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Chile History
 Indigenous Peoples See section under San Pedro History for information on the indigenous people of the San Pedro de Atacama region. Tiwanaku Culture In the Lake Titikaka region, the Tiwanaku Culture is recognised as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power for approximately 500 years. This influence extended into northern Chile and notably the region of San Pedro de Atacama. See San Pedro History section for more information on the influence of the Tiwanaku Culture in northern Chile. The Inca EmpireThe Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century. From 1438 to 1533 the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centred on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern day Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia. The administrative, political and military centre of the Inca Empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects were spoken. The Quechua name for the empire was Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as 'The Four Regions' or 'The Four United Regions'. There were many forms of worship, most of them concerning local sacred huacas (or wak'a), Quechua for a revered object, typically a natural monument or place of special significace. The Inca incorporated the traditions and beliefs of local cultures, but they encouraged the worship of Inti, their sun god, and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Inca identified their own king as the 'child of the sun'. Recent research has revealed that a period of warmer weather between 1100 and 1533 opened up larger areas of land on mountainsides to be cultivated, helping the Incas to spread their influence. With the tree line moving steadily higher up the mountain-sides, the Incas carved terraces into the mountainside to grow potatoes and maize, and developed canal systems to irrigate the land. The climate remained dry but melting glacial ice provided a constant supply of water, resulting in a surplus of crops to feed the population. The men freed up from agricultural duties were then able to focus on other activities, among them constructing roads and buildings such as the Incas' 3,250 mile Royal Road through the highlands, the 2,520 mile Coastal Road and Machu Picchu, the 'Lost City of the Incas'. They formalised the network of early trading routes into roads, the Inca Trail, with tambos or rest houses along route, on either side of the Andes and extending as far south as Santiago, mainly for trading purposes. Later, the Spanish would utilise these roads to invade the region. When the first Spanish arrived the Inca were in control of the northern and part of north-central Chile. In a six-year campaign with an army that eventually rose to 50,000 men, the Inca had subdued the regions of northern Chile, Copiapo, Coquimbo, Aconcagua and the Maipo Valley - around where is now Santiago. The Mapuche had successfully resisted many attempts by the Inca Empire to subjugate them, despite their lack of state organization, and the confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule ended the southern conquest of the territories of Chile by the Inca at the Maule river. The First Europeans In 1520, while attempting to circumnavigate the earth, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered the southern passage now named after him, the Strait of Magellan and sailed north along Chile's coast. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, who came from Peru in 1535 seeking gold. Diego de Almagro had been a close associate of Francisco Pizarro in their conquest of Peru and the defeat of the Incas, and together had taken the strategic city of Cusco in 1533. Devastated by deadly European diseases such as smallpox, which arrived from Central America, and to which they had no immunity, and also disrupted by an internal succession conflict between two brother, the Incas were eventually conquered by an army of only 180 men led by Pizarro in 1532. After this Almagro put together a force of 500 men, with the aim of claiming further lands to the South. He also recruited 100 African slaves and some 10,000 Yanacona Indians to transport weapons, clothing, and supplies. They travelled through modern-day Bolivia, via Lake Titicaca, using the eastern Inca trail, eventually crossing west over the Andes Cordillera to arrive in the Valley of Copiapó where Almagro took official possession of Chile and claimed it in the name of the King of Spain. The journey was hard and difficult, suffering many casualties. Almagro's search for gold and riches in Chile failed, and whilst Almagro dispatched some 100 horsemen and 100 foot soldiers to continue the exploration South, they were defeated in the Battle of Reinohuelén by Mapuche Indians who forced them to turn back north. Almagro determined to return north to Cusco through the Atacama Desert, authorizing his soldiers to ransack property, and enslave local Indians as they travelled, eventually reaching Cusco in 1536. The Founding of Santiago The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarro's lieutenants, who had consolidated his control over Cusco with the execution of Almagro in 1538. Valdivia resolved to avoid the hazardous route over the Andes, which had proved nearly fatal to Almagro's army, and set out resolutely south through the Atacama Desert, eleven months later, Valdivia and his expedition reached the Mapocho valley and river, where he founded the city of Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura on February 12, 1541. The Spanish encountered hundreds of thousands of Native Americans from various cultures in the area that modern Chile now occupies, most notably the Araucanian Indians or Mapuche. After arriving in Chile, Valdivia and his men initial tried to restore the relationship between the native Indians which had been greatly harmed by Almagro in his frustration. However soon relationships deteriorated and Valdivia had to defend himself against attempts to repel the Spanish invaders. After Francisco Pizarro's murder in 1541, Valdivia appointed himself governor of the new territory and removed Chile from Peruvian control. Later the same year, local Indians led by Michimalonco attacked the city of Santiago, whilst Valdivia was exploring the south. The Spaniards, desperate and with little option than to fight to the death, were only just able to withhold the attack until Valdivia and his troops returned to relieve the capital. In the attack Santiago was virtually raised to the ground. Eventually, to secure additional aid and confirm his claims to the conquered territory, Valdivia returned in 1547 to Peru, leaving Francisco de Villagra as governor in his stead. Eventually Valdivia won recognition for his services and received royal assent to his coveted title of Governor of Chile, and returned to the settlement in 1549 with his position and prestige considerably strengthened. Mapuche Resistance Between 1549 and 1553, conquest of the land that is today called Chile took place only gradually, and the Europeans suffered repeated setbacks at the hands of the local populations. In spite of the fierce resistance at the Battle of Penco, he founded Concepción del Nuevo Extremo in 1550, and later the more southern towns of Valdivia and Villarrica in 1551 and 1552. After a brief return to Santiago, Valdivia returned to the south again in late 1552. To support the connection between Concepción and the southern settlements, Valdivia had established a number of forts, including Tucapel and Pur?n. In December 1553, Mapuche forces, under the command of Lautaro attacked and destroyed the fort of Tucapel, using the battle tactics he had learned from the Spanish. Valdivia was at the time in Concepciión and quickly left with only 50 soldiers, sending a message to Pur?n fort to send reinforcements. The message, however, was intercepted by Lautaro's men. On Christmas Day, 1553, Valdivia and his men were ambushed by the Mapuche forces in the Battle of Tucapel. Valdivia, seeing that the fight was lost, ordered the retreat, but Lautaro himself came around the flank, felling every one of the fleeing Spaniards - only Valdivia and a cleric survived to be captured. Valdivia was killed by his capturers, as well as the cleric, leaving no survivors account. As a result there are many versions of his death from contemporary chroniclers, and stories that have grown with time, but no first hand records. Under Spanish colonial rule, northern and central Chile were originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, until Valdivia claimed himself as governor in 1541, a position he consolidated in 1549 with royal accent. However the south remained largely under the control of the Mapuche and subsequent major insurrections took place in 1598 and 1655, and continued into the nineteenth century, the Bio-Bío River one of the main geographical boundaries which the Mapuche used as a natural barrier to Spanish and later, Chilean incursion. Chilean Independence Chilean independence was first declared in 1810. At that time, central Chile was too a large extent controlled by a small, upper class of Creoles (locally born Europeans), most of them who managed large estates. A period of internal instability and strife followed, which resulted in the restoration of Spanish rule in 1814. Combined Argentinean and Chilean forces under Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins, who crossed the Andes from Argentina, managed to defeat and drive out the Spanish army and restore Chile's independence (1818). O'Higgins became Chile's first president, and strong presidency emerged, but wealthy landowners remained extremely powerful. The War of the Pacific (also known as the 'Saltpeter War') arose from disputes over the economic and industrial control of territory that contained substantial mineral-rich deposits, against the joint forces of Peru and Bolivia (1879-83). It ultimately led to the Chilean annexation of Peruvian and Bolivian territory, eliminating Bolivia's access to the Pacific and leaving it as a landlocked country. Chile acquired valuable nitrate deposits, the exploitation of which led to an era of national affluence. In 1881, Chile had signed a treaty with Argentina confirming Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan but Chile waived most of its claim over the Patagonia. This, and Naval superiority, effectively kept Argentina out of the war. As a result of its preparation for and its victory in the War of the Pacific, found itself with a large standing army and a relatively modern arsenal for the period. Toward the end of the 19th century, the government in Santiago consolidated its position in the south by ruthlessly suppressing the Mapuche during the Occupation of Araucana and in the course of the so-called 'pacification of the Araucana'.
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