El Carnero

El Carnero tells the story of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca; the early exploration of northern South America and the establishment of the New Kingdom of Granada, currently Colombia and parts of Venezuela, and the foundation and first century of the city of Bogotá. Bogotá was the first city of the kingdom to have an established royal audience and a chancellery. It also describes the indigenous peoples that inhabited the region during the conquest, the civil wars between them, and their customs and culture. It details the origin of the myth of El Dorado, the "Lost City of Gold", depicted in the Muisca raft; the initiation ritual of the zipa of the Muisca Confederation.[1]

The chronicle is intended to be historical, but includes also several fictional elements through short stories. It is generally stated that these short stories are of great importance in the Hispano-American literature movement.[2] El Carnero is regarded as the most important source for the historical events in the early colonial times of what later would become Colombia; the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and other Colombian conquests.[3] Researcher Carlos Rey Pereira published his PhD in 2000 about the work, where he assessed the validity of the events described as a mixture of common opinions and rumours.[4] Rodríguez Freyle filled the gaps between two other early Spanish chroniclers: Pedro Simón and Juan de Castellanos.[5] Other critical reviews of the book mention the viewpoint of the writer; child of an encomendero and conquistador.[3][6][7]

• List of conquistadors in Colombia
• Spanish conquest of the Muisca
• Indigenous peoples in Colombia
• Colombian literature, history of Colombia, history of Bogotá

• Rodríguez Freyle, Juan, and Darío Achury Valenzuela. 1979 (1859) (1638). El Carnero - Conquista i descubrimiento del nuevo reino de Granada de las Indias Occidentales del mar oceano, i fundacion de la ciudad de Santa Fe de Bogota, 1-598. Fundacion Biblioteca Ayacuch. Accessed 2016-11-21.

• Bost, David. 1990. Historians of the colonial period: 1620-1700, 143-171. Accessed 2016-11-21.
• Rey Pereira, Carlos. 2000. Discurso histórico y discurso literario. El caso de El Carnero - Historical and literary discourse. The case of El Carnero (PhD), 1-615. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Accessed 2016-11-21.
• Rodríguez Ruiz, Jaime Alejandro. s.a. Novela colombiana - elementos novelescos en la Crónica: El Carnero. Accessed 2016-11-21.

• N, N. 1979 (1888) (1539). Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada, 81-97. Accessed 2016-11-24.
• Jiménez de Quesada, Gonzalo. 1576. Memoria de los descubridores, que entraron conmigo a descubrir y conquistar el Reino de Granada. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• De Castellanos, Juan. 1857 (1589). Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias, 1–567. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Simón, Pedro. 1892 (1626). Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias occidentales (1882-92) vol.1-5. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Fernández de Piedrahita, Lucas. 1688. Historia general de las conquistas del Nuevo Reino de Granada. Accessed 2016-07-08.
• Acosta, Joaquín. 1848. Compendio histórico del descubrimiento y colonización de la Nueva Granada en el siglo décimo sexto - Historical overview of discovery and colonization of New Granada in the sixteenth century, 1-460. Beau Press. Accessed 2016-07-08.

• (in Spanish) El Carnero manuscript (digitized)