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Francisco de Orellana
Spanish Soldier
& Explorer
Orellana assisted
Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru in 1535. In 1540-41, he was
lieutenant to Gonzalo Pizarro in an expedition into the unknown regions
East of Quito across the Andes Mountains to look for gold, silver, and
cinnamon. After a long and difficult crossing of the Andes in 1541, the
expedition spent six weeks crossing the vast dense jungle to reach the Napo River. The men were starving and weak, so Gonzalo sent Orellana
down the river with a few men to look for provisions.The Napo river led them to the Amazon River, through present day Ecuador
and Peru. Orellana, claiming that he was unable to return upstream to
Gonzao and the rest of the waiting men, then proceeded to navigate the
entire Amazon River. For eight months, and with only 50 men in a fragile
boat they had constructed themselves, they sailed down the great river,
al the while enduring heavy attacks from the indigenous tribes. Orellana
and his men finally reached the mouth of the Amazon at the Atlantic
Ocean. It is said that Orellana named the river after an attack by a
tribe in which women, like the Amazon warriors of Greek mythology, were
fighting alongside men.After reaching the Atlantic Ocean, Orellana traveled north up the South
American coast and eventually sailed back to Spain. He reported of the
female warriors and the great hoards of gold and cinnamon that he had
found in South America. He was given permission to exploit the lands
that he had helped to discover, but his return trip to the Amazon in
1544 was a complete and total disaster. Men and ships were lost on the
passage to South America and Orellana himself was drowned when his own
vessel capsized near the mouth of the Amazon. |
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