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 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. However the continued attack never improved, thus the Arauco War continued, and the Spanish were never able to recover their short control in Araucanía south of the Bío Bío River. The Battle of Guadalgo in 1566 was a huge blow to Spanish morale. Mapuche history and Incas in Central Chile According to traditional historiography, the Spanish first came to Central Chile the territory had been under Inca rule for about than 60 years. There are however dissenting views, recent works suggest at least 130 years of Inca presence in Central Chile, and historian Osvaldo Silva posits remarkably short chronologies of direct Inca rule and military involvement. According to Silva the last Inca push towards the south were made as late as in the 1530s. The main settlements of the Inca Empire in Chile lay along the Aconcagua River, Mapocho River, and the Maipo River. Quillota in Aconcagua Valley was likely their foremost settlement. 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 with mitimaes protected by a line of pukaras (fortresses) and then an outer zone with Inca pukaras scattered among allied tribes. This outer zone would according to historian José Bengoa have been located between the Maipo and Maule Rivers. However the largest indigenous population were the Mapuches living south of the Inca borders in the area spanning from the Itata River to Chiloé Archipelago.