Antonio Díaz de Cardoso

Antonio Díaz de Cardoso (?, Santa Comba, Portugal - ?, ?) was a Portuguese conquistador who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Muisca.

Antonio Díaz de Cardoso is mentioned as Cardosso in the early chronicle about the Spanish conquest, a work of uncertain authorship; Epítome de la conquista del Nuevo Reino de Granada.

Biography
Antonio Díaz de Cardoso, whose surnames are alternatively spelled Díaz Cardoso, Díaz de Cardozo or Díaz Cardozo, was born in Santa Comba in the Kingdom of Portugal. His parents were Diego Díaz and Marquesa Cardoso.

Díaz de Cardoso joined the expedition in search of El Dorado, the journey lead by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada leaving Santa Marta in April 1536. Antonio Díaz de Cardoso was one of the three captains of the brigs that De Quesada sent up the Magdalena River, the other two Gómez del Corral and Juan de Albarracín.

During the strenuous journey, in La Tora, present Barrancabermeja, De Quesada sent troops ahead to investigate routes towards the then unknown Andes. Díaz de Cardoso and De Albarracín found the loafs of high quality salt that would lead the conquistadors along the Camino de la Sal ("Salt Route") into the Muisca Confederation.

Díaz de Cardoso received the encomienda of Suba, ruling over 900 to 1000 Muisca.

Antonio Díaz de Cardoso was three times encomendero of Santa Fe de Bogotá; from 1540 to 1541 between the terms of Juan Arévalo and Juan Tafur, between 1562 and 1563 succeeding Juan de Rivera and preceding Alonso de Olaya and from 1567 to 1568 as successor of Antón de Olaya, succeeded by Gonzalo de Ledesma.

Díaz de Cardoso was married to Felipa Almeida, or Felipa de Almeyda Cabral, and the couple got two daughters, Marquesa and Isabel Cardozo Almeyda, who married the two sons of Luis Fernández de Acosta.