Conquest of Chile

The Conquest of Chile is a period in Chilean historiography that starts with the arrival of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile in 1541 and ends with the death of Martín García Óñez de Loyola in the Battle of Curalaba in 1598, and the subsequent destruction of the Seven Cities in 1598–1604 in the Araucanía region.

This was the period of Spanish conquest of territories, founding of cities, establishment of the Captaincy 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 the Arauco War, and the Spanish were never able to reassert control in Araucanía south of the Bío Bío River.

Spanish conquerors entering Chile were acompanied by thousands of yanakuna from the already subdued territories of the Inca Empire as well by a few African 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, in Santiago, lack of clothes made some Spanish to dress with hides from dogs, cats, sea lions, and foxes.