Alonso de Sotomayor, Governor of Chile

Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano (Trujillo, Spain), 1545–1610) was a Spanish conquistador from Extremadura, and a Royal Governor of Chile. Trujillo is a town in Spain, in the Extremadura region. ... Conquistador (Spanish: []) (meaning Conqueror in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers and adventurers who brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, starting with the 1492 settlement established in the modern-day Bahamas... Capital Mérida Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 5th  41 634 km²  8,2% Population  â€“ Total (2005)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 12th  1 083 879  2,5%  26,03/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  â€”  extremeño/a, castúo Statute of Autonomy February 26, 1983 ISO 3166-2 EX Parliamentary representation... The Royal Governor of Chile ruled over the Spanish colonial administrative district known as the Reino de Chile. ...

Early life

He was the son of Gutiérrez de Sotomayor e Hinojosa and Beatriz de Valmediano, and at the age of 15 he joined the army, serving first in Italy until 1567, and then moving to Flanders. Flanders (Dutch: ) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; generally called the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians; the constituent governing institution...

In 1580 he was called back to Madrid by his official duties. The King Philip II, seeing his military efficiency, awarded him a knighthood in the Order of Santiago, and sent him on a campaign against Portugal. However, at that time news arrived from Chile, where the Arauco War continued and reinforcements were needed. The king subsequently decided to name Sotomayor governor of the district and send him there with a large contingent of soldiers to resolve the situation. Motto: De Madrid al Cielo (From Madrid to Heaven) Location Coordinates: Country Spain Autonomous Community Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid Province Madrid Administrative Divisions 21 Neighborhoods 127 Founded 9th century Government  - Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (PP) Area  - Land 607 km² (234. ... Philip II (Spanish: Felipe II de Habsburgo; Portuguese: Filipe I) (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598) was the first official King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until 1598, King of England (as King-consort of Mary I) from 1554 to 1558, King... 17th century interpretation of saint James as the Moor-killer from the Peruvian school of Cuzco. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Governor of Chile

Sotomayor arrived in Chile in 1583 and found himself required to play the role of judge, hearing innumberable accusations against the previous governor Martín Ruiz de Gamboa. This previous administrator had become extremely unpopular for a tax regime which prohibited the payment of taxes by the Indians in the form of labor.

Sotomayor had to detain Gamboa in the government house of Santiago, from which he was released only after providing a bond. However, Sotomayor later absolved Gamboa and freed him entirely. Location of Santiago commune in Greater Santiago Coordinates: Region Santiago Metropolitan Region Province Santiago Province Foundation February 12, 1541 Government  - Mayor Raúl Alcaíno Lihn Area 1  - City 641. ...

With these antecedents, Sotomayor's first decision was reestablishing the old system of labor levies, abolishing the Tax of Gamboa and reinstituting the Tax of Santillán, albeit with provisions to humanize the old system, with the goal of avoiding the excesses of the encomenderos against the Indians.

The Arauco war

Sotomayor wanted to extend the conquest of Chile in the style of Pedro de Valdivia, which is to say, by building a series of forts which would protect each other and the cities. However, carrying out this project required a professional army, and requests for such were turned down by the Spanish authorities, due to the general scarcity of resources in the area and of the Crown. Pedro de Valdivia Pedro de Valdivia (c. ...

Instead he launched a number of campaigns against the resisting Mapuche Indians. He succeeded in capturing the mestizo Alonso Díaz, who had been a resistance leader for many years. Sotomayor sent his brother Luis to fight a campaign in the area around Valdivia, and succeeded in defeating the Mapuches in a surprise attack at Angol on January 16, 1585. Mapuche (Mapudungun; Che, People + Mapu, of the Land) are the original Amerindian inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. ... Nickname: Motto: Muy Noble y Muy Leal (Very Noble and Very Loyal) Location of the Commune of Valdivia Coordinates: Country Chile Region Los Lagos Province Valdivia Founded as Santa María la Blaca de Valdivia Founded 9 February 1552 Government  - Mayor Bernardo Berger Fett Area  - City 1,016 km²  (392. ... Angol is a municpality of Chile, in the province of Malleco, in Araucanía, Chiles ninth administrative district. ... January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1585 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. ...

Gamboa, Bravo de Saravia y Sotomayor

In that same year Sotomayor put in action his plan with the few men that he had. He ordered the construction of a fort on each side of the Bio Bio River at a place called Millapoa, with the goal of cutting communications between the Mapuches and the Indians of the north. He raised another fort at Purén, where he also placed a small detachment. He hoped to quickly establish towns in each of these places, persuaded that this was the best method of reducing the tribes and which would attract enough people to bring reinforcements to Chile for the definitive conquest. Purén is a small Chilean town (13. ...

However, his actions did not really weaken the Mapuches. The capture of Diaz didn't change the situation, and the establishment of the forts did not have any of their intended conseqences. Instead, the Aracanians were every day better aqainted with the Spanish horses and weapons. The arquebus was their only problem, as they did not know how to use it and in any case did not have any gunpowder. Japanese arquebus of the Edo era (teppo) The arquebus (sometimes spelled harquebus, harkbus[1] or hackbut; possibly related to German Hakenbuechse or Dutch Haakbus) was a primitive firearm used in the 15th to 17th centuries. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Blackpowder. ...

Problems of the government

Amidst these problems with the insurgency, Sotomayor also had to confront the attacks of English pirates, most notably Thomas Cavendish, who anchored in Quintero on April 9, 1587. There he was defeated by the Spanish, losing 10 men. Additionally, he had to deal with revolts by soldiers in the south, motivated by the poverty that they suffered on account of not being paid in either gold or encomienda rights. Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the Queen (King) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2007 estimate... Thomas Cavendish (1555-1592) was born in Trimley St. ... The Quintero y Hermanos logo Quintero is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced from Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis SA. // History The... April 9 is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1587 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... The encomienda system was a trusteeship labor system used during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. ...

Alarmed by the situation and by the lack of reinforcements, Sotomayor went to Peru on July 30, 1592 to petition the viceroy there for more men. He left the old and circumspect lawyer Pedro de Viscarra, who had arrived from Spain two years earlier with the title of lieutenant governor of Chile. July 30 is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1592 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Governor of Panama and return to Spain

In August, Sotomayor disembarked in Callao, where he learned that the king had named a new governor of Chile, Martín García Óñez de Loyola. He returned to Chile to testify about and defend his actions, a tribunal from which he emerged triumphant. He then headed towards Spain, but was detained on the road by the Viceroy of Peru, who asked him to take charge of the province of Panama, then menaced by English invasion. Callao (Spanish: El Callao) is the largest and most important port in Peru. ... Martin Garcia Oñez de Loyola, gobernador de Chile Don Martín García Óñez de Loyola (b. ... Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru (in Spanish, Virreinato del Perú) contained most of Spanish-ruled South America until the creation of the separate viceroyalties of New Granada (now Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá and Venezuela, the last-named previously in the Viceroyalty of New Spain) in 1717 and Río...

Upon his return to Spain he was again named governor of Chile in 1604. However, due to his bitter frustrations there he declined the post. He joined the Council of the Indies and in 1609 and was charged with the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain. The Consejo de Indias (Council of the Indies), in full the Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias (Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies) was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire, both in administering the Americas and in the Philippines, combining legislative, executive and judicial functions. ... Morisco (Spanish Moor-like) or mourisco (Portuguese) is a term referring to a kind of New Christian in Spain and Portugal. ...