Fajardo, Francisco (c. 1524–1564)

Francisco Fajardo (b. ca. 1524; d. 1564), conquistador in Venezuelan territory. Fajardo was the son of a Spanish male and a female Indian chieftain of the Guaquerí tribe. He undertook various expeditions from Margarita Island to the mainland beginning in 1555 and in 1557 obtained authorization from the governor of El Tocuyo to rule and settle the coast. During a 1559 expedition, Fajardo headed inland and reached as far as the Valley of La Guaire, site of present-day Caracas. He returned to the coast, where he founded the settlement of El Collado. On a second expedition to La Guaire Valley, Fajardo discovered gold in Teque Indian territory. When the governor learned of the discovery Fajardo was stripped of his authority and sent to El Collado as its chief justice. In his place, Pedro Miranda was sent to exploit the gold, but he quickly alienated the local cacique, Guacaipuro. There followed a series of clashes in which Fajardo aided the Spanish forces despite his dispute with the governor. By 1562 the Indians had driven the Spanish from the valley and forced Fajardo to abandon El Collado. As Fajardo was provisioning yet another expedition in the settlement of Cuma-ná in 1594, he was arrested by the local chief justice. Though the charges are unclear, he was tried and sentenced to death. In retaliation, his followers on Margarita Island went to Cumaná and seized the chief justice, Alonso Cobos, whom they tried before the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, where he too was sentenced to death.

See alsoConquistadoresxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jesús Antonio Cova, El capitán poblador margariteño Francisco Fajardo (1954).

Juan Ernesto Montenegro, Francisco Fajardo: Origen y perfil del primer fundador de Caracas (1974).

Graciela Schael Martínez, Vida de Don Francisco Fajardo (1975).

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