Ulrich Schmidel, also known as Schmidl, was a sixteenth-century German conquistador and chronicler who documented the early Spanish colonization of South America. Born around 1510, Schmidel traveled to the New World and spent two decades, from 1534 to 1554, actively participating in the Spanish conquest of the Río de la Plata region. His experiences during these twenty years of military expeditions and exploration formed the basis of his later literary contributions.
Following his return to Germany in 1554, Schmidel wrote a comprehensive narrative detailing his adventures and observations in the New World. This chronicle serves as one of the earliest and most vital historical sources for understanding the Río de la Plata region during this era. Because of its detail and objectivity, modern historians generally regard Schmidel's account as a highly reliable and essential record of the early colonial period in South America.