10. Coming of the Europeans

In 1539 three separate expeditions came together unexpectedly in the Muisca highlands. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, second in command at the Spanish settlement of Santa Marta, traveled from the north in search of emerald mines. Nicolaus Federmann, a German, led his company westward from the coastal plains of Venezuela. Sebastián de Belalcázar and his forces came north and eastward from Quito, Ecuador. On August 6, 1539, they joined forces and founded the Kingdom of Nueva Granada.