Show Notes
In this episode of The Chocolate Podcast, Andrew & Ed Easton roleplay and discuss the life of Lope de Aguirre, a Basque conquistador who fought for Spain in Peru, who was publicly whipped for mistreating indigenous people, hunted down and murdered Judge Esquivel, then joined an El Dorado expedition led by Pedro de Ursúa.
Aguirre helps overthrow and kill Ursúa, installs Fernando de Guzmán as a figurehead prince, then betrays and kills Guzmán and others, imposes paranoid rules, and writes a manifesto-style letter rebelling against King Philip II and the Spanish monopoly system.
After seizing Margarita Island and committing further brutality, his force dwindles through desertion as Spain offers pardons; surrounded in Venezuela, Aguirre kills his daughter to prevent her capture, is shot by his own men, beheaded, and displayed. We link his story to the destructive realities of the so-called Columbian Exchange and the suppression of indigenous chocolate knowledge.
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