Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (ca. 1465-1523) was a Spanish conqueror who founded Cuba and was indirectly responsible for the conquest of Aztec Mexico and Mayan Yucatán.

Cuéllar near Segovia was the birthplace of Diego Velázquez. He is known to have fought in Italy as a young man and to have reached America with the second expedition of Columbus. Settling in Hispaniola, he became a prominent landholder. During the governorship there of the Second Admiral, Diego Columbus, Velázquez was sent, in 1511, with three or four ships and about 300 men to conquer Cuba, whose insularity had recently been demonstrated by Sebastián de Ocampo. He was soon followed by his trusty henchman Pánfilo de Narváez and the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, who acted as chaplain of the expedition. The conquest proved...