Gonzalo Ximenes De Qiesada, a Spanish explorer, born in Granada about 1495, died at Mariquita, New Granada, Feb. 16, 1579. He came to America in 1535 as a judicial functionary in the suite of Pedro Fernandez de Lugo, governor of the province of Santa Marta, who chose him to head an expedition against the Chibchas, supposed to number more than 2,000,000 souls, on the great plains of Tunja and Bogota, and the neighboring regions about the head waters of the river Magdalena. He set out April 6, 1536, with a force of 720 infantry and 85 horsemen. Of five vessels and 105 men embarked in them, all were destroyed by storm or by native attacks excepting one vessel which was brought back to Santa Marta by one man. On land the column was hindered by almost insurmountable natural obstacles and the constant assaults of the savages. At the end of eight months they had made no more than 450 m. On reaching the river Bermejo, Ximenes fell sick; but Capt. San Martin explored the upper waters of the river, and reported that a rich and cultivated country was not far distant. Scaling with immense exertion the formidable mountains of Opon, gaining a height of 5,500 ft. above the sea, Ximenes found a land of beauty and abundance, with its population to be conquered, but free from natural obstacles.

He now had but 166 men and 60 horses. He resumed his progress on March 2, 1537. The first Indians he met were so terrified by the sight of his horses that they instantly submitted. At Tunja one of the great chiefs of the Chibchas treacherously attacked him, and was captured after much slaughter, Ximenes becoming possessed of vast riches. He then marched upon Iraca, the sacred city of the nation, where the great temple of the sun was accidentally set on fire, and it perished with the city after burning several days. Returning toward Tunja, he fought a desperate and bloody battle at Borja against 12,000 natives, whom he defeated, after which he made treaties with several caciques, who voluntarily submitted. He now divided among his soldiers $250,000 in gold and 1,815 emeralds. Another native chief having been surprised and killed, his people undertook a vigorous resistance; but Ximenes formed an alliance with one of the pretenders to the succession, and gained a battle in which his forces consisted of 40,000 natives and 40 Spaniards. His ally was proclaimed king of the Chibchas, but was required to deliver the treasures of his predecessor to the Spaniards. After a short imprisonment he promised within 40 days to fill a room with gold and emeralds.

As he did not keep his promise, he was put to death with cruel tortures. On Aug. 6, 1538, Ximenes founded the city of Bogota. Shortly afterward arrived Frederman from Venezuela, with about 160 men in a destitute condition, and Benalcazar with about the same force flushed with the conquest and spoils of Quito. Benalcazar wished to combine with Frederman and expel Ximenes from his conquests; but Frederman had already entered the service of Ximenes, and the three leaders, appointing a governor ad interim of all their territories, sailed May 12, 1539, from the Magdalena to lay their claims before the emperor Charles V. Frederman was totally unsuccessful; Benalcazar was released from obedience to Pizarro and made governor of Popayan; and Ximenes, after following the court to the Low Countries and spending vast sums in ostentatious living in Italy, France, and Portugal, was finally summoned before the royal council, fined 1,000 ducats, banished for one year, and suspended for five years from his office as judge and captain. The emperor afterward remitted these punishments, and bestowed on him the title of marshal of the kingdom of New Granada, with perquisites worth about 4,000 ducats yearly.

He returned to Bogota in the beginning of 1551, and henceforth distinguished himself as the protector of the people against the adventurous officials and magistrates. In 1561 he was named by the Spanish government adelantado or governor-in-chief of the kingdom of New Granada, and afterward spent three years and 300,000 ducats in fitting out an expedition in search of El Dorado, which he thought to find beyond the territories of Pauto and Papamene. He set out with 300 Spaniards, 2,000 Indians, and 1,200 horses, and returned with 24 men and 32 horses. In 1572 he founded the city of Santa Agueda, near Mariquita. He died of leprosy, and by his will declared himself poor, his debts exceeding his property by more than 60,000 ducats. His remains were removed to Bogota in 1597. - See J. Acosta, Compendio histórico'del descubrimiento y colonization de la Nuera Granada (Paris, 1848), and Antonio de Plaza, Memorias para la historia de la Nueta Granada (Bogota, 1850).