Luis Lanchero

As a young man he was employed in the guard of Spanish king Carlos V, in which role he participated in the Sack of Rome in 1527.

[1] In 1533, searching for adventure, Lanchero left Europe for what would later become Venezuela with a conquest expedition led by Jerónimo de Ortal.

[2] Once there, Lanchero joined the expedition led by Nikolaus Federmann towards the Colombian Andes, reaching the newly founded capital of the New Kingdom of Granada in 1538.

[4] After two unsuccessful attempts to subjugate the more than 10,000 Muzo, Lanchero marched through Panche territory to the south, the western portion of the current department of Cundinamarca, back towards Bogotá.

[3][4] In early 1559, fifteen years after the discovery of the rich emerald deposits by Diego Martínez, Lanchero returned to Muzo terrain and passed through Maripí.