BASTIDAS, Rodriguez de, explorer, born about 1460; died in Santo Domingo. Shortly after the discovery of America he associated with Juan de la Casa in the prosecution of new explorations. Being ordered by the king of Spain to receive twenty missionaries on board his ship, he sailed along the coast of Central America and New Grenada in search of a fit situation for a colony, and finally selected the district in New Grenada that afterward bore the name of St. Martha, and there he founded the city of St. Martha. Its prosperity was so great that in less than two years it was erected into a bishopric, and Bastidas was appointed governor. Endeavoring to check the cupidity and cruelty of his soldiers in their dealings with the natives, he was wounded in a sedition, and obliged to fly to Santo Domingo, where he was arrested by the governor, Bovadilla, who charged him with making a treaty with the Indians without authority. He was honorably acquitted, but died of his wounds soon afterward.