His native town and its district, which lie between Badajoz and Madrid, produced many of the most noted conquistadores of America, including the Pizarro family.
From the very moment when Europeans encountered the New World, early explorers and conquistadores produced written accounts and crónicas of their experience, such as Columbus's letters or Bernal Díaz del Castillo's description of the conquest of Mexico.
Before the arrival of the conquistadores in the 16th Century the area was populated by ethnic Sanavirónes and Mocovíes.
During the age of exploration, Spanish and Portuguese captains and conquistadores were careful to always set aside the royal fifth from any spoils they captured, and accusations of embezzling the 'royal fifth' ended the careers of a few of them (e.g. Alonso de Ojeda, Pedro Alonso Niño).
I decided to title it—and subsequent e-mail missives—a crónica, inspired by the somewhat rough-hewn, journalistic, often fantastic first-hand accounts of the so-called New World sent “home” by the early Spanish conquistadores, and refashioned by modern-day counterparts such as the Mexicans Carlos Monsiváis, Elena Poniatowska, Cristina Pacheco, and the Chilean Pedro Lemebel, whose writing I admire.