Ese konquistador frente al colegio

"als trügen wir etwas in uns, dass einer anderen welt entsprungen ist"

Federmann, Nikolaus
(n´klous f´drmän) (KEY) , 1501–42, German adventurer in Venezuela and Colombia. In the service of the Welser brothers, Augsburg bankers to whom Charles V had granted rights in Venezuela, Federmann first landed at Santa Ana de Coro in 1530. Contrary to the orders of his commander, Federmann launched an expedition in search of El Dorado in 1535, going south to explore the Colombian llanos. Hearing of Jiménez de Quesada, Federmann and his men climbed the Andes, met Quesada, and in return for a large payment agreed not to dispute the latter’s claims. An attempt by Benalcázar to join with Federmann against Quesada failed. Entering Bogotá, the commanders settled their differences and returned (1539) to Europe to confirm their claims. Federmann, involved in a suit in which he accused the Welsers of defrauding the emperor, died in Madrid after confessing his accusation to have been false
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Como y porque llega Federman a Colombia
The Augsburg banking House of Welser were financiers to the Habsburgs whose Emperor, Charles V, exhibited a rather flamboyant fiscal policy. In order to finance both his election campaign in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire and to fund his on-going wars with France and the Duke of Gelre in the Low Countries, Charles had borrowed considerable sums of money - but had run out of excuses for not repaying it. Weary of Charles' dithering, the Welsers had despatched several representatives to Santo Domingo to ascertain whether Spain's great empire in the Americas really was bringing in substantial returns. Whilst there they noticed that although Tierra Firme was 'officially' Spanish, there was in fact only a limited physical presence along most of the littoral. The Welser agents returned to Augsburg with a suggestion: perhaps in lieu of repayments, the House of Welser could enjoy a small share of the profits of America: to wit, a proprietary grant of Nueva Andalucia land from the mouth of the Orinoque to, say, the Golfo de Maracaibo? Charles was pressured, and after lengthy consultation with the Consejo de Indias narrowed down the area to be handed away, eventually relented. In March 1528, for their services to the Crown, and in lieu of repayments of extensive loans, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted the House of Welser 'in perpetuity' a necessarily undefined area around and south of Coro on the Caribbean coast, roughly between Cabo de la Velá and Cumaná.

Hohermuth's deputy and second-in-command was Nikolaus Federmann. A sagacious and ambitious leader who understood men, he was keen to employ his many "inactive and under-occupied" men and "do something profitable." Before leaving, Hohermuth had instructed Federmann to explore the region west of Lake Maracaibo. Eleven days after Hohermuth left in 1535, Federmann departed Coro on an unauthorised venture. Instead of heading west towards the Golfo de Maracaibo, his wanderlust took him south instead, up the Sierra Nevada de M&eacuterida, reaching the village of Barquisimeto where he heard tell of 'the great South Sea.' Descending the Cordillera, his party encountered the vast plains of mud known as Los Llanos, reached the Guanare river - in full flood - and assumed it to be the South Sea. He returned through hostile country, captured some 'pygmies,' and arrived back in Coro to find himself in disgrace. Uncowed and undaunted, in 1536 the ambitious Federmann again struck southward across the Sierra Nevada de Mérida towards Los Llanos, perhaps fearful that Hohermuth might discover and claim as his rich lands Federmann believed should rightfully fall to him. This time, Federmann's force included three mining engineers - the first real prospectors in South America. Whilst at Barquisimeto, Federmann picked up the exhausted mutineers from Dortal's expedition of several months earlier. With this enlarged force of 300, Federmann struck out into Los Llanos, found Hohermuth's tracks, encountered some Indians working gold ornaments, and decided to enter the highlands for closer investigation - was this Xer&iacutea? Delayed by rains and starvation, he lost over half his men before reaching Bacatá to find de Quesada already in possession.

De Quesada and Federmann did not remain long, however, for there were conflicting stories as to where the golden lake could be found. Was it Lake Guatavitá, or was it another nearby lake called Seïcha? Federmann was recalled to Spain to account for his insubordination by answering accusations of heresy and fraudulent misuse of Royal revenues. He died in prison in Valladolid in 1542. De Quesada, too, left Nueva Granada to present his case. He endured seven years of costly legal delays and loss of his governorship of the lands he had conquered. It was 1549 before he returned to Nueva Granada. Meanwhile, his brother Hern&aacuten Pérez attempted to drain Lake Guatavit&aacute. During the dry season of 1545 he organised a bucket-chain of labourers with gourd jars, and in three months' work managed to lower the water level by about three metres - enough to expose the edges of the lake bed, though not its centre. According to contemporary reports, between 3,000 and 4,000 pesos of gold were found.

Konquista als Konzernpolitik : die
Welser-Statthalterschaft uber Venezuela,
1528-1556 / Eberhard Schmitt.

El Dorado (la leyenda persiste)