Ambrosius Ehinger aka Ambrosio Alfinger. Born in 1500 in Ulm, Ambrosius was appointed governor and captain general of the new province of Venezuela, where he arrived in March 1529. He settled in Santa Ana de Coro, the only European settlement along 2,000 km of the Venezuelan coast. In 1530, he became the first conquistador to reach the territories that now make up the departments of Cesar and Norte de Santander in Colombia. He died in Chinacota in 1533 after his throat was pierced by an arrow fired by a Chitarero Indian. He was originally buried there, but his remains were later exhumed and moved to Maracaibo, Venezuela, where they were reburied in the El Cuadrado Cemetery
In September 1529, Ehinger founded the settlement of Neu-Nürnberg (New Nuremberg), which is today the city of Maracaibo. Driven by the search for El Dorado, his brutal expeditions were funded by the wealthy Welser banking family, who had received the territory from King Charles V to settle royal debts.
The German conquistador buried in Maracaibo, Venezuela, is Ambrosius Ehinger (also known in Spanish as Ambrosio Alfinger or Dalfinger). He was the first governor of the German colony of Klein-Venedig ("Little Venice") and originally founded the settlement of Maracaibo (then called Neu Nürnberg) on September 8, 1529. Ehinger died in 1533 after being struck in the throat by a poisoned arrow during an expedition in Chinácota, Colombia. Though he was initially buried there under a ceiba tree, his remains were later exhumed, transferred back to Venezuela, and reburied at the El Cuadrado Cemetery in Maracaibo.
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