Alonso García de Ramón

Alonso García de Ramón (c. 1552 – August 5, 1610) was a Spanish soldier and twice Royal Governor of Chile: first temporarily from July 1600 to February 1601, and then from March 1605 to August 1610. He was born in Cuenca, Spain in 1552.

Early life

He served from the age of 16 in the

Alvaro de Bazan, Marquess of Santa Cruz in the Battle of Querquenes at the Kerkennah Islands

.

He next went to Flanders as a sergeant under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. He was in the assault of the city of Zichem, the attack of Borgerhout and the siege and assault of Maestricht where he was one of the first that mounted the walls; twice wounded taking two flags, for which he was awarded twelve ducados by the Duke.

Military service in Chile and Peru

He returned to Spain and then went to

Luis de Velasco

.

First Governorship of Chile

García de Ramón was sent to relieve Francisco de Quiñónez as interim governor arriving in Chile on July 29, 1600. He arrived in Santiago the next day and was installed as governor. He soon discovered things were worse in southern Chile than he had known in Peru, La Imperial had been lost in April. Without reinforcements from Peru he was forced to extract men, arms and supplies from the cities of Chile by means of imposing extraordinary contributions, special taxes, and confiscating cattle, horses, saddles and arms that allowed him quickly form a well equipped army of 400 men by December 1600.

By early January, his army had marched to

Biobio River) when he had word that Arauco was now under siege and required relief. He had turned back to go to its aid when he was informed that Alonso de Ribera

had arrived to assume the governorship in February 1601.

Second Governorship of Chile

Appointed in 1605 to replace Alonso de Ribera as Governor of Chile, he used the base of

forts

established by his predecessor as bases for his campaigns against the Mapuche.

In 1606, the Spanish forces of Garcia Ramon fought the Mapuche army under the caciques

Pelantaru and Longoñongo in the Battle of Boroa. Approximately 500 Spaniards, defeated 6,000 Mapuches. García de Ramón then built Fort San Ignacio de la Redención

near Boroa but it was soon abandoned after the ambush of most of its garrison.

In 1607, García de Ramón rebuilt Fort Purén and San Jerónimo de Millapoa in Catirai but as a result of the Parliament of Catirai he soon dismantled the later.

References

Sources

Government offices
Preceded by Francisco de Quiñónez	Royal Governor of Chile 1600–1601	Succeeded by Alonso de Ribera
Preceded by Alonso de Ribera	Royal Governor of Chile 1605–1610	Succeeded by Luis Merlo de la Fuente

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Spain