Juan de la Cosa

Juan de la Cosa (c. 1449, according to other sources 1460 in Santoña, Cantabria, † February 28, 1510 in Cartagena, Colombia) was a Spanish navigator, cartographer and explorer.

Juan de la Cosa was shareholder of Santa Maria on Christopher Columbus' first voyage to America in 1492 and accompanied the expedition as captain. It caused the wreck of the Santa Maria. Sometimes, its activities gave the impression that he knew more than Columbus. On his second voyage to the Americas from 1493 to 1496 was Juan de la Cosa captain of Marigalante and Hauptkartograf. On Columbus' third voyage in 1498 he came on board the La Niña again in the Caribbean.

1499-1500 he joined also captained the prowl by Alonso de Ojeda, Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Andrés Morales in the Gulf of Maracaibo. Murdering and looting they went in search of gold and pearls by the settlements of Caquetio and other tribes. From this period dates a highly acclaimed world map, where you can in addition to the just discovered for Europe Caribbean islands see the outline of the Gulf of Mexico and part of the South American coast, which he took from Amerigo Vespucci records of Pedro Álvares Cabral and. Ironically, the Isthmus of Panama, where Christopher Columbus, who was convinced that he had discovered with the Caribbean Islands India ( = Asia), was looking for a strait, as if he thought himself to the Straits of Malacca, is a fanciful embellishment designed. This mappa mundi was rediscovered by Alexander von Humboldt in the 19th century.

At its fifth voyage to the New World in 1500, Juan de la Cosa, Rodrigo de Bastidas and Vasco Núñez de Balboa joined, with whom he again the coasts of Panama and Colombia for precious metals investigated. In 1506 he led the expedition to the Gulf of Urabá. Juan de la Cosa in 1509 broke again with Diego de Nicuesa, Francisco Pizarro and Alonso de Ojeda in order to explore the Gulf of Darién. De la Cosa died there of the poisoned arrow of a local.