain man had been a traitor and had committed a terrible crime crossing (supposedly) Aguirre. Aguirre was impressed by this show of devotion and let Llamoso live. Llamoso's devotion was very real as was to be proved later.

The Rebellion moves to Venezuela

After almost two months spent terrorising the island, Aguirre men voyaged to the nearby South American mainland, in what is now Venezuela (and was to become the new starting point for the march to Peru). The governor of that territory had been warned of the rebels' approach thanks to a ship that had been in port at Margarita at the time that he arrived (and to which some of his men had defected). When he reached the town of Burburuta, his first act was to burn the boats in which he and his men had arrived (so that they could not return to the island). they captured the town, stealing food, horses, and other provisions.

The rebels proceeded to loot and desvastate the territory (although much of the population had already fled). They captured some towns, but the rebellion that they had been planned achieved little support and achieved nothing. Progress was hampered by the governors' soldiers. Taking the advice of one of Aguirre's former soldiers (who had defected following a threat made to him by Aguirre) they decided that the best way to defeat Aguirre was not in battle. Instead they tried to lure Aguirre's men away from him (and destroying his army) by promising an amnesty for all those who deserted him. In this was, Aguirre could be beaten without a fight (which was all the better, because the governor's hastily arranged army had few weapons and were not well trained). In fact, wishing to resolve the rebellion without a battle, the governor offered to pardon Aguirre if he surrendered and, if he did not wish this, even to meet with Aguirre in a one-on-one fight between the two. Aguirre refused both offers – although many of his men (seeing it as their only chance of escape) did surrender. Although Aguirre had captured several towns, most of them had been abandoned beforehand and, therefore, were captured without any serious fighting. The war became a war of letters, with defiant letters being exchanged between the governor and Aguirre.

Meanwhile, reinforcements arrived from elsewhere in Venezuela, news of which caused even more of Aguirre's men to desert. There was a battle of sorts, but despite lots of noise and posturing, no one on either side was killed. However, more of the rebels deserted, with Aguirre incensed at such blatant disloyalty. Desertions continued in subsequent battles – the rebels would charge at the enemy, beginning to shout "Long live the King!" as they passed through the army's lines. The rebels weren't killed in these mock charges, though this was partly because the poorly equipped royalist army only had five guns!

At long last, there remained only one rebel soldier – Ant≤n Llamoso. With the defeat now complete, Aguirre was finally caught with a gun that he could not make fire, and was executed for his crimes and treason.

Lope de Aguirre's Letter to King Philip of Spain