Tamanaco

Who was Tamanaco?

Tamanaco was a native Venezuelan chief, who as leader of the Mariches and Quiriquires tribes led during part of the 16th century the resistance against the Spanish conquest of Venezuelan territory in the central region of the country, specially in the Caracas valley. He is one of the most famous and best known Venezuelan Caciques.

The city of Santiago de León de Caracas, which had been founded in 1567, was continuously harassed and the subject of raids conducted by the local tribes. In 1570 when Diego de Mazariegos took charge as governor of the province of Venezuela, he made it a priority to pacify the territories.

Following the death of Guaicaipuro, Tamanaco had risen as the new leader of the Mariches and Quiriquires. By 1573 Tamanaco and his group of natives had become such a problem that reinforcements came from Spain and other Spanish islands in the Caribbean with the sole purpose of taking care of this matter.

Soon after captain Pedro Alonso Galeas and lieutenant Francisco Calderón joined their forces, they started on an expedition with the intention of engaging Tamanaco and his men; they were helped by Aricabacuto, another native Chief. Upon learning of this expedition, Tamanaco prepared a fighting force made up of 300 warriors recruited among his tribes and with the help of men from the Teques and Arbaco tribes. It wasn't long before the two groups engaged each other in combat. However neither side came out victorious in their first fight.