Gonzalo Jim%C3%A9nez de Quesada

Gonzalo Jimnez de Quesada was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. As a welleducated lawyer he was one of the few intellectuals of the Spanish conquest. He was an effective organizer and leader, designed the first legislation for the government of the area, and was its historian. After 1569 he undertook explorations toward the east, searching for the elusive El Dorado, but returned to New Granada in 1573. He has been suggested as a possible model for Cervantes Don Quixote.

His father was a hidalgo relative of Gonzalo Francisco de Cordoba, and he has two known distant cousins Hernn Cortes and Francisco Pizarro. Gonzalo Jimnez de Quesada was born in Cordova, Spain, into a Jewish family which had converted to Catholicism before he was born.

Source: Wikipedia