[Sidenote: Castellanos in New Granada] [Sidenote: Jiménez de Quesada] [Sidenote: Quesada’s manuscript] Besides Ercilla and his imitators, already mentioned, a number of other writers in verse appeared among the early chroniclers of South American affairs. The most noteworthy of these were Juan de Castellanos, of Tierra Firme, Martín del Barco Centenera, of Tucumán and Paraguay, and Pedro Peralta Barnuevo, of Peru. The position of Castellanos in relation to the literary history of New Granada, or Colombia, may be compared with that of Ercilla with respect to Chile; but the name of Castellanos in the New Granadan catalogue is preceded by that of Jiménez de Quesada, the discoverer of the territory of the Chibchas and the founder of Bogotá. Quesada was born in Córdoba, but his boyhood was spent in Granada, where his father, Luis Jiménez de Quesada, was a judge. He studied law, and was graduated with the title of licenciado. Under Governor Lugo he was the chief judicial officer of the colony of Santa Marta, and from this post he was advanced to the leadership of the expedition sent to explore the interior of the country. Having established a settlement on the plateau, August 6, 1538, he returned to Europe in 1539. His account of this expedition was called _Compendio historial_. Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita (1624-1688) affirms, in the _Prólogo_ of his _Historia general de las conquistas del nuevo reino de Granada_, that the manuscript of the _Compendio historial_ was sent to Spain, where he saw it in one of the libraries of Madrid. It is also reported that for many years it was in the possession of the national library at Bogotá, and that the historian Antonio Plaza took it from the library about 1848, and used it in writing his history of New Granada; moreover, that it was lost among Plaza’s papers after that writer’s death, which occurred in 1854. Parts of it are preserved in the quotations made from it by Plaza and Zamora. A few of these extracts have been reprinted by Vergara y Vergara in his _Historia de la literatura en Nueva Granada_. The _Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino_, by Quesada, recently published by M. Jiménez de la Espada, is found to be different, at least in part, from the original _Compendia historial_. [Illustration: Juan de Castellanos] The events of Quesada’s march from the sea to the table-land, the coming of Benalcázar from the south, the appearance of Federmann making his way through the wilderness from Venezuela, the meeting of the three captains, and the ceremonies attending the announcement and confirmation of Spain’s claim to the land furnished themes fit for romances framed after the model of the _Cid_. The most noteworthy writer who made use of this material and presented it in verse was Juan de Castellanos; but his work, written in his old age, is rather a history than a romance; it is a metrical chronicle of the early history of New Granada.[84] [Sidenote: Juan de Castellanos]