- This person has a Spanish last name; here Sotomayor is the name of the father, Valmediano is the name of the mother.
Alonso de Sotomayor and Valmediano ( Spanish: Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano , 1545-1610) - Spanish conquistador, governor of Chile.
| Alonso de Sotomayor and Valmediano | |||||||
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| Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano | |||||||
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| Monarch | Philip II | ||||||
| Predecessor | Martin Ruiz de Gamboa | ||||||
| Successor | Pedro de viscarra | ||||||
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| Monarch | Philip II | ||||||
| Predecessor | Juan del Barrio | ||||||
| Successor | Hernando de Agnasco | ||||||
| Birth | 1545 Trujillo (Cáceres) | ||||||
| Death | 1610 | ||||||
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| Father | Gutierrez de Sotomayor e Hinojosa | ||||||
| Mother | Beatrice de Valmediano | ||||||
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Alonso de Sotomayor was born in 1545 in Trujillo ( Extremadura ). At the age of 15 he joined the army, fought in Spain until 1567, then - in Flanders, in 1580 he was recalled to Madrid. For his military services, King Philip II made him a knight of the Order of Santiago and sent him to campaign against Portugal, but at that time information came that reinforcements were needed in Chile for the ongoing Araucan War , and Alonso de Sotomayor was sent there at the head of a large military contingent.
When Alonso de Sotomayor arrived in Chile in 1583, he had to act as a judge, hearing numerous accusations against the previous governor Martin Ruiz de Gamboa and the new system of treatment of Indians introduced by him. He had to arrest Ruiz de Gamboa (however, he was later released) and restore the previous system (while trying to soften it).
Alonso de Sotomayor wanted to continue the conquest of Chile in the style of Pedro de Valdivia - building forts that would cover each other and cities. However, this required the maintenance of a large professional army, and such a request was rejected by the Spanish troops. Sotomayor had to carry out a series of campaigns to suppress the rebellions of the Indians, nevertheless, he tried to implement the plan for building fortifications, carried out with his available forces: in 1584 he laid the fort of San Fabian de Conueo in Coelama , in 1585 - fort Santo Arbol de la Cruz at the confluence of the Gaca and Bio Bio . On the Bio-Bio River, he founded the forts of Espiritu Santo, Santisima Trinidad and San Jeronimo de Milapoa, which were supposed to interrupt the communication between the Mapuche tribes; he hoped these forts would grow into cities. However, all the measures taken did not help to cope with the Indians. In addition to problems with the Indians, the governor had to deal with English pirates ( Thomas Cavendish anchored in Quintero in 1587) and the rebellion of soldiers in the south.
On July 30, 1592, Sotomayor went to Peru with a petition to the Viceroy, in which he asked for reinforcements, leaving Lieutenant Governor Pedro de Viscarra in his place . Arriving in Callao in August, he learned that the king had already appointed the new governor of Chile, Martin Garcia Ones de Loyola . Transferring matters, he was about to return to Spain, but the Viceroy of Peru asked him to take over as governor of Panama, who was threatened by the English invasion.
When Sotomayor, having completed his term as governor of Panama, was about to return to Spain, he was again offered the post of governor of Chile, but he refused. He later joined the Council of India , and in 1609 led the deportation of the Moors from Spain .