Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro de Valdivia was a Spanish conquistador who led the conquest and early colonisation of central Chile in the 1540s. A veteran of campaigns in Europe and Peru, he founded Santiago in 1541 and several other settlements, but Spanish expansion brought sustained warfare with Mapuche communities whose resistance prevented easy consolidation of colonial rule.

After serving in Europe and Peru, Valdivia led an expedition into Chile in 1540. He founded Santiago in 1541 and later established settlements including Concepción. His campaigns relied on grants of land and Indigenous labour and provoked sustained Mapuche resistance. He was defeated, captured and killed after the battle of Tucapel in 1553.

Isabel Allende’s Inés of My Soul makes Pedro de Valdivia both Inés Suárez’s companion and the commander whose ambitions carry her into the conquest of Chile. The novel follows their expedition south from Peru, the founding and defence of Santiago and the expanding conflict with Mapuche communities. Valdivia is portrayed through the tension between personal partnership and colonial ambition: his determination creates the political project in which Inés participates, while the violence of conquest increasingly complicates the heroic language surrounding settlement.