Alonso de Sotomayor
Alonso de Sotomayor | |
---|---|
Royal Governor of Chile | |
In office 1583–1592 | |
Monarch | King Philip II |
Preceded by | Martín Ruiz de Gamboa |
Succeeded by | Pedro de Viscarra |
Royal Governor of Panama | |
In office 1596–1602 | |
Monarch | King Philip II |
Preceded by | Juan del Barrio |
Succeeded by | Hernando de Añazco |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1545 Trujillo, Spain |
Died | 1610 (aged 64–65) Spain |
Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈlonso ðe sotomaˈʝoɾ]; 1545–1610) was a Spanish conquistador from Extremadura, and a Royal Governor of Chile.
Early life
He was born in
In 1580 he was called back to Madrid by his official duties. King Philip II, seeing his military record, 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.
Governor of Chile
Sotomayor arrived in Chile in 1583 and found himself required to play the role of judge, hearing innumerable accusations against the previous governor
With these antecedents, Sotomayor's first decision was reestablishing the old system of labor levies, abolishing the Tasa de Gamboa and reinstituting the previous Tasa de 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.
Sotomayor also put in action his plan of fortifications with the few men that he had. In 1584, he founded the fort of
The Mapuche Toquis
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 consequences. 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 source of gunpowder.
Problems of the government
Amidst these problems with the insurgency, Sotomayor also had to confront the attacks of
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.
Governor of Panama
In August, Sotomayor disembarked in
Later life
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.
Additional information
Sources
- Pedro Mariño de Lobera. Crónica del Reino de Chile, escrita por el capitán Pedro Mariño de Lobera... reducido a nuevo método y estilo por el Padre Bartolomé de Escobar (1593) (Chronicle of the Kingdom of Chile, written by captain Pedro Mariño de Lobera... summarized to a new method and style by Fr. Bartolomé de Escobar). Crónicas del Reino de Chile, Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 227–562; Biblioteca de Autores Españoles; pp. 569–575; online edition (in Spanish)
- Diego de Rosales, Historia general de el Reyno de Chile, el Flandes Indiano (General History of the Kingdom of Chile, the Indian Flanders). Valparaíso, 1877–1878, 3 Vols.
- Felipe Gomez De Vidaurre, HISTORIA GEOGRÁFICA, NATURAL Y CIVIL DEL REINO DE CHILE, TOMO II, CON UNA INTRODUCCIÓN BIOGRÁFICA Y NOTAS POR J. T. MEDINA, Coleccíon de historiadores de Chile, Tomo XV, SANTIAGO DE CHILE, IMPRENTA ERCILLA, 1889 Google Books, Digitized August 4, 2005 (History of Chile 1535-1764)
- Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche. Descripcion Histórica y Geografía del Reino de Chile (1542-1788) (Historical Description and Geography of the Kingdom of Chile). E Libros from Memoria Chilena, Santiago, 1876; online edition (in Spanish)