Féderman, Nicolás (1505–1542)

Nicolás Féderman (b. 1505/09; d. 21/22 February 1542), German conquistador. Born Nikolaus Federmann, probably in the free imperial city of Ulm, Féderman worked for the Welsers, a German commercial house. The Welsers had authorization for a trading depot in Santo Domingo by 1526, and in 1528 their agents in Seville signed an agreement with Spanish officials to conquer and settle Venezuela. Féderman was one of several Germans sent to explore, conquer, govern, and exploit the commercial possibilities of the Venezuelan concession.

In his Historia indiana Féderman recounts how he crossed the Atlantic to Santo Domingo in 1529 and reached Coro, Venezuela, the following January. In July the ailing governor, Ambrosio Alfinger (Ambrosius Dalfinger), retired to Santo Domingo, leaving Féderman in charge. He boldly organized a successful six-month expedition into the interior, returning to Coro on 17 March 1531. Alfinger, now recuperated, banished him for four years for this unapproved expedition.

In Augsburg in 1532, Féderman shrewdly composed his Historia indiana, touting his exploits and the richness of Venezuela, with an eye on his employers, the Welsers. The Historia, with its keen analysis of Indian life and warfare, had its desired effect. Féderman signed a contract with the Welsers, and the Council of the Indies made him governor and captain-general of Venezuela.

After his return to Coro, Féderman and Jorge Espira (Georg Hohermuth) organized a two-pronged conquest of the Chibcha (Muisca) Indians of highland Colombia, where some legends located El Dorado. Espira was to approach from the east by crossing the llanos, and Féderman was to enter from the west by moving up the Magdalena River, but the plan went awry. Espira left Coro in 1535 and spent three ruinous years before struggling back without having penetrated Chibcha territory.

In the meantime, Féderman secured the western boundary of the Welser concession, but then rival and vastly superior forces from Santa Marta blocked movement up the Magdalena. He returned to Coro, where, to avoid an unexpected residencia (impeachment), he suddenly resumed his expedition. Following the route taken by Espira, he traversed the Venezuelan and Colombian llanos, always keeping the Andes to the west in view. The two expeditions never met.

Upon finding gold, Féderman turned west and climbed the Andes, but discovered that Gonzalo Jiménez De Quesada and his expedition from Santa Marta had arrived two years earlier (1537) and had already conquered the Chibchas. Then a group from Popayán, led by Sebastián de Belalcázar, appeared. Each conquistador claimed the Chibcha territory, but they agreed to journey to Spain together to resolve the dispute there. Before departing, Féderman accepted seven shares of any future booty taken by the Jiménez group and the encomienda of Tinjacá. Most of his men joined Jiménez's forces and helped them establish new cities and colonize central Colombia. They sold their horses and armament at great profit to Jiménez's men, who were in desperate need of these resources.

Back in Flanders in 1540, Féderman disagreed with the powerful Welsers over his accomplishments and was jailed. Petitions to the Council of Flanders were to no avail. Desperate for a way out, Féderman denounced the Welsers before the Council of the Indies for defrauding the royal treasury. Since the council wanted to separate the Welsers from their Venezuelan concession, the case was transferred to the council's jurisdiction in Spain and Féderman was brought to Valladolid, where he died. The Welsers pursued their Venezuela claim before the council until 1557, when the bankruptcy of Philip II led them to abandon it.

See alsoCouncil of the Indies; Indigenous Peoples; Mining: Colonial Spanish America; Welser, House of; Venezuela: The Colonial Period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

An excellent survey of the German effort to conquer Venezuela and Colombia is Juan Friede, Los Welser en la conquista de Venezuela (1961). See also José Ignacio Avellaneda Navas, Los compañeros de Féderman. Cofundadores de Santa Fé de Bogotá (1900). Féderman's own account of his accomplishments down to 1532 is found in his Historia indiana (1958). In English a lively read is John Hemming, The Search for El Dorado (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Avellaneda Nava, José Ignacio. Los compañeros de Féderman: Cofundadores de Santa Fe de Bogotá. Bogotá: Academia de Historia de Bogotá: Tercer Mundo Editores, 1990.

Castillo, Gilberto. Caminando en el tiempo: el encuentro de tres conquistadores en la Sabana de Bogotá. Bogotá: Intermedio Editores, 2003.

                                 Maurice P. Brungardt