Bartholomew VI. Welser
Bartholomew VI. Welser the Younger (born October 26, 1512 ; † probably on May 17, 1546 near today's Cruz de Tara-Tara near Quíbor , Venezuela ) was an Augsburg patrician.
The son Bartholomäus Welser the Elder went to Venezuela in the middle of 1540 to join an expedition of the local governor Georg Hohermuth von Speyer in search of the legendary gold country El Dorado . However, since Hohermuth von Speyer had already died of fever when he arrived in Coro , Welser's general captain Philipp von Hutten led the march into the interior. When they returned to the coast in May 1546, Hutten and Welser, along with two of their Spanish companions , were murdered by Juan de Carvajal , who had in the meantime played himself out to be the governor of Venezuela by means of forged papers. Exactly what role Bartholomäus Welser should play in Venezuela is unclear today. All that is documented is that before the expedition began in August 1541, he held the rank of captain, apparently without having previously had any military training.
literature
- Eberhard Schmitt / Götz Simmer (eds.): Tod am Tocuyo: the search for the background to the murder of Philip von Hutten 1541–1550 , Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-87061-863-9
- Eberhard Schmitt / Friedrich Karl von Hutten (eds.): The gold of the New World: the papers of the Welser conquistador and general captain of Venezuela Philipp von Hutten 1534–1541 , 2nd, new edit. Ed., Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-87061-862-0
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Welser, Bartholomäus VI. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bartholomäus Welser the Younger |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Augsburg patrician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 26, 1512 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 17, 1546 |
| Place of death | at Cruz de Tara-Tara, near Quíbor , Venezuela |