Pedro de Ursúa

Pedro de Ursúa
Pedro de Ursúa
Born	1526 Baztan, Navarra
Died	January 1, 1561 Amazon River, South America
Cause of death	Murder
Nationality	Navarre
Occupation	Conquistador
Years active	1545–1561
Employer	Spanish Crown
Known for	Co-founder of Pamplona Failed conquest of the Muzo Quest for El Dorado

Pedro de Ursúa (1526 –January 1, 1561) was a Spanish conquistador from Baztan in Navarre. He is best known for his final trip with Lope de Aguirre in search for El Dorado, where he was assassinated in a plot by a fellow officer.

He was born in Arizkun, Baztan, to a Beaumont family who supported the Spanish occupation of Navarre, benefiting directly from the Navarrese loyalist defeat at Amaiur in July 1522.

In Panama, Ursúa subdued a Cimarron (ex-slave) revolt by tricking Cimarron leader Bayano into coming unprepared to negotiate a truce. He then captured Bayano and sent him back to King Philip II of Spain. Together with Ortún Velázquez de Velasco, Pedro de Ursúa founded the city of Pamplona, New Kingdom of Granada, on November 1, 1549.

Ursúa later searched the Amazon region for El Dorado with Lope de Aguirre. When Ursúa would not allow Aguirre's mistress on the expedition, Aguirre conspired with another officer, Fernando de Guzman, to use this rejection as a pretext to start a riot in which they assassinated Ursúa and seized power.

Pedro de Ursúa in fiction

A fictional version of Ursúa and Aguirre's story is depicted in the Werner Herzog film, Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes and in the Carlos Saura film El Dorado.

The novel Ursúa by William Ospina has become one of the main references concerning Pedro de Ursúa. The book provides details about the life of Ursúa and makes a general account of the events happening in the New World during the mid 16th century.

Gallery

• 
  Former tower house of the Ursúa in Arizkun, Navarre

See also

• List of conquistadors in Colombia
• El Dorado
• Muzo

Further reading

• Galster, Ingrid (1996). Aguirre oder Die Willkür der Nachwelt. Die Rebellion des baskischen Konquistadors Lope de Aguirre in Historiographie und Geschichtsfiktion (1561–1992). Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag. ISBN 3-89354-075-X.
• Galster, Ingrid (2011). Aguirre o La posteridad arbitraria. La rebelión del conquistador vasco Lope de Aguirre en historiografía y ficción histórica (1561-1992). Bogotá: Universidad Javeriana and Universidad del Rosario. ISBN 978-958-738-204-4.

External links

• Translation of Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Basque Country article on Lope de Aguirre – contains large segment on Ursúa's Dorado expedition
• (in Spanish) Pedro de Ursua at Artehistora.com
• (in Spanish) El Asesinato de Pedro de Ursua
• Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes at IMDb