Jiménez de Quesada, Gonzalo << hee MAY nayth duh kay SAH thah, gawn THAH loh >> (1497?-1579), was a Spanish conqueror. He established the first Spanish settlement in the interior of what is now the South American nation of Colombia.
Quesada was born in Granada, Spain, and became a lawyer. He traveled to the Americas in 1536. Later that year, he left the settlement of Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia and led an expedition up the Magdalena River. In 1537, the group reached the plain inhabited by the Indigenous (native) Chibcha people. By 1538, Quesada’s party had defeated the Indians and gained control over the area. He founded the town of Santa Fe de Bogotá (now Bogotá). From 1569 to 1572, he went to eastern Colombia to search for El Dorado, a fictitious kingdom of great wealth.
