Diego de Nicuesa (; died 1511) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer. He was the first governor of Veragua, a region stretching from Panama to northern Nicaragua, during the Spanish colonial period.
Background
Diego arrived Santo Domingo in April 1502, with Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres' flotilla.
In 1506, Nicuesa was given the job of governing Costa Rica, but ran aground off the coast of Panama. He made his way north overland, against resistance from the native population. The combination of guerrilla warfare and tropical disease killed half his expedition before he gave up.
In 1508, Diego de Nicuesa received a land grant at Veragua from Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Spanish monarch.
See also
- List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
- ship from Balboa's colony that was similarly lost