The First Conquistador: Alonso de Ojeda's Forgotten Voyage

Before Cortés, before Pizarro, there was Alonso de Ojeda. A brash young hidalgo who sailed with Columbus on his second voyage, then led his own expeditions to the unknown coasts of South America. This episode follows Ojeda's career: from his swashbuckling early days in Seville, to the disastrous founding of San Sebastián de Urabá, to the legal battles that followed his return. We explore his partnership with Juan de la Cosa (the cartographer who owned the first European ship to sight the mainland), his rivalry with Diego de Nicuesa, and the landscape of mangrove swamps and poisoned arrows that swallowed his colony. Plus: the forgotten role of indigenous interpreters and the first smallpox outbreak on the American mainland. A story of ambition, failure, and the brutal learning curve that made later conquests possible. #AlonsoDeOjeda #JuanDeLaCosa #SanSebastianDeUraba #UrabaGulf #Darien #Conquistadors #SpanishConquest #Smallpox #IndigenousInterpreters #Columbus #TierraFirme #NuñezDeBalboa #DiegoDeNicuesa #SantoDomingo #History #FexingoHistory #Exploration #Mesoamerica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo