Diego de Ordaz also Diego de Ordás (; 1480 in Castroverde de Campos, Zamora province,

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") , ...

– 1532 on the Atlantic) was a Spanish explorer and soldier.

Early career

Diego de Ordaz arrived in Cuba at a young age. Serving under the orders of

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

, he participated in the earliest exploratory expeditions to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

and Panamá. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, he was a stutterer.

Expedition of Cortés to Mexico

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

De Ordaz accompanied

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

on his expedition of conquest to the Mexican mainland.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He was recognized for his contribution to the victory over the

Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

obtained at the Battle of Centla near Río Grijalva in

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

on March 25, 1519. Together with two comrades, he was the first European to climb to the top of the volcano

Popocatépetl Popocatépetl (; Nahuatl: ) is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. At it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after C ...

- a feat which made a great impression on the indigenous allies accompanying Cortés. In recognition of De Ordaz's military deeds, the emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

on October 22, 1525 issued a decree permitting him to use a coat-of-arms featuring a view of the volcano. For his work against Aztec abuse on the people of

Coatzacoalcos Coatzacoalcos () is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Campeche, on the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. The city serves as the municip ...

, Ordaz received one of their indigenous princesses as a wife. Captain De Ordaz participated in the Spanish conquest of

Tenochtitlán , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

, the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

capital. When prior to the final conquest, the Spaniards were forced to flee from the capital in a nocturnal action known as

La Noche Triste La Noche Triste ("The Night of Sorrows", literally "The Sad Night") was an important event during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, wherein Hernán Cortés, his army of Spanish conquistadors, and their native allies were driven out of the ...

("the sad night"), De Ordaz was wounded. Following the conquest of Mexico, De Ordaz explored the areas of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

and

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, and navigated the Río Coatzacoalos. In 1521, he was sent back to Spain in order to present the story of the conquest of Mexico to the Spanish court, and in order to obtain for Cortės the title of Governor and General Captain of New Spain.

Search for El Dorado

Captain De Ordaz returned to North America in approximately 1525. In 1529, he was granted the property of El Peñón de los Baños located within the limits of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. He returned again to Spain and was appointed "Governor of the Islands in the Rio Marañon", the estuary area of the Amazon River (discovered by

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón Vicente Yáñez Pinzón () (c. 1462 – after 1514) was a Spanish navigator and explorer, the youngest of the Pinzón brothers. Along with his older brother, Martín Alonso Pinzón (''c.'' 1441 – ''c.'' 1493), who captained the '' Pinta'', h ...

in 1500, but not explored since). Unable to find the Amazon, Ordáz traveled the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

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

Monumento a Diego de Ordás en Castroverde de Campos

In 1952, a planned city called

Puerto Ordaz Ciudad Guayana () (in English Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary, the Caroní river. The Caroni cros ...

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 Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

, 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, S. 388–399. * Juan de Castellanos: ''Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias''. Elegía IX, Canto 1. 2. Bogotá 1997, S. 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, S. 303–351.

References

1480 births 1532 deaths Aztec History of the Aztecs People from the Province of Zamora {{Spain-bio-stub