Conquest of Chile and Arauco War

Pedro de Valdivia entered central Chile in 1540 with a small Spanish force that included Inés Suárez. Santiago was founded in February 1541, but the settlement faced food shortages, political isolation and determined Indigenous opposition. The attack on Santiago in September 1541 demonstrated that Spanish occupation remained fragile rather than complete.

Valdivia expanded southward by founding towns and distributing land and labour, bringing the newcomers into prolonged conflict with Mapuche communities. The wider Arauco War became one of the longest colonial conflicts in the Americas. Valdivia was captured and killed after the battle of Tucapel in 1553, ending the first phase of conquest without ending Spanish ambitions.

Isabel Allende’s Inés of My Soul retells this period through Inés Suárez, combining documented campaigns and settlements with an imagined first-person life.