Home > Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro de Valdivia (c. 1500 - January 1, 1554) was a conquistador of Chile. He was the founder of various cities within the territory, including Santiago, Concepcion, and Valdivia.1 Early years
Pedro de Valdivia is believed to have been born in Badajoz, Spain
in 1500 (some sources put his date of birth as early as 1497) from
a family of nobles. In 1520 he enlisted with the army of Charles V and fought in Flanders in 1521 and Italy between 1522 and 1525Events January 21 The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zurich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-sta. He married Marina Ortiz de Gaete . In 1535Events January 18 Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro June 24 The Anabaptist state of Munster is conquered and disbanded. May 19 French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for his second voyage to North America with 3 ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacon he left her to embark for a voyage to VenezuelaThe Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela") is a country in northern South America. 1 It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Guyana to the east, Brazil to.
In 1537Events January 6 Alessandro de Medici assassinated August 25 The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, was formed. Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical Sublimis Deus, which declares he went to PeruFor other uses, see Peru (disambiguation The Republic of Per ( Spanish: Per Quechua, Aymara: Piruw is a country in western South America, bordering with Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chil to help Francisco PizarroFrancisco Pizarro (circa 1475 June 26, 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Inca Empire and founder of the city of Lima. Pizarro was born in Trujillo, Extremadura, Spain. He was an illegitimate son of Gonzalo Pizarro, who as colonel of infan in the
struggle against Diego de AlmagroDiego de Almagro ( 1475 July 8, 1538), El Adelantado was a Spanish conquistador and a companion and rival of Francisco Pizarro. He was born at Aldea del Rey in Spain. According to another account, he was a foundling in the village from which he derived hi and won. Afterwards he went with
Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro to conquer both the provinces of Collao and las Charcas in High Peru (currently BoliviaThe Republic of Bolivia is a landlocked country in western South America. It is bordered by Brazil in the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina in the south, and Chile and Peru in the west. History Main article: History of Bolivia Bolivia has long been i). As compensation for conquering these lands, Valdivia was
awarded a silver mine.
2 The expedition
After the failure of the expedition of Diego de Almagro, Valdivia asked the governor of Peru permission to complete the conquest of the lands south of Peru (known as Nuevo Toledo). He got the permission and was named lieutenant of the Governor, and not Governor as he wanted.
The expedition was fraught with problems from the beginning. Valdivia
had to sell the lands that where assigned to him to finance the expedition. A shortage of solders and adventurers was also problematic since they were not interested in conquering what they were sure were extremely poor lands.
The expedition left Cuzco in January of 1540 with almost a thousand native Indians and only a few Spanish. En route more Spanish joined the expedition. These conquistadores had formed part of the failed campaigns to the highlands of Bolivia. All in all around 150 Spanish joined the expedition of Valdivia.
He followed the desert route of Atacama, the same route that Almagro had
followed back to Peru. When they arrived at the valley of Copiapo Valdivia took possession of the land in the name of the king. Soon thereafter they continued south and in December of the same year they arrived in the valley of the Mapocho River, where they finally decided to establish a permanent settlement.
