New Granada (grənäˈdə) [key], former Spanish colony, N South
America. It included at its greatest extent present Colombia,
Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. Between 1499 and 1510 a host of
conquerors explored the Caribbean coast of Panama and South
America. After 1514, Pedro Arias de Ávila was successful in
assuring permanent colonization of the isthmus of Panama. At
Santa Marta (1525) and Cartagena (1533), Spanish control of the
Colombian coast was firmly established, and in the next few
years the northern hinterland was explored. German adventurers,
notably Nikolaus Federmann, penetrated the Venezuelan and
Colombian llanos between 1530 and 1546. By far the greatest of
the conquerors was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, who in 1536
ascended the Magdalena River, climbed the mighty Andean
cordillera, where he subdued the powerful Chibcha (an advanced
native civilization), and by 1538 had founded Santa Fé de
Bogotá, later known simply as Bogotá. He named the region El
Nuevo Reino de Granada [the new kingdom of Granada