Ulderico Schmidt

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Ulderico Scmidt (1515–1581) was a German soldier and adventurer who travelled with Pedro de Mendoza on an expedition through present Argentina for riches.

After twenty years had passed, without any assets being found, and still a poor man he returned to Europe, where he gained notoriety after the publication of his book Voyage to the Río de la Plata and Paraguay (1554) in German.

Perhaps the most fascinating parts of his accounts are those that attribute cannibalism not to the South American natives, but rather to the desperate conquistadors who were unsuited for survival in the rough climate, and would frequently consume one another in an effort to escape starvation. A particularly notable account states that Spaniards who were hung, and while barely dead, were hacked up by their fellow countrymen, and devoured.

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