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History of Chile |
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| History of Chile is a combination of the history of South America and history of present day nations and states. Chile is the last country to be populated by the Americans. The first European who sights Chilean territory was Ferdinand Magellan, who crossed the strait of Magellan in 1520s. However, the credit for discovering Chile goes to Diego de Almagro.
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After some initial speculations there was litle interest from the colonial authority in modern day Chile. Pedro de Valdivia, the captain of the army after realizing the potential for expanding the Spanish empire southward asked Pizarro's permission to invade and conquer the southern lands. With a strength of about 100 people, he subdued the aboriginals of the place and founded the city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura, now known as Santiago de Chile. Although Valdivia found little gold in Chile he could see the agricultural richness of the land.
The uprising of 1600 changed the history of Chile. The uprising swept away all Spanish presence in the south of the Bio-Bio river and the great river became the frontier line between Mapuche lands and the Spanish realms. North of the line cities grew up gradually and Chile becomes one of the important source of food for the viceroyalty of Peru.
The thrive for independence from Spain comes only after the usurpation of the Spanish throne by Napolean's bother and can be divided into 3 stages. A national junta was established in the name of Ferdinand VII in 1810 and the period is known as “Patria Vieja”. The second was characterized by the Spanish attempts to reimpose arbitary rule and the period is known as “Reconquista”. This in turn led to a prolonged struggle under Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins. Chile finally got ots independence on February 12, 1818
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