Martín Yañéz Tafur

Martín Yañéz Tafur (?, Córdoba, Andalusia, Castile - ?, New Kingdom of Granada) was a Spanish conquistador who participated in the foundation of Cartagena, the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and the conquest of the Panche.

Biography
Martín Yañéz, also written as Yañés, Tafur was born in Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain with parents Diego Díaz Tafur and Beatriz de Sotomayor. His father was the brother of Isabel Tafur, the mother of Juan Tafur, Martín's cousin. Other family included Hernán Venegas Carrillo and Pedro Fernández de Valenzuela, fellow conquistadors in Colombia.

Yañéz Tafur left Spain for Trinidad in 1520, where he became mayor of the fortress Yuriparí. He left the Caribbean island for Cartagena de Indias, the city he helped founding with Pedro de Heredia in 1533. He accompanied De Heredia on further conquests to the west near the first Caribbean settlement San Sebastián de Urabá in present-day Antioquia. During this journey, Martín Yañéz Tafur returned the gold of Julián Gutiérrez to him upon release, soldier in the expedition who was imprisoned. This was seen as an act of great nobility in the greedy times of the Spanish conquests. After this, Yañéz Tafur went south towards Cauca and from there inland towards the Bogotá savanna where he participated in the conquest of the Muisca and Panche, assisting his cousin Hernán Venegas Carrillo with the foundation of Tocaima in 1544.

Yañés Tafur married Ines Ximeno de Bohorques, or Inés Jimeno de Bohórquez in Santa Fe de Bogotá and the couple had two sons; Martín Luis Yañes Tafur de Valenzuela and Francisco Tafur de Valenzuela. His year and place of death are unknown.