NDN Support

Hall of Shame

Lope de Aguirre

(1510 - 1561)

the "mad conquistador"

Lope de Aguirre not only earned himself the nick-name "the mad conquistador" but he also liked to refer to himself as "the wrath of God". He was a very aggressive and badtempered man, who was sent out to conquer the Amazon. Now the Amazon was not as "easy" to conquer for the Spanish as were the Incas, because they didn't realise yet that it was foolish to venture into the rainforest in heavy armour so mot of the expeditions never returned. Afraid as they were of being ambushed by arrows and spears, they would never take their armour off,

despite the immense mosture and heat of the hostile rainforest, but this was their downfall. De Aguirre went to south America because of the stories about El Dorado, that mythical land of gold and the treasures of the Incas. However, De Aguirre was a very persistent man but revengeful. Once he was flogged for disobeying orders and disregarding the laws that were supposed to pretect Indians, and this made him so angry that he vowed to kill the judge Francisco de Esquivel who ordered it. The judge, being aware of his temper fled and hit but De Aguirre found him anyway and murdered him.

back to articles

1

1