On May 25, 1577, the city of. Altamira de Cáceres was founded by Juan Andrés Varela, a Spanish captain from Galicia. The site for this city in western Venezuela, which today bears the name Barinas, was selected by Captain Varela because of the natural features it provided for defense against the Indians and because it offered a gateway to the llanos. The events involved in the founding of the city and the life of its founder are the subjects of the two essays contained in this short paper by Virgilio Tosta.
Sr. Tosta’s accounts are good examples of the continuing nature of the Spanish conquest. Well into the period historians have labeled “colonial” and years after the Pizarros. Alvarados, and de Sotos, lesser-known conquistadors tramped Latin America’s wildernesses in search of gold and glory. Like their predecessors, they fought among themselves and were plagued by the conflicting jurisdictions of viceroys and audiencias. Varela, himself, fought in the forces of the ill-starred Viceroy, Blasco Núñez de Vela. Although Tosta’s research is not profound, he cites extensively from capitulations and encomienda grants contained in the collections of the Archivo Histórico de Bogotá. Given the woeful state of Latin American historiography for this period, the use of such archival material merits the attention of the serious historian.
