Lope de Aguirre

Lope de Aguirre
Born(1510-11-08)8 November 1510
Oñati, Gipuzkoa
Died27 October 1561(1561-10-27) (aged 50)
Barquisimeto, Venezuela
NationalitySpanish
Other namesThe Wrath of God, The Wanderer, El Tirano, Prince of Liberty, Madman of Onate
Occupation(s)conquistador, rebel
Known for

Lope de Aguirre (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlope ðe aˈɣire]; 8 November 1510 – 27 October 1561) was a Basque Spanish[1] conquistador who was active in South America. Nicknamed El Loco ("the Madman"), he styled himself "Wrath of God, Prince of Freedom."[2] Aguirre is best known for his final expedition down the Amazon River in search of the mythical golden Kingdom El Dorado and Omagua.

In 1561, Aguirre led a mutiny against the expedition's commander, Pedro de Orsúa, and declared his intent to return to Peru and overthrow Spain's colonial government. He sent a letter that defied the Spanish monarch Philip II by renouncing his Spanish vassalage and declared war upon the Habsburg monarch. Aguirre's expedition ended with his death. In the years since then he has been treated by historians as a symbol of cruelty and treachery in the early history of colonial Spanish America,[3][4] and has become an antihero in literature, cinema and other arts.[5] During the Spanish Civil War, he became a revolutionary caudillo figure in the Basque region.[6]

  1. ^ Mari Carmen Ramirez; Tomas Ybarra-Frausto; Hector Olea (24 April 2012). Resisting Categories: Latin American and/or Latino?. Yale University Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-300-18715-1.
  2. ^ Charles Nicholl (23 June 1997). The Creature in the Map: A Journey to El Dorado. University of Chicago Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-226-58025-8.
  3. ^ "Lope de Aguirre". (2010). He was subsequently transformed into a symbol of resistance against Spanish rule in Latin America under Simon Bolivar. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 8 October 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/9899/Lope-de-Aguirre
  4. ^ Bart L. Lewis (2003). The Miraculous Lie: Lope de Aguirre and the Search for El Dorado in the Latin American Historical Novel. Lexington Books. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-0-7391-0787-4.
  5. ^ Thomas Gómez (2009). "Génesis de un antihéroe: Lope de Aguirre entre crónicas, literatura, cine y otras artes". In Guillermo Serés, Mercedes Serna Arnáiz (ed.). Los límites del océano: estudios filológicos de crónica y épica en el nuevo mundo. Centro para la Edición de los Clásicos Españoles. pp. 65–74. ISBN 978-84-936665-2-1.
  6. ^ Austin S., Tyler (6 May 2022). The evolution of the legacy of Lope de Aguirre (BA History thesis). Tulane University. Retrieved 9 September 2024.