Part ofa series on the
History ofChile
Timeline •Years in Chile
Early history Monte Verde Origin of the Mapuche Early Mapuches Incas in Chile
Colonial times Spanish conquest Colonial Chile Captaincy General Arauco War Destruction of the Seven Cities
Nation-building Patria Vieja War of Independence Reconquest Patria Nueva Civil war (1829–1830) War of the Confederation
Republican period Conservative Republic Colonization of the Strait of Magellan Liberal Republic Occupation of Araucanía War of the Pacific
Parliamentary period 1891 Chilean Civil War Parliamentary Republic 1924 coup d'état
Presidential period 1925 coup d'état Presidential Republic Radical governments Allende and UP era
Military dictatorship 1973 coup d'état Military dictatorship
Contemporary Transition to democracy Student protests Mapuche conflict Social Outburst Politics of Chile
Related topics Agriculture history Economic history LGBT history Maritime history Mining history Chilean wars Chilean coups d'état Political scandals
Chile portal History portal
v t e

TheConquest of Chile is a period inChilean history that starts with the arrival ofPedro de Valdivia toChile in 1541 and ends with the death ofMartín García Óñez de Loyola in theBattle of Curalaba in 1598, and the subsequentdestruction of the Seven Cities in 1598–1604 in theAraucanía region.

This was the period of Spanish conquest of territories, founding of cities, establishment of theCaptaincy General of Chile, and defeats ending its further colonial expansion southwards. The initial conflict with the Mapuche extended well beyond the conquest period becoming known as theArauco War, and the Spanish were never able to reassert control in Araucanía south of theBío Bío River.

Spanish conquerors entering Chile were accompanied by thousands ofyanakuna from the already subdued territories of theInca Empire as well by a fewAfrican slaves. In the first years of the period the Spanish in Chile gained a reputation of being poorly dressed among the Spanish in Peru (roto), in fact, inSantiago, lack of clothes made some Spanish to dress withhides from dogs, cats,sea lions, andfoxes.

According to traditional historiography, when the Spanish first came toCentral Chile the territory had been under Inca rule for about 60 years.^[1] There are however dissenting views: recent works suggest at least 130 years of Inca presence in Central Chile,^[1] and historianOsvaldo Silva posits remarkably short chronologies of direct Inca rule and military involvement. According to Silva, thelast Inca push towards the south was made as late as in the early 1530s.^[2]

The mainsettlements of the Inca Empire in Chile lay along theAconcagua River,Mapocho River, and the Maipo River.^[3]Quillota, in the Aconcagua valley, was likely their foremost settlement.^[3] As it appear to be the case in the other borders of the Inca Empire, the southern border was composed of several zones: first, an inner, fully incorporated zone withmitimaes protected by a line ofpukaras (fortresses) and then an outer zone with Inca pukaras scattered among allied tribes.^[4] This outer zone would according to historianJosé Bengoa have been located between the Maipo and Maule Rivers.^[4]

The largest indigenous population were theMapuches living south of the Inca borders in the area spanning from theItata River toChiloé Archipelago.^[5] The Mapuche population between the Itata River andReloncaví Sound has been estimated at 705,000–900,000 in the mid-16th century by historianJosé Bengoa.^{[6][note 1]} Mapuches lived in scatteredhamlets, mainly along the great rivers ofSouthern Chile.^[7][8] All major population centres lay at the confluences of rivers.^[9] Mapuches preferred to build their houses on hilly terrain or isolated hills rather than on plains andterraces.^[8] The Mapuche people represented an unbroken culture dating back to as early as 600 to 500 BC.^[10] Yet Mapuches had been influenced over centuries by Central Andean cultures such asTiwanaku.^[11][12] A cultural linkage of this sort may help explain parallels inmythological cosmologies among Mapuches,Huilliches and the peoples of the Central Andes.^[11][13][14]

Through their contact with Incan invaders Mapuches would have for the first time met people withstate-level organization. Their contact with the Inca is thought to have given them a collective awareness to distinguishing between them and the invaders and uniting them into loose geopolitical units despite their lack of state organization.^[15]

Mapuche territory had an effective system of roads before the Spanish arrival as evidenced by the fast advances of the Spanish conquerors.^[16] According to Zavala and co-workers (2021), the widespread gold-related toponyms in Mapuche lands and early Spanish reports of gold objects, plus the easiness for the Spanish to find gold mines suggests that goldmining did occur in Pre-Hispanic Chile south ofItata River, well beyond the borders of the Inca Empire.^[1]

The first Spanish subjects to enter the territory of what would become Chile were the members of theMagellan expedition that discovered theStraits of Magellan before completing the world's firstcircumnavigation.

The first permanent Spanish settler in Chile was Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos who had left Peru in disrepute after a quarrel with thePizarro brothers. The Pizarro brothers had accused Calvo de Barrientos of theft and had himcropped as punishment. Antón Cerrada joined Calvo de Barrientos in his exile.

Diego de Almagro ventured into present-day Bolivia and theArgentine Northwest in 1535. From there he crossed into Chile at the latitudes ofCopiapó. Almagro's expedition was a failure as he did not find the riches he expected. Almagro's failed expedition gave the lands of Chile a bad reputation among the Spanish in Peru.^[17]

In April 1539,Francisco Pizarro authorizedPedro de Valdivia as his lieutenant governor with orders to conquerChile. That did not include monetary aid, which he had to procure on his own. Valdivia did so, in association with the merchant Francisco Martínez Vegaso, captain Alonso de Monroy, and Pedro Sanchez de la Hoz. Sanchez was the longtime secretary to Pizarro, who had returned from Spain with authorization from theking to explore the territories south of theViceroyalty of Peru to theStrait of Magellan, also granting Valdivia the title of governor over lands taken from the indigenous people. This was the last campaign for the Spanish in Chile.

Valdivia came to the Valley ofCopiapo and took possession in the name of theKing of Spain and named itNueva Extremadura, for his Spanish homeland ofExtremadura. Arriving in central Chile, Pedro de Valdivia was confronted by the toquiMichimalonco, who a couple of years before had expelled theIncas from the northern parts of the Mapuche lands. The Spanish and Mapuche faced each other in the Battle of Mapocho, in which Valdivia was victorious. Michimalonco decided to make a tactical retreat to gather more contingents and to expel the Spanish invaders with a surprise attack, but the Spanish learnt of this accumulation of forces and decided to head for where the Mapuche were accumulating for their surprise attack and at the Battle of Chillox, Michimalonco was defeated again.

The resounding victory left Pedro de Valdivia confident. On February 12, 1541, he founded the city ofSantiago de la Nueva Extremadura onHuelen hill (present-day Santa Lucia Hill). After a few months of settlement, Pedro de Valdivia gathered his forces and went directly to attack the fortress of Michimalonco in Paidahuén, leading to the battle of Paidahuén where the Mapuches were completely defeated and Michimalonco taken prisoner. To obtain his freedom, Michimalonco offered the Spanish the ownership of theMarga Marga gold pans, belonging to Michimalonco since his expulsion of the Incas. With this, Michimalonco and his imprisoned men were released and Michimalonco set some of his vassals to work for the Spanish in their exploitation of the gold.

Valdivia had rejected the position and titles due him while Pizarro was alive, as it could have been seen as an act of treason. He accepted the titles after the death ofFrancisco Pizarro. Pedro de Valdivia was named Governor and Captain-General of theCaptaincy General of Chile on June 11, 1541. He was the first Governor of Chile.

For long time Valdivia was preoccupied about other Spanish conquistadors disputing him what he saw as his domains. As long as he did not have a royal assignment this could very much happen.^[17] TheStrait of Magellan was important in Valdivia's design for the Conquest of Chile, as perceived it was part of his Chilean albeit he never reached so far south.^[17]

Valdivia organized the first distribution ofencomiendas and of indigenous peoples among the Spanish immigrants in Santiago. The Chilean region was not as rich in minerals as Peru, so the indigenous peoples were forced to work on construction projects andplacer gold mining. After a time of exploitation of the gold, Trangolonco, Michimalonco's brother, revolted and defeat the Spaniards inMarga Marga and destroyed the Spanish settlement, then defeat the Spanish inConcón and burned a ship under construction that was in the Bay, only a Spaniard and a slave escaped from the place. Trangolonco addresses as ambassador to all the indigenous chiefs of theCachapoal,Maipo andMapocho valleys to send their contingents and join Michimalonco, so that, just as he did with the Incas, he expels the Spanish fromAraucanía. This action managed to gather around 16,000 warriors.

On September 11, 1541, Michimalonco attacked the Spanish and carried out theDestruction of Santiago, with only a handful of Spaniards barely surviving. Then Michimalonco applied the “empty war” which consisted of not giving the Spaniards any type of food or supplies so that they could go back toPeru. The Spanish barely resisted and there were a series of skirmishes between Spanish and Mapuche forces.

After a large number of confrontations between the hosts of Valdivia and those of Michimalonco, at the end of 1543 the Spanish managed to finish controlling the valleys of Cachapoal, Maipo andAconcagua with the conquest by Pedro de Valdivia of three forts that Michimalonco maintained in theAndean mountain range of the Aconcagua River, which causes the withdrawal of Michimalonco's forces towards the north.

In 1544 Michimalonco headed to theLimarí River valley to cut off land communications between Chile and Peru for the Spanish. Michimalonco becomes strong in this sector with its Mapuche contingent added to the contingent of itsDiaguita allies. After some victories against the Spanish advances, Pedro de Valdivia was forced to command his army himself and go to sustain the battle of Limarí, where the Mapuche-Diaguita hosts were defeated. Then Valdivia commanded Juan Bohon to found the city ofLa Serena in 1544 to guarantee that communications with Peru by land would not be interrupted again. TheJuan Bautista Pastene expedition ventured to unexplored southern Chile in 1544. Arriving at theBio-Bio River, started theArauco War with theMapuche people. The epic poemLa Araucana (1576) byAlonso de Ercilla describes the Spanish viewpoint.

The Spanish won several battles, such as the Andalien battle, and Penco battle in 1550. The victories allowed Valdiva to found cities on the Mapuche homelands, such asConcepcion in 1550, La Imperial,Valdivia, andVillarrica in 1552, and Los Confines in 1553.

According toPedro de Valdivia the Mapuche identified the Spanish as "ingas", meaningIncas, a word that stuck is now known under the formwingka meaning new-Inca.^[1] At the time of the initial contact Mapuches called horses "hueque ingas" in reference to thehueque according to Valdivia's letter to the Emperor.^[1]

In 1553, the Mapuches held a council at which they resolved to make war. They chose as their "toqui" (wartime chief) a strong man calledCaupolicán and as his vice toquiLautaro, because he had served as an auxiliary to the Spanish cavalry; he created the first Mapuche cavalry corps. With six thousand warriors under his command, Lautaro attacked the fort atTucapel. The Spanish garrison was unable to withstand the assault and retreated toPurén. Lautaro seized and burned the fort and prepared his army certain that the Spaniards would attempt to retakeTucapel. Valdivia mounted a counter-attack, but he was quickly surrounded. He and his army was massacred by the Mapuches in theBattle of Tucapel.^[18]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2019)

Mostconquistadores were Spanish men. A few where from elsewhere, likeJuan Valiente who was a black-skinned African.Juan de Bohon (Johann von Bohon), the founder ofLa Serena and Barlolomeo Flores (Barotholomeus Blumental) are said to have been Germans.^[19] NavigatorJuan Bautista Pastene was of Genoese origin.Inés Suárez stands out as a rare female conquistadora.

The conquest of Chile was not carried out directly by the Spanish Crown but by Spaniards that formed enterprises for those purposes and gathered financial resources and soldiers for the enterprise by their own.^[20] In 1541 an expedition (enterprise) led byPedro de Valdivia foundedSantiago initiating the conquest of Chile. The first years were harsh for the Spaniards mainly due to their poverty, indigenous rebellions, the poor battle terrain, and frequent conspiracies.^[21] The inhabitants of Santiago in the mid-16th century were notoriously poorly dressed as result of a lack of armour and food supplies, with some Spanish even resorting to dress withhides from dogs, cats,sea lions, andfoxes.^[22] The second founding ofLa Serena in 1549 (initially founded in 1544 but destroyed by natives) was followed by the founding of numerous new cities insouthern Chile halting only afterValdivia's death in 1553.^[21]

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was characterized by the establishments of cities in the middle of conquered territories. With the founding of each city a number ofconquistadores becamevecinos of that city being granted asolar and possibly also achacra in the outskirts of the city, or ahacienda orestancia in more far away parts of the countryside. Apart from land, natives were also distributed among Spaniards since they were considered vital for carrying out any economic activity.^[23]

The cities founded, despite defeats in the Arauco War, were:Santiago (1541),La Serena (1544),Concepción (1550),La Imperial,Valdivia,Villarrica (1552),Los Confines (1553),Cañete (1557),Osorno (1558),Arauco (1566),Castro (1567),Chillán (1580), andSanta Cruz de Oñez (1595).

Thedestruction of the Seven Cities in 1600, and ongoingArauco War stopped Spanish expansion southward.

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2019)

Spanish conquerors were accompanied by thousands ofyanakuna from the territories of today'sPeru,Bolivia andEcuador who also settled in Chile.^[24] Due to a matter of prestige, many yanakuna claimed to be from the former imperial capital ofCusco.^[25]

Early Spaniards extracted gold fromplacer deposits using indigenous labour.^[26] This contributed to usher in theArauco War as nativeMapuches lacked a tradition offorced labour like the Andeanmita and largely refused to serve the Spanish.^[27] The key area of the Arauco War were the valleys aroundCordillera de Nahuelbuta where the Spanish designs for this region was to exploit theplacer deposits of gold using unfree Mapuche labour from the nearby and densely populated valleys.^[16] Deaths related to mining contributed to a population decline among nativeMapuches.^[27] Another site of Spanish mining was the city ofVillarrica. At this city the Spanish mined gold placers and silver.^[28] The original site of the city was likely close to modernPucón.^[28] However at some point in the 16th century it is presumed the gold placers were buried bylahars flowing down from nearbyVillarrica Volcano. This prompted settlers to relocate the city further west at its modern location.^[28]

Mining activity declined in the late 16th century as the richest part of placer deposits, which are usually the most shallow, became exhausted.^[26] The decline was aggravated by thecollapse of the Spanish cities in the south following thebattle of Curalaba (1598) which meant for the Spaniards the loss of both the main gold districts and the largest indigenous labour sources.^[29]

Compared to the 16th and 18th centuries, Chilean mining activity in the 17th century was very limited.^[30]

Pedro de Valdivia sought originally to conquer all of southern South America to theStraits of Magellan (53° S). He did however only reachReloncaví Sound (41°45' S). Later in 1567Chiloé Archipelago (42°30' S) was conquered, from there on southern expansion of the Spanish Empire halted. The Spanish are thought to have lacked incentives for further conquests south. The indigenous populations were scarce and had ways of life that differed from the sedentary agricultural life the Spanish were accustomed to.^[31] The harsh climate in thefjords and channels of Patagonia may also have deterred further expansion.^[31] Indeed, even in Chiloé did the Spanish encounter difficulties to adapt as their attempts to base the economy ongold extraction and a "hispanic-mediterranean" agricultural model failed.^[32]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toConquista de Chile.

• Incas in Central Chile
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• Spanish conquest of Peru
• Viceroyalty of Peru

• Pedro de Valdivia,Cartas de Pedro de Valdivia (Letters of Pedro Valdivia), University of Chile: Diarios, Memorias y Relatos Testimoniales: (on line in Spanish)
• Jerónimo de Vivar,Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile (Chronicle and abundant and true relation of the kingdoms of Chile) ARTEHISTORIA REVISTA DIGITAL; Crónicas de América (on line in Spanish)
• Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo,Historia de Todas las Cosas que han Acaecido en el Reino de Chile y de los que lo han gobernado (1536-1575) (History of All the Things that Have happened in the Kingdom of Chile and of those that have governed it (1536-1575)), University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Cronicles (on line in Spanish)
• Pedro Mariño de Lobera,Crónica del Reino de Chile, escrita por el capitán Pedro Mariño de Lobera....reducido a nuevo método y estilo por el Padre Bartolomé de Escobar. Edición digital a partir de Crónicas del Reino de Chile Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 227-562, (Biblioteca de Autores Españoles; 569-575). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (on line in Spanish)
• Melchor Jufré del Águila;Compendio historial del Descubrimiento y Conquista del Reino de Chile (Historical compendium of the Discovery and Conquest of the Kingdom of Chile), University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Cronicles (on line in Spanish)
• Diego de Rosales,“Historia General del Reino de Chile”, Flandes Indiano, 3 tomos. Valparaíso 1877 - 1878.
  • [ Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano Vol. 1]
  • Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano Vol. 2^{[permanent dead link]}
  • [ Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano Vol. 3]
• Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche,Descripcion Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile (Description Historical Geography of the Kingdom of Chile), University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Chronicles (on line in Spanish)

• Mapuche
• Spanish conquests in the Americas
• Rebellions against the Spanish Empire
• Wars involving Spain
• 16th century in the Captaincy General of Chile
• Viceroyalty of Peru

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles to be expanded from August 2019
• All articles to be expanded
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from November 2016
• Articles with permanently dead external links