Captaincy General of Chile

Captaincy General of Chile Governorate of New Extremadura, Kingdom of New Extremadura, Kingdom of Chile, New Extremadura, Nuevo Extremo, Chile
1540–1818
Flag
Approximate maximum extent of the Captaincy General. Under effective control in 1786. Territories belonging to it until 1786. Stripes: Areas claimed without effective control (see Boundaries).
Status	Captaincy general of Spain Viceroyalty of Peru
Capital	Santiago (1541–1560, 1575–1818) Concepción (1560–1575)
Official languages	Spanish
Recognised regional languages	Mapudungun, Quechua, Cacán, Allentiac, Millcayac
Religion	Catholicism (official)
Government	Monarchy
King
• 1541–1556	Charles I (first)
• 1808–1818	Ferdinand VII (de jure) (last)
Royal Governor
• 1541–1547	Pedro de Valdivia (first)
• 1815–1817	Casimiro Marcó del Pont (last)
Historical era	Spanish colonization of the Americas Spanish Empire
• Possession	October 26 1540
• 1st National Junta	September 18, 1810
• Battle of Rancagua	October 10, 1814
• Battle of Chacabuco	February 12, 1817
• Battle of Maipú	April 5, 1818
• Independence	February 12 1818
Currency	Real
ISO 3166 code	CL
Preceded by Succeeded by Inca Empire Patria Vieja Patria Nueva Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
Today part of	Chile Argentina

The Captaincy General of Chile, or the so-called Kingdom of Chile, was a territorial entity forming part of the Spanish Empire, which covered part of the far southwestern end of South America, mainly in what today corresponds to Chile and the western regions of Argentina. Its capital was the city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura (or de Chile), except for the period between 1560 and 1575, when it was Concepción.

Although the term "captaincy general" reflects only a division of a military character, established in 1778, today it is also used to refer to the governorate founded in 1541 as the Governorate of New Extremadura or Governorate of Chile. Colloquially and unofficially it was known as the Kingdom of Chile (Reyno de Chile in the old spelling), as a figurative way of referring to the Chilean dominions, although in official documentation, letters, communications, etc., the country is referred to as "Reyno de Chile".

This territory was established by the Spanish Crown during its period of colonization in America, after being separated from the nominal jurisdiction of the Governorate of New Andalusia and the definitive settlement of the first Spaniards alongside Pedro de Valdivia in 1541. For much of its history, the entity remained under the oversight—superior gobierno—of the Viceroyalty of Peru until its definitive separation from it in 1798.

Broadly speaking, Chile mainly covered the area between the Atacama wasteland to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Biobío River to the south, in the area known as La Frontera, although there were isolated territories of Spanish origin farther south under its jurisdiction intermittently, such as the corregimientos of Valdivia, of Osorno and the Government of Chiloé. To the east of the Andes mountain range, the Governorate of Chile also came to cover the Tucumán territory from 1553 until 1563 and the Corregimiento of Cuyo from 1568—both in present-day Argentina—for much of its history until the provisional establishment of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1777 (created by a real cédula of 1776 and definitively installed by another of 1778).

The Captaincy General of Chile, with a praetorial Real Audiencia that answered only to the Council of the Indies, was the highest territorial entity during the Chilean colonial period from 1798, and throughout its existence it had an extent that is difficult to determine. Although nominally at its beginnings there was talk of including even the unknown Terra Australis, Spanish rule never managed to impose itself fully over the Mapuche, whom they faced in the Arauco War, nor over the Patagonian lands; the Antarctic region, meanwhile, would not be discovered until well into the 19th century.

The Chilean captaincy general as such lasted until 1810, when the first government of local origin was established. Although it nominally existed in the following years, the local government exercised ever greater autonomous power in what is known as the Patria Vieja. In 1814, the local government was defeated and the monarchical Governor was restored, remaining in office until 1817. The following year, the independence of Chile was proclaimed, which would be consummated in the subsequent months. Thus, the captaincy general disappeared to form the nucleus of the present-day Republic of Chile.

Name

The territories that made up the "Reyno de Chile" were originally assigned in 1534 by the Emperor Charles I to the so-called governorates of New Andalusia and New León, which occupied the territories between the Pacific and the Atlantic approximately between the parallels 26°S and 37°S and between 37°S and 47°S, respectively. However, the arbitrariness of these divisions soon led to their disappearance, while the name "Chile" remained, a land that would later be explored by Diego de Almagro.

After the expedition of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile and the founding of Santiago, the so-called Governorate of New Extremadura was created, a name given by Pedro de Valdivia to the area in honor of his place of origin. However, this name lasted only a few years, until the death of Jerónimo de Alderete, which occurred in 1556. From then on, the name "Chile" predominated among the Hispanics to designate these territories.

Later, other names also came to be used, unofficial and less widespread, such as "Flanders of the Indies" (Flandes Indiano), which refers to the hard resistance of the Mapuche people to the conquering troops and which evoked the complex Eighty Years' War that took place in Flanders and ended with the independence of the Netherlands.

From the time of Philip II, both in public and private documentation and in the Laws of the Indies, the name "Kingdom of Chile" was commonly used to refer to the territory—«Reyno de Chile» using the spelling of that time. It should be mentioned that the term kingdom was of a geographical and not necessarily political character, a usual concept at that time and one that can be verified by the name given to the various "kingdoms" existing within peninsular Spain itself, even though they already lacked the autonomies that had existed in previous centuries. Another commonly used term was "provinces of Chile".

While the term "Kingdom of Chile" was eminently geographical, "Governorate of Chile" was used to define the type of government in place, similarly to "Captaincy General of Chile", although the latter specified the special autonomy existing in order to face military conflicts, and it was favored mainly from the 18th century onward.

History

Main articles: Discovery of Chile, Conquest of Chile, and Colonial Chile

Pedro de Valdivia.

In 1536, Diego de Almagro organized an expedition to explore the territories south of the Inca Empire that had been granted to him in 1534 as part of the Governorate of New Toledo.

After Almagro's death, the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia requested authorization from Francisco Pizarro to conquer and settle the province of Chile, which Pizarro granted him in April 1539, naming him lieutenant governor in accordance with a real cédula of 1537 that empowered him to continue the conquest of New Toledo. Pedro de Valdivia arrived in the lands of north-central Chile and founded, on February 12, 1541, the city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura at the foot of Santa Lucía Hill, called Huelén after the chief Huelen. A few months later, Valdivia was proclaimed by the cabildo as Governor and Captain General of New Extremadura. He initially refused, but finally accepted on June 11, 1541.

In 1544, he ordered the founding of the city of La Serena, and later Pedro de Valdivia extended the conquest of Chile southward, founding various cities: Concepción in 1550, La Imperial in 1551, Villarrica and Valdivia in 1552, Los Confines and the forts of Arauco, Purén and Tucapel in 1553. On the other side of the mountain range, Pedro de Valdivia ordered the founding of Santiago del Estero in Tucumán. Other cities founded during the first years of the Governorate were: Mendoza in 1561, San Luis, San Juan in 1562, Cañete, Castro in 1567 and Osorno in 1558.

In 1598, the Mapuche rose up and the so-called Battle of Curalaba took place, which nearly ended the attempt to colonize Chile. With the exception of Castro, the cities south of the Biobío River were destroyed, and this river was established as the de iure boundary between the Spanish Captaincy and the Mapuche by virtue of the peace of Quilín in 1641. In 1684, Valdivia was refounded, and a century later the Intendancy of Chiloé was created, subordinate to the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Arauco War, the conflict between Mapuche and Spaniards, would have various stages of high belligerence and other more peaceful ones throughout history.

In 1810, Governor Mateo de Toro y Zambrano, Count of La Conquista, submitted his resignation and the first Government Junta was formed, beginning the period of Chilean history called the "Patria Vieja". The Constitution of Cádiz provided in 1812 for the establishment of the "Provincial Deputation of Chile", but it could not be put into effect. Although nominally Chile remained part of the Castilian kingdoms, from the installation of the Government Junta an accelerated process of autonomy took place in the territory, which ended in 1814 when royal power was reestablished in the territory during the Reconquista, which lasted until 1817, when the troops of the American Spaniards, self-styled pro-independence, managed to defeat at Chacabuco the peninsular Spaniards, called royalists. A year later, the independence of Chile was declared, bringing a definitive end to the Captaincy General.

Boundaries

The Kingdom of Chile in 1592.

French map of Chile, 1656.

Main article: Borders of Chile

The extent of the territory of the so-called Kingdom of Chile has been a matter of intense debate and controversy, especially after the independence of the South American states.

In 1548, Pedro de Valdivia obtained from Pedro de la Gasca, president of the Real Audiencia of Lima, "as governorate and conquest from Copiapó, which is at 27 degrees of latitude from the equinoctial line toward the south, to 41 on the said side, running north to south straight along the meridian, and in width going inland from the sea west to east one hundred leagues". The Emperor Charles I, upon confirming in 1552 the appointment of Pedro de Valdivia made by de La Gasca, set the territory of the Governorate of New Extremadura as a strip 100 leagues wide from west to east from the South Sea, bounded by the parallels 27° and 41° south latitude (approximately between Copiapó and Osorno).

At Valdivia's request, Charles I extended the governorate to the Strait of Magellan by real cédula, although in the meantime Pedro de Valdivia had died. Jerónimo de Alderete, who was appointed Valdivia's successor on October 17, 1554, died while returning to Chile from Spain. Later, in a royal commission issued by Governor García Hurtado de Mendoza to Pedro del Castillo on November 20, 1560, he stated: "[...] Inasmuch as His Majesty by his royal Provisions entrusted to me the Governorate of these said Provinces of Chile from North to South from the Valley of Copiapó to the other side of the Strait of Magellan, and from east to west one hundred and fifty leagues, as he gave and assigned it as Governorate to the Adelantado Don Jerónimo de Alderete [...]". At this time, the Governorate or Captaincy General of Chile acquired what would be its maximum extent, covering the entire southern end of the Southern Cone and the whole of Patagonia.

Dutch map of the coasts of Chile, 1635.

In the following years, through various reales cédulas issued by King Philip II, the Chilean territory was specified as the neighboring colonial administrations gained importance [2]. On August 29, 1563, the separation of the so-called Governorate of Tucumán, Juríes and Diaguitas (which included Santiago del Estero) from the Chilean territory was decreed, placing it within the Real Audiencia of Charcas. Then, on June 1, 1570, the southern boundaries of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata were modified at the request of its adelantado Juan Ortiz de Zárate, moving it 200 leagues south, from the parallel 36° 57′ to 48° 21′ 15″ south latitude (approximately to the present-day city of Puerto Deseado on the Atlantic coast), although without specifying what the western boundary of that governorate was; this would only be specified in 1669, when the Andes mountain range was fixed for that purpose.

In 1669, G. Sanson, cartographer to the King of France, published this map of the thirteen jurisdictions of the Governorate of Chile. He did so advised by Father Alfonso del Valle of the Society of Jesus, as stated on the map itself. It should be noted that, although Cuyo appears, Eastern Patagonia (present-day Argentina) does not appear as a Chilean jurisdiction. It thus refutes a large part of Chilean historiography, which maintains that in that colonial era it was Chile's.

Le Chili divisé en ses (...) Nicolas Sanson, 1669.

Since there was no explicit act in the real cédula modifying the boundaries of the Governorate of Chile, a nominal overlap of jurisdictions was formed in the territory of Eastern Patagonia. The lack of concern for clearly defining these borders would later generate a long dispute between Chile and Argentina over sovereignty of those territories.

In the Compilation of the Laws of the Indies of 1680, the jurisdictional territory of the Audiencia of Chile was indicated as "all the said Kingdom of Chile, with the Cities, Towns, Places and lands included in the government of those Provinces, both what is now pacified and settled, and what may be reduced, settled and pacified within and beyond the Strait of Magellan, and the land inland, up to and including the Province of Cuyo". Despite these provisions, not all of that territory was under said jurisdiction, the most emblematic case being that of the territories south of the Biobío River (known as the La Frontera area), which were under Araucanian sovereignty.

In 1767, the King authorized the Viceroy of Peru to take charge of the defense of Chiloé and to hand over its government to the military officer he himself designated. On March 28 of the following year, the Viceroy separated the Government of Chiloé from the jurisdiction of the Captain General of Chile and the Audiencia of Santiago, which was confirmed by the King on October 15, 1768; this annexation was in principle of a transitory character but lasted until the end of the colonial regime:

"(...) to separate, at least for now, and subject to the approval of H. M., the temporal jurisdiction of that island and its adjacent lands from the captaincy general of Chile and royal audiencia of Santiago; (...) As viceroy and captain general of the kingdoms of Peru and Chile, I order in the name of H. M. that the said province, its castles, islands, strongholds and fortresses, for now and while the operations that are going to be undertaken for its fortification, the better service of the king and the benefit of said natives last, remain subject to this captaincy general and in political matters to this royal audiencia, where they may lodge the appeals permitted by law."

Colonial map of the Southern Cone. Patagonia and the Magellanic Lands appear as territories outside Spanish dominion.

In 1776, with the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the Province of Cuyo, east of the Andes mountain range, was separated from Chile, as there were included in it "the territories of the cities of Mendoza and San Juan del Pico that were under the charge of the governorate of Chile". In 1784, the Intendancy of Chiloé was created, subordinate to the Viceroyalty of Peru. Valdivia was rebuilt in 1740 and Osorno in 1796, expanding the effective jurisdiction of the Chilean colonial government; however, the latter city remained under the direct jurisdiction of the Peruvian Viceroy from June 1, 1798 to October 28, 1802, when it returned to Chilean hands. Additionally, the Juan Fernández archipelago was incorporated in 1749.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a French geography book described the boundaries of the Captaincy General of Chile: "We shall describe here everything that is ordinarily understood under the name of the kingdom of Chile, that is, Chile proper, to the west of the Andes; New Chile and the province of Cuyo to the east of these mountains. We have already noted that Cuyo and New Chile depend on the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, while the presidency of Santiago covers only Chile proper." On October 1, 1803, King Charles IV, by royal order, transferred the port of Paposo to the jurisdiction of Peru, separating it from that of Chile:

"The King, having been informed of the state of abandonment of the port of Nuestra Señora del Paposo and its immense coasts on the South Sea, as well as of the advantages offered by the adjacent territory and the Atacama desert for raising livestock, (...) Likewise, H. M. has resolved that the said port, its coasts and territory be added to the viceroyalty of Lima, both for political government and for military matters, because of the greater ease with which it can defend it, and because, being worthy of all attention, it follows that it should depend on that capital, whose naval station extends its jurisdiction southward to all the ports and coasts as far as Chiloé; and H. M. bearing in mind that the provinces of the Río de la Plata and of Peru are as interested in this undertaking as that Kingdom of Chile, since the extremities of the three governments converge in the defenseless territory of Paposo, (...)" San Lorenzo, October 1, 1803.

According to traditional Chilean historiography, the order was not carried out by the viceroy. However, the Memoria that the Viceroy of Peru José Fernando de Abascal delivered to his successor Joaquín de la Pezuela in 1816 states verbatim:

"The Viceroyalty of Peru, after the latest dismemberments and new additions made to it, has as its boundaries to the north the province of Guayaquil; the Atacama desert to the south, comprising in all its territory from 32 minutes north of the equinoctial to 25° 10′ of southern latitude."

This document has been used as support by Peruvian and Bolivian historiography to assert that the Royal Order of 1803 was indeed executed and that the northern boundary of Chile when it declared its independence, according to the Uti possidetis iure of 1810, was formed by the Atacama Desert without including it as an integral part of its territory; that being so, if Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre annexed it to the nascent Republic of Bolivia, they did so by dismembering it from Peru and not from Chile.

Chilean Antarctica in colonial times

World map by Abraham Ortelius (1570), showing the Terra Australis Incognita.

Main article: Chilean Antarctic Territory

For many years, European cartographers and explorers speculated about the existence of Terra Australis Incognita, an immense territory located farther south than the Strait of Magellan and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego that reached as far as the South Pole.

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed on June 7, 1494, set the areas of influence of Spain and Portugal, to the west and east, respectively, of a line running from pole to pole that was never demarcated (at 46° 37′ W, in the classic Spanish interpretation, and farther west, according to the Portuguese interpretation), so that the Antarctic areas claimed today by Chile, still unknown at that time, fell within Spain's zone. The treaty, endorsed in 1506 by the papal bull Ea quae pro bono pacis, which made it binding for all Catholic countries, was not recognized by non-Catholic European states, nor even by some that were Catholic, such as France. For Great Britain, Holland, Russia and other countries, the Antarctic areas were considered res nullius, that is, no man's land subject to occupation by any nation.

In 1534, the Emperor Charles V divided part of the South American territory into three governorates:

• New Castile or Peru for Francisco Pizarro,
• New Toledo or Chile for Diego de Almagro, and
• New León or Magellanic Lands for Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor, which was later extended to the Strait of Magellan.

In 1539, a new governorate was created to the south of New León called Terra Australis for Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz. In 1554, the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, who was already in charge of the Governorate of Chile, got the Council of the Indies to transfer the rights to New León and to Terra Australis to Jerónimo de Alderete, who, after Valdivia's death the following year, took office as Governor and annexed them to the Chilean colonial territory.

Proof of this are multiple historical documents, among which is a Real Cédula of 1554:

having been particularly consulted, it has seemed good to us to grant, as by the present we do grant, to the said Captain Jerónimo de Alderete the Governorate of the land which, as has been said, lies on the other side of the said Strait of Magellan.

Later, in 1558, the Real Cédula of Brussels urged the Chilean colonial government to take possession in our name of the lands and provinces that fall within the demarcation of the crown of Castile, referring to the lands on the other side of the Strait, since at that time it was thought that Tierra del Fuego was an integral part of Terra Australis.

There are also chronicles and maps, both from Chile and from Europe, indicating that Antarctic Terra Australis belonged to the Captaincy General of Chile.

The Spanish navigator Gabriel de Castilla set sail from Valparaíso in March 1603 in command of three ships on an expedition entrusted to him by his first cousin, the Viceroy of Peru Luis de Velasco y Castilla, to suppress the incursions of Dutch corsairs in the southern seas, reaching 64° south latitude. The documents confirming the latitude reached and the lands sighted have not yet been found in Spanish archives; however, the account of the Dutch sailor Laurenz Claesz (in an undated testimony, but probably later than 1607) documents the latitude and the season. Claesz stated that he:

sailed under Admiral don Gabriel de Castilla with three ships along the coasts of Chile toward Valparaíso, and from there toward the strait, in the year 1603; and was in March at 64 degrees and there they had much snow. In the following month of April they returned again to the coasts of Chile.

Another Dutch document, published in Amsterdam in three languages in 1622, states that at 64° S there is land "very high and mountainous, covered with snow, like the country of Norway, all white, which seemed to stretch as far as the Solomon Islands", which evidently confirms a sighting prior to the publication. The lands sighted would be the South Shetland Islands.

Other historians attribute the first sighting of Antarctic lands to the Dutch sailor Dirk Gerritsz, who supposedly found the islands now called the South Shetlands. According to his account, his ship was blown off course by a storm after passing through the Strait of Magellan, on the outbound voyage of a Dutch expedition to the East Indies in 1599. There are doubts about the truthfulness of Gerritsz's account. In 1768, the Frenchman Sanson published a map of the Magellanic Lands, showing Chile separated from Patagonia.

Map of Chile and Patagonia, 1768

By this time there was already certainty of a white continent south of the Drake Passage, separate from Tierra del Fuego. In 1772, the British James Cook circumnavigated the waters of the Southern Ocean. In 1798, the famous Spanish sailor Juan de Lángara published a map indicating the boundaries between the Kingdom of Chile and Eastern Patagonia.

Carta esférica de las costas.

Organization

Colonial institutions in Chile

At the head of the captaincy was the Governor and Captain General, advised by the Real Audiencia, presided over by the Governor himself, which is why he was called indistinctly President or Governor and also Captain General. The Audiencia, in addition to serving as an advisory body to the Governor, had the functions of court of appeals of the kingdom.

Relationship with the Viceroyalty of Peru

Ambrosio O'Higgins, Governor of Chile between 1788 and 1796.

King Philip II placed the Governor under the oversight of the Viceroy of Peru, stating in a real cédula of January 21, 1589:

"That the Governor of Chile be subordinate to the Viceroy of Lima, and correspond with him in the matters of his charge" and must "keep, fulfill, and execute his orders, and notify him of everything of consideration that may arise there."

On the basis of that rule, the viceroys understood that the relationship between the two was one of effective dependence; however, in some cases the Governor's relationship was direct with the King and in others it passed through the Viceroy of Peru.

The basis of the relationship is the aforementioned real cédula; nevertheless, there were later ones that shaped the type of effective relationship between the captaincy and the viceroyalty. For example, by real cédula, the viceroys were authorized to intervene in Chile only in case of "disturbance and tumult"; the viceroys were empowered to put military strategies into practice in the Arauco War, defensive war, and later the Governor of Chile was ordered directly to implement them, offensive war. The viceroys were also empowered to remove the Governor and, later, that power was denied.

The Compilation of the Laws of the Indies of 1680, in Law XXX (That the Viceroy of Peru and Audiencia of Lima not interfere in the government of Chile, except in serious cases, and of great importance) of Title III (Of the Viceroys, and Presidents Governors) of Book III, includes the content of a real cédula of King Philip III of October 15, 1597, which established that

"It is our will that the Viceroys of Peru and the Audiencia of Lima not impede or hinder the President, Governor and Captain General of Chile in the government, war and matters of his charge, except in serious cases, and of great importance, although he is subordinate to the Viceroy and Governor of the Audiencia of Lima."

Relative map of the Captaincy General of Chile from 1777—according to Chilean historiography—which nominally included southern Patagonia, but in the end arbitral awards of the 19th and 20th centuries, and boundary treaties with the neighboring Argentine Republic, only recognized for it the Pacific slope, or Western Patagonia, the whole of the Strait of Magellan and half of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.

With respect to military resources (weapons, soldiers, etc.) and commercial supply, the captaincy continued in viceregal dependence, although the administration of justice was autonomous from the viceroyalty, except with respect to the Inquisition, which corresponded to a delegate from Lima, as did commercial lawsuits, which depended on the Consulado of the Viceroyalty until 1795, the date on which a Consulado in Santiago was created.

In matters of government, the relationship fluctuated depending on the period, the instructions sent by the King and even the personalities of the respective authorities (viceroys and governors), and there was never a formal annexation of the captaincy to the viceroyalty, since nominally the territories of Spanish South America, except for the territory of Caracas and Panama, were initially included within it, until the creation of the new viceroyalties of New Granada and of the Río de la Plata, thus remaining under its superior gobierno (and not under its gobierno directo).

In certain periods, for strategic reasons of the viceroyalty's security—for example, in the face of threats from corsairs—the viceroys intervened directly in the government of Chile, even on their own initiative; likewise, some governors were accustomed to consulting the Viceroy or asking him for instructions on urgent matters, because of the great distance that separated them from the King, who was in Spain.

In 1733, the Cabildo of Santiago asked the Viceroy to install a coin minting house in Chile; faced with the delay in the reply, in 1741 it asked the King of Spain for permission to install a mint and thus solve the problem of the shortage of currency that occurred when the shipment of coins from Peru was delayed.

The Mint of Santiago de Chile was finally founded by Philip V by Real Cédula of October 1, 1743, granting the perpetual privilege of minting coins to Francisco García Huidobro and also granting him the usufruct of all the profits of production; being a wealthy resident of the city, he offered to finance its installation, maintenance and operating expenses at no cost to the Kingdom. Philip V died in 1746, before the new mint had begun its work.

The first coin minted in colonial Chile for circulation was struck on September 10, 1749: the 4 gold escudos, also known as the "half onza", which bore the effigy of Ferdinand VI; in this way the Governorate began to have ever more autonomy with respect to the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Finally, in 1798, in connection with a dispute between Viceroy O'Higgins and Governor Avilés, King Charles IV resolved, in a communication addressed to the Viceroy on March 15 of that year, to declare Chile "independent of that viceroyalty, as it should always have been understood":

"The king, having been informed of everything, as well as of what Y. E. set forth on this particular in a letter of June 8 of last year, has resolved that the individuals of the corps of Chile to whom Y. E. granted leave to separate from them return to their posts; and that in the event that it suits some of these, or any others of the military, to pass from one kingdom to the other, Y. E. and the captain general of Chile agree on it between yourselves, whom H. M. has been pleased to declare independent of that viceroyalty, as it should always have been understood, although it is the will of H. M. that Y. EE. always endeavor to be in agreement in the measures that concern the good of his royal service, the sole object that must be kept in mind by all, and especially by the most distinguished persons in whom H. M. places his authority: and so he expects it of the prudence and other qualities that Y. E. has in your person, as does the said captain general in his."

Administrative division

Main articles: Corregimientos of Chile and History of the territorial organization of Chile

Approximate map of the corregimientos existing until the cession of Cuyo to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

During the colonial period, the main administrative division of the Governorate of Chile was the provinces or corregimientos, which were gradually created as the Chilean territory was settled by the Spanish conquistadors and colonizers.

The main corregimientos existing in the Chilean territory until 1786 are listed below:

Corregimiento or province	Capital	Start	End	Details	†
Aconcagua	San Felipe el Real	1770	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Quillota.	Yes
Angol	Los Confines de Angol	1553	1641	Founded and destroyed multiple times. Abandoned after the Parliament of Quilín.	No
Cañete	Cañete de La Frontera	1558	1563	Abandoned as a result of the Arauco War.	No
Cauquenes	Cauquenes (Mercedes de Tutuvén)	1773	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Maule.	Yes
Chillán	Chillán	1580	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of La Concepción.	Yes
Chiloé	Santiago de Castro	1568	1601	Raised to a governorate in 1601.	-
Chiloé, Government of	Santiago de Castro	1601	1768	Transferred to the Viceroyalty of Peru.	No
Colchagua	San Fernando de Tinguiririca	1742	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Santiago.	Yes
Copiapó	Copiapó (San Francisco de la Selva)	1744	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Coquimbo.	Yes
Coquimbo	La Serena	1544	1786		Yes
Cuyo	Mendoza del Nuevo Valle	1568	1776	Transferred to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.	No
Imperial	La Imperial	1551	1600	Abandoned during the Mapuche uprising of 1598.	No
Itata	San Antonio Abad de Quirihue	1749	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Chillán.	Yes
Juan Fernández, Gov. of	San Juan Bautista	1550	1786		Yes
La Concepción	La Concepción	1550	1786		Yes
Maule	San Agustín de Talca	1742	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Santiago.	Yes
Osorno	San Mateo de Osorno	1557	1602	Abandoned during the Mapuche uprising of 1598.	No
Puchacay	San Juan Bautista de Hualqui	1757	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of La Concepción.	Yes
Quillota	Quillota (San Martín de la Concha)	1717	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Santiago.	Yes
Rancagua	Rancagua (Santa Cruz de Triana)	1743	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of Santiago.	Yes
Rere	Rere (San Luis Gonzaga)	1765	1786	Separated from the Corregimiento of La Concepción.	Yes
Santiago	Santiago de Nueva Extremadura	1541	1786		Yes
Tucumán, Juríes and Diaguitas	Santiago del Estero	1549	1563	Transferred to the Audiencia of Charcas.	No
Valdivia	Valdivia	1552	1603	Destroyed by the Mapuche in the uprising of 1598.	-
Valdivia, Government of	Valdivia	1740	1786	Created in 1645, transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1740.	Yes
Villa Rica	Villa Rica	1552	1603	Destroyed by the Mapuche in the uprising of 1598.	No

† Territories that formed part of the Captaincy General of Chile in 1786, prior to the formation of the intendancies.

In 1786, the Spanish monarchy implemented a series of administrative reforms (known as the Bourbon Reforms) that changed the territorial composition of all the colonies, including Chile. The main territorial entities in Spanish America were divided into intendancies. In the case of the Captaincy General of Chile, two intendancies were formed: that of Santiago, which included the north and center of the territory up to the Itata River, and that of Concepción, which covered the area south of the Itata. In 1796, the Government of Osorno was incorporated into the Intendancy of Concepción, after this territory was refounded and separated from the Government of Chiloé (which continued to depend on the Viceroyalty of Peru).

The intendancies, in turn, were subdivided into partidos and some governments of a military character, which are indicated below:

Intendancy (capital)	Partidos (capital)
Intendancy of Santiago (Santiago de Chile)	Partido of Santiago (Santiago) Partido of Aconcagua (San Felipe) Partido of Colchagua (San Fernando) Partido of Copiapó (Copiapó) Partido of Coquimbo (La Serena) Partido of Curicó (Curicó) - created 1792 Partido of Cuzcúz (Illapel) - created c. 1800 Partido of Huasco (Huasco) Partido of Los Andes (Los Andes) Partido of Maule (Talca) Partido of Melipilla (Melipilla) Partido of Petorca (La Ligua) - created c. 1790 Partido of Quillota (Quillota) Partido of Rancagua (Rancagua) Government of Juan Fernández (San Juan Bautista) Government of Valparaíso (Valparaíso)
Intendancy of Concepción (Concepción)	Partido of La Concepción (Concepción) Partido of Cauquenes (Cauquenes) Partido of Chillán (Chillán) Partido of Isla de La Laja (Los Ángeles) - created 1793 Partido of Itata (Quirihue) Partido of Linares (Linares) - created c. 1790 Partido of Puchacay (Hualqui; from 1799, Florida) Partido of Rere (San Luis Gonzaga) Government of Osorno (Osorno) - incorporated in 1796) Government of Valdivia (Valdivia)

This structure would be the one maintained once the Republic was declared, with some adjustments. Only in 1833 would the colonial administrative system be replaced by a new structure.

Ecclesiastical organization

Main article: Spanish Catholic dioceses of the Indies

On June 27, 1561, the Diocese of Santiago de Chile was erected, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lima.

On March 22, 1563, Pope Paul IV erected the Diocese of San Miguel de La Imperial through the bull Super Specula; abandoned in the year 1600 due to the destruction of the city in the fighting caused by the Arauco War, it was moved to Concepción in 1603, taking the name of Diocese of Concepción, also suffragan of Lima.

On May 10, 1570, the Diocese of Tucumán was erected with territories separated from the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Santiago de Chile. It was suffragan of Lima until the erection of the Archdiocese of Charcas on July 20, 1609.

See also

• Borders of Chile
• Governors of Chile
• Spanish immigration to Chile
• Nobility in Chile
• History of the territorial organization of Chile
• Real Audiencia of Chile
• Chilean Antarctica in colonial times

Bibliography

• Barros Arana, Diego (1897). Historia General de Chile (in español). Santiago: Imprenta Cervantes. Volumes I–V.
• Campos Harriet, Fernando (1999). Historia constitucional de Chile (in español) (7th ed.). Santiago: Editorial Jurídica de Chile. ISBN 956-10-0405-4.
• Campos Harriet, Fernando (1966). ¿Por qué se llamó Reino a Chile? (in español). Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello.
• Carvallo Goyeneche, Vicente (1875). Descripción histórico-jeográfica del Reino de Chile (in español). Volumes IX, X and XI. Santiago: La Estrella de Chile. {{cite book}}: External link in |others= (help)
• Encina, Francisco (1984). Historia de Chile desde la Prehistoria hasta 1891 (in español). Santiago: Editorial Ercilla. ISBN 956-10-1405-X.
• Eyzaguirre, Jaime (2000). Breve historia de las fronteras de Chile (in español) (28th ed.). Santiago: Editorial Universitaria. ISBN 956-11-1356-2.
• Lacoste, Pablo (2002). "La guerra de los mapas entre Argentina y Chile: una mirada desde Chile". Historia (in español). 35. ISSN 0717-7194.
• Ravest Mora, Manuel (2005). "La Patagonia Oriental según una Real Cédula de 1570 menospreciada por la historiografía chilena". Historia (in español). 38. ISSN 0717-7194.

External links

• Historia (Santiago) - La primera división político-administrativa de Chile, 1811-1826.
• Historical maps of South America before 1750 on the University of Alabama website.