The article deals with the way in which the first 16th century Spanish accounts on the anthropophagy ofthe natives that lived in the Cauca river basin were used to justify the conquest war in territories with abundant auriferous riches. Bcing unrestrained by the Santa Fe Audience, the Antioquia govemance residents tried to break their isolation and looked for a way out to the North Sea by founding different towns. Nevertheless, Governor Valdivia's murderrevealed that the Indians' submission was veryweak and that they seemed to share sorne ofthe apocalyptic expectations that were cornmon to other native cultures throughout the Andes.