Diego de Ordás

Diego de Ordás (born in 1480 with Castroverde de Campos, Zamora - 1532, Venezuela), also known under the name of Diego de Ordaz , was a Spanish Conquistador which took part in exploration and the Conquête of Mexico in company of Hernan the Cortes.

Its military career

It arrived very young person at Cuba where it was used under the orders as Diego Velázquez, it belonged to the first eploration in Colombia and with Panamá. It joint with Hernán the Cortes during the first forwarding intended for the conquest of Mexico. The March 25th 1519, it had a determining role in the battle of Ceutla, close to the Río Grijalva Tabasco, against the Maya warriors, and the Spanish victory to him is owed of good part. Diego de Ordás was the first European to reach the top of the volcano Popocatepetl (5450 m) in company of two comrades in arms, impressing largely the Indians who accompanied the expéition by the Cortes. Following that, and to thank it for his military courage and his exploits, the emperor Charles Quint granted to him by the decree of the October 22nd 1523, the right to have a blazon with a representation of the volcano.

He took part in the conquest of large the Tenochtitlan with the rank of captain. The night of the Spanish rout, called the Sad Noche, it was wounded by the Aztec warriors. After the Spanish victory, it recovered the grounds of Oaxaca and Veracruz, and naviga on the Río Coatzacoalcos.

It was sent in Spain in 1521 to submit to the Spanish Court the account of the conquest of the Empire Aztèque and to try to obtain the nomination of the Cortes as Gouverneur and General Captain of News-Spain.

The return in America

It returned to Mexico in the neighborhoods of 1525, in August 1529 it obtains the property of the Peñón of los Baños, grounds located within the current limits of the town of Mexico City.

It returned then again to Spain to ask for the permission of explore the mythical grounds of El Dorado, of which it thought that they were inside the Colombia and of the Venezuela, permission which it obtained, it re-embarked for South America. He discovered and explored the Orénoque, which he went up on more than 300 km without finding the passage towards desired the El Dorado .

Its death

Finally, it gave up the search for El Dorado and it is at the time of its return voyage in Spain that it died in 1532, on the Péninsule of Bet (Venezuela).

Diego de Ordaz is also one of the principal character of the historical novel Jicoténcal , published in Philadelphia in 1826, allotted to the Spanish writer Felix Mejía and, more recently, to the cuban poet (death in Mexico) Jose María Heredia there Campuzano.

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