Gaspar de Rodas was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 administrator in the area that now comprises the present-day departments of Antioquia, Caldas

Caldas, Antioquia

Caldas is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Caldas is part of the Metropolitan Area of Medellín. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Caldas.- Notable Caldenses :*Luis Fernando Montoya professional soccer coach...

, Quindío and Risaralda, in what is now Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. He was the first governor of Antioquia, part of the New Kingdom of Granada

New Kingdom of Granada

The New Kingdom of Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed by the president of the Audiencia of Bogotá, an area corresponding mainly to modern day Colombia and parts of Venezuela. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of...

.

Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, he was the son of Florencio de Rodas and Guiomar Coello. He arrived at Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

 in 1540 and in 1541, he traveled to Popayán

Popayán

Popayán is the capital of the Colombian department of Cauca. It is located in southwestern Colombia between Colombia's Western Mountain Range and Central Mountain Range...

 with Sebastián de Belalcázar

Sebastián de Belalcázar

Sebastián de Belalcázar was a Spanish conquistador.-Early life:He was born Sebastián Moyano in the province of Córdoba, Spain, in either 1479 or 1480. He took the name Belalcázar as that was the name of the castle-town near to his birthplace in Córdoba...

, entrusted with the task of relocating the settlement of Santa Fe de Antioquia. He was not successful in this, as he was arrested by the forces of the governor of Cartagena de Indias. However, he was liberated by the marshal Jorge Robledo

Jorge Robledo (conquistador)

Jorge Robledo was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled in Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.He founded the cities of Santa Ana de los Caballeros , Cartago, Valle del Cauca and Santa Fe de Antioquia...

 and Rodas returned to Santa Fe de Antioquía.

After the execution of Robledo in 1546, Rodas was named governor of Antioquía. This was confirmed again in 1576 by the Real Audiencia de Santa Fe de Bogotá upon the death of Andrés de Valdivia.

The first mission entrusted to Rodas was to punish the tribes who had assassinated Valdivia. Having completed this mission, Rodas founded Cáceres

Cáceres, Antioquia

Cáceres is a town and municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....

 in 1576 and returned to Antioquia. He also attempted to pacify the indigenous peoples at Marequita and at the valley of Aburra. In 1581, he founded Zaragoza de las Palmas

Zaragoza, Antioquia

Zaragoza is a municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia....

.

Sources

• ”La epopeya de la raza extremeña en India”, Vicente Navarro del Castillo, ISBN 84-4005359-2