ABSTRACT
The expedition had coasted westward as far as the Gulf of Uraba which it had entered and explored. In Spanish minds the land of Uraba, roughly interpreted as the east coast of that gulf, had already come to be associated with gold, although it was known that the metal was traded in from the interior rather than being locally mined. The Uraba Spaniards were short on men and rations almost from the beginning. The Uraba coast seemed a logical doorway to the Sinu and a counterbalance to the developing claims of other Spaniards working out of Cartagena. Between 1532 and 1538 Julian Gutierrez conducted seven separate voyages to the Uraba coast, maintaining the friendliest of relations with the natives. Gutierrez was retained as intendente of Uraba, a title he held until he left for Peru and Chile where, according to Fray Pedro Simon, he won many new honors.
