Diego Almagro
Diego de Almagro (Malagón or Almagro, 1475-Cuzco, July 8, 1538) was a Spanish conquistador. He participated in the conquest of Peru and is officially considered the first Spaniard to arrive in Chile; he was also the first European to reach the current territory of Bolivia.
He was born in the city of Almagro, in the current province of Ciudad Real, although Agustín de Zárate recounts in his History of the discovery and conquest of Peru that he was born in the town of Malagón, illegitimate son of Juan de Montenegro and Elvira Gutiérrez. Both parents had given each other a promise of marriage, but they ended their courtship without making this commitment. By the time they broke up, Elvira was pregnant by Diego, which is why her relatives hid her until her child was born, who saw the light in 1475.
He founded San Pedro de Riobamba, the first Spanish city in Ecuador; In addition, he ordered Captain Francisco Pacheco to found and populate Portoviejo in the vicinity of the coast. History considers him the first rebellious Spanish conquistador of Peru.
Biography of Diego de Almagro
Family origin and early years
The origins of Diego de Almagro remain obscure. He was born in 1475 in the La Mancha town of Almagro or in Malagón, in what is now the province of Ciudad Real, the place from which he took his last name because he was the illegitimate son of Juan de Montenegro and Elvira Gutiérrez. To save the honor of his mother, his relatives took the child from him and moved him to the nearby town of Bolaños de Calatrava, where he was raised in this town and in Aldea del Rey, under the care of Sancha López del Peral.
When he was 4 years old, he returned to Almagro, being under the guardianship of an uncle of his named Hernán Gutiérrez until he was 15, when due to his uncle's harshness he ran away from home. He went to her mother's home, who now lived with her new husband, to notify her of what had happened and that she would go around the world, asking her for some bread to help her live in the misery of she. His mother, distraught, looked for him a piece of bread and some coins and told him: "Here, son, and don't give me any more pressure, and go, and help yourself from God in your adventure".
He went to Seville and, after probably stealing to survive, the young man became a servant of Don Luis de Polanco, one of the four mayors of the Catholic Monarchs and later his adviser, and who was mayor of that city. While carrying out this occupation, Almagro stabbed another servant for certain differences, leaving him with injuries so serious that they led to a lawsuit being filed against him.
Being wanted by the courts, Don Luis de Polanco, making use of his influence, got Pedro Arias de Ávila to allow him to embark as a colonist on one of the ships that would leave for the Indies from the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda. The Casa de Contratación required that the men who crossed to the Indies bring their own weapons, clothing, and farm implements, which Don Polanco provided to his servant.
Diego de Almagro was a man of medium height and not very favored in physical appearance, since he was affected by acne and smallpox while he was in Spain.
Arrival in Spanish America
Almagro arrived in the New World on June 30, 1514 in the expedition that Fernando II of Aragon sent under Pedro Arias de Ávila. The expedition landed in the city of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, where many other future conquerors were found, including Francisco Pizarro.
About Almagro do not have many news in this period, but it is known that he accompanied several captains who left Santa María la Antigua del Darién between 1514 and mid -1515, although it remained mainly in the city., building a house and dedicating themselves to agriculture.
He developed his first conquering action on November 30, 1515, when he left Darién in command of 260 men, to found the Villa de Acla, located in the place of the same name, but he had to give up his company because he fell ill And he had to return to Darién, leaving the mission of completing his plan to Mr. Gaspar de Espinosa.
Almagro worked for some time with Vasco Núñez de Balboa, at that time in charge of ACLA, which with the materials of the Espinoza expedition wanted to build a ship, cut it and rebuild it in the South Sea (Pacific). However, according to the data obtained, there are no indications that he participated in the Balboa expedition and it is more likely to return to Darién.
Espinosa decided to make a new expedition, starting in December with 200 men, among whom was an already recovered Almagro, and Francisco Pizarro, who for the first time had the title of Captain. In this expedition, which lasted 14 months, he met Father Hernando de Luque whom he already knew. Although the famous society between the three was not yet realized, confidence and friendship were already demonstrated. He took part in the incursions, foundations and conquests developed in the Gulf of Panama, participating again in one of the Espinosa expeditions, which was transported in two Balboa ships.
AlmagroIn this expedition, it is only known that it served as a witness in lists, which in each event related to indigenous people, made Espinosa lift. He remained in the newly founded Santa María La Antiguo City of Darién, helping to populate her. For four years he did not participate in new expeditions, occupying his time in the administration of his property and those of Pizarro.
His son Diego de Almagro El Mozo was born at this time, who had an Indian from the region called Ana Martínez.
In that place he had news of a kingdom located in the south, called Birú , which was the center of the Inca Empire. Francisco Pizarro proposed the recognition of these lands and the conquest of their wealth. Its first two expeditions in this area, made between the years 1524-1525 and 1526-1528, revealed the surprising wealth of the Inca Empire in the newly discovered lands.
In 1529, after the signing of the capitulation of Toledo, the Spanish crown authorized Pizarro the conquest and governorate of Peru, which went on a new Castilla. Gathered Almagro and Pizarro in 1532, the conquest of the territory of the Incas began from Cajamarca and, after executing the Sovereign Atahualpa, they left for Cuzco. Occupied this city in 1533, Almagro marched to take possession of the Peruvian coast and founded the city of Trujillo, overcoming through negotiation the aspirations of the conqueror Pedro de Alvarado.
Conquest of Peru and titles to govern south of Titicaca
At that time, society was formalized between Almagro, Pizarro and Luque, receiving in early August 1524 the expected permit to discover and conquer on account of it the lands located in the Levante of Panama, a company that culminated with the conquest of the conquest of the Inca empire by Pizarro.
Almagro remained in Panama to recruit men and get over, while Pizarro continued the expedition. Pizarro's successes moved to request the real permission to undertake, on their own, the conquest of new territories; Although he was denied, he cracked friendly relations with the Pizarro. However, when he arrived in Peru in 1533, Pizarro, with just over 160 men, had captured Atahualpa, the absolute ruler of the country, in Cajamarca, and was negotiating a fabulous rescue. Almagro, who had more than 200 men with him, hastened to join his teammates and, on April 13, 1533, he met with his former partner.
The redemption of the Inca belonged only to the men of Pizarro, but the Inca Empire reserved many other treasures and Almagro actively participated in its conquest. His presence was decisive on more than one occasion, from the march to Cuzco to the capture of the capital and, at each juncture, the bold captain demonstrated his skills as a reckless fighter. Even when facing the arrival of other Spanish competitors, the advanced took over the task. From Cuzco he ran to Quito to face the armies of Pedro de Alvarado that he wanted to conquer the north of Peru on his own and, on the occasion, he knew how to develop a delicate diplomatic function that avoided a fratricidal struggle.
In 1534, through the capitulations of May 21 of that year, King Carlos I of Spain rewarded him with the Government of Nueva Toledo, a governance that he included from the limit of the Governorate of Pizarro and 200 leagues to the south, and the title of " advanced in the lands beyond Lake Titicaca ", in the territories of the current Chile. Hernando Pizarro, the governor's brother who had gone to Spain with gold belonging to the crown, managed, however, expand Francisco's power for other seventy leagues to the south and this variation questioned the possession of the capital of the Incas of the Incas.
The dispute became increasingly heated and the two former partners, each supported by their own supporters, ran the risk of colliding several times, until, stimulated by some influential and respectable characters, they reached an agreement. Almagro would have gone to the southern regions, in which there were supposed to be asks as rich as that of Peru, and in the meantime the crown determinations would have been expected.
Conquest of Chile
Preparations
Almagro began preparations for his expedition to Chile with good auspices. News reached him from the Incas that the region south of Cuzco was littered with gold, so he easily raised 500 Spaniards for the expedition, many of whom had accompanied him to Peru. There were also about 100 blacks and about 10,000 Yanacona Indians on the expedition to transport weapons, clothes, food, etc.
The news that reached them from Chile was completely false, because the Incas were planning a rebellion against their rulers and they wanted that large group of Spaniards to get away from Peru. To convince them, Almagro asked Manco Inca to prepare the way for them along with three Spanish soldiers, the Inca gave them the Willac Umu, Vila Oma, his own brother named Paullu Inca, and his own company.
Almagro ordered Juan de Saavedra to go forward with a column of one hundred soldiers so that, at a distance of about one hundred and thirty leagues, he would found a town and wait for him with the food and relief Indians he could gather in those regions.
On the Inca Trail
Almagro left Cuzco on July 3, 1535 with 50 men and stopped in Molina until 20 of that month, arrested for the unexpected arrest of the Inca Manco Inca by Juan Pizarro, an action that brought him problems. Leaving Molina, Almagro headed for the Qhapaq Ñan, with the 50 men that his column consisted.
They toured the western area of Lake Titicaca, crossed the Desaguadero River and met Saavedra in a town called Paria, in which he managed to gather 50 more Spaniards, who belonged to the group of Captain Gabriel de Rojas, and who decided to abandon His boss and go to Chile, a total of 150 men gathered. They remained close to Lake Aullagas all of August, waiting for the melting of the snow of the Andes mountain range.
After this setback, they went to Tupiza, where they met Paullu Inca and Vila Oma, who had gathered gold from the taxes of the region, and with the three Spaniards who accompanied them. These three Spaniards had dedicated themselves while waiting for Almagro to Pillage and assaulted a caravan that supposedly came from Chile with Gold, which was shown to Almagro. This renewed the varying of the expeditionaries making them forget the conditions of the march.
Here Almagro made a new two -month break on the expedition, waiting for the troops to come. However, he worried new news; The Bishop of Panama, Fray Tomás de Berlanga, who brought powers to settle the conflict of boundaries between the conquerors, had arrived at Peru. Almagro's friends asked him to return to defend his cause better, but the advance wanted to go for Chilean wealth, so he went ahead. Another setback appeared when Vila Oma escaped from the expedition with all the bearers and returned to the north.
But Almagro and his men continued, since they still had Paullu Inca. The Spaniards had to take carriers by force to transport the supplies, this caused more than one conflict with the natives. Almagro guided by Prince Inca followed the Qhapaq Ñan until they reached the Shincal.
THE CROSSING OF THE ANDES
Almagro began overwhelming the Andes mountain range following the Inca path from Shincal, an Inca tambo near the current town of London (Argentina). The Spanish Spaniards, thousands of Yanaconas and men of color that added in total about 12,500 men began to transmote the first heights of the Andes mountain range in the direction of the Paso Comecaballos and then to the Portezuelo polishing to reach Peñasco de Diego until reaching heights above 4,000 msn stopping in the drums that marked the route of the Inca path. In their advance by the mountain range, the expeditionaries suffered many penalties, since they walked exhausted by the cold wind and the freezing of their hands and feet, and by the difficulty of traveling on a loose floor, full of small pebbles, sharp edges, that destroyed the soles of shoes and horseshoes to horses. The icy climate of the mountain range killed a large part of the Yanaconas Indians, who began to leave on the route as a death path, because they did not have the right clothes and walked on a naked foot, and several of the Spaniards, when the Boots, the frozen fingers of their feet fell. The tradition and some sources indicate that it was for the call today Paso de San Francisco where Almagro made his sad journey, this assertion today is under study. The hardships increased by entering that icy, inhospitable and silent landscape, even stopping the advance due to lack of encouragement.
The conqueror, concerned about the fate of his men, headed with another twenty riders an advanced group, which crossed the mountain range and after riding three whole days, arrived at the Copiapó valley (at that time Copayapu), and They collected food provided by the indigenous people and that he immediately sent to help his men. Only 2500 survivors of Almagro's journey arrived.
Chile recognition
Finally the rest of the column arrived at Copayapu (Copiapó Valley) with 240 Spaniards, 1500 Yanaconas, 150 blacks and 112 horses. Among the blacks was a woman loyal to Almagro named Malgarida. More than 70% of those who started the march died, during the journey 10 Spaniards, 50 horses and hundreds of indigenous friends or auxiliaries due to the little clothing they wore.
After the natural recovery of energy, the order was given to restart the march towards the Copiapó valley; However, a multitude of Yanaconas deserted him, leaving the Spanish practically without servants. Almagro hardened his hand and ordered that several Indians guilty of having killed Spaniards be burned. These Indians had murdered the three soldiers sent in the vanguard who had arrived in Chile.
For their punishment, Almagro decided to give them a cruel punishment by gathering all the important curacas of the region, blaming them for their crime and condemning them to die at the stake. During the execution of the punishment, news reached him from the caciques of the Aconcagua region, who wanted to establish friendship with the whites. That was due to a couple of self-exiled Spaniards and renegades from Pizarro who had been in the region for years before.
They were Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos and Antón Cerrada, who were actually the first Spaniards to discover and set foot on Chilean territory. Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos had been insulted by Pizarro - who had ordered his ears to be cut off - and in order not to show his insult, he went into the south of the Zama valley, so that he later arrived further south. He would be Almagro's most loyal collaborator.
During his march to that region, the Adelantado had news of a ship, the San Pedro, that had landed in the region, (Los Vilos) led by Ruy Díaz and that came full of clothes, weapons and food for the expedition. Arriving at the Conchalí River, in Los Vilos, he met the other aforementioned Spaniard named Antón Cerrada who had already influenced the aborigines to give a peaceful welcome to Almagro's column.
Upon reaching the Aconcagua valley, the Spaniards were well received by the natives, thanks to the advice given to them by Gonzalo Calvo, as has been said, a Spaniard who had lived in Chile for years. However, the natives were influenced by the Indian Felipillo, an interpreter for the conquerors, who told them about their bad intentions and recommended that they attack or flee from them.
The natives listened to him, but did not dare to attack them and escaped during the night, as did Felipillo and several Yanaconas, who took the northern road, but this last attempt was unsuccessful. Felipillo was caught and dismembered with horses in front of the curaca of the region as an example.
The territory that the Adelantado expected to find full of riches did not meet even his slightest expectations, which caused him great disappointment, so he decided to send a column of 70 horsemen and 20 infantry led by Gómez de Alvarado to explore the south of the territory.
When the column reached the Itata River, the first confrontation between the Spaniards and the Mapuches took place in Reinohuelén, in which the superiority of weapons and the surprise caused by the horses allowed an easy Spanish victory against the indigenous warriors, who were frightened to see the man riding a horse as if they were both a single being.
This would not be more than a mere skirmish prior to the future Arauco war that Pedro de Valdivia would start many years later. Almagro, feeling the pressure of the troops disillusioned by the false promises of wealth and the discouraging news of an outpost that reported more cold and poor land, weighed the situation and decided not to continue south.
Without gold, Almagro, badly advised by Gómez de Alvarado and Hernando de Sosa, only thought of returning to Peru to try to win Cuzco for his governorship. Between the alternative of crossing the mountain range again, or going through the desert, he decided on the second option. In an act of recognition of the sacrifice made by his men in the expedition, and that they were not rewarded with the illusory gold of this region, he decided to forgive the debts that his soldiers had contracted with him, destroying all the writings that they compromised.
The road through the Atacama desert was as terrible as the journey through the mountains: burning days and freezing nights, the hostility of the indigenous people, not to mention the scarcity of water and food. But in any case it was considered better than the journey through the Andes. They left in small groups of no more than 10 men, doing 20 km journeys each day. During the day they took refuge under the shade of the tamarugos, in the Pampa del Tamarugal and at night, they walked.
To take cover from a surprise, since Peru was burning in a general rebellion against Pizarro, Francisco Noguerol de Ulloa went to sea and disembarked in the hamlet as advance protection for the expedition members, staying for 18 days and then returning by land to Arequipa in February 1537, with the recorded loss of a man, Francisco de Valdés, who drowned in a river.
Such was the physical state in which Almagro and his followers arrived that from then on those who came from those lands were called the "rotos de Chile". Only 4 years later, Pedro de Valdivia would dare to go and conquer those lands, in an expedition organized from Peru.
Civil war and death
When returning to Peru, in 1537, Almagro occupied the city of Cuzco, and in the battle of Abancay, on July 12, 1537, making Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro prisoners, considering that he belonged to his governorate. Francisco Pizarro negotiated with Almagro the exile of his brothers, but in reality Pizarro only sought to gain time and somehow impose himself before the will of the king, who decided that Cuzco was owned by Almagro.
Pizarro, feeling strengthened, far from fulfilling the agreement, gave the troops command to their brothers. Almagro was sick at the time of betrayal of the agreement and gave Rodrigo Orgóñez command, being the almagrists defeated in April 1538 in the battle of Las Salinas. In this same battle the loyal Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos died, the disarrangement of Pizarro. Prisoner, Almagro was embarrassed by Hernando Pizarro and could not appeal to the king. Almagro, feeling lost then, begged for his life, to which Hernando Pizarro replied saying:
You are a knight and have an illustrious name; you shall not show flakeness; I marvel that a man of your mind is so afraid of death. confess, for your death has no remedy.
He was executed on July 8 of that same year in prison for strangulation with a tourniquet and his corpse was decapitated in the Plaza de Armas of Cuzco. Malgarida, his faithful black servant, took the corpse of his master and, in his capacity as benefactor of the Mercedarian order, buried him in the Church of La Merced in that city.
His son Diego de Almagro el Mozo tried to avenge his father, however, Francisco Pizarro died in the palace of Lima in 1541 at the hands of Juan de Rada. Hernando Pizarro went to Spain to justify his conduct before the king and was imprisoned for more than 20 years in the fortress of Medina del Campo; Gonzalo Pizarro died beheaded after suffering defeat at the hands of Pedro de la Gasca on April 9, 1548, led by Pedro de Valdivia against the Pizarrista Francisco de Carvajal in the battle of Jaquijahuana.
The most total discredit plunged the lands of Chile (Chili or Chilli), associating its name with failure, this would be until 1540 when Pedro de Valdivia, reviewing some of Almagro's notes, gave Chile great personal value and decided to make your own conquest.
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