Читать книгу Torres del Paine. Chile's Premier National Park and Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park онлайн

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In 1538 Pedro de Valdivia, one of Pizzaro’s generals, with only a handful of men (Chile’s apparent lack of gold or other riches made it a far less attractive proposition to most than Peru), set off southwards from Cuzco in Peru, founding the city of Santiago in 1541. The development of the Chilean capital, at that time still subject to the Viceroyalty of Peru, is well illustrated in a series of plaques on the pavement in Santiago’s Plaza de Armas.

Estancia Cerro Paine, on the road to Refugio Las Torres (Walk 2)

Over the following years Valdivia attempted to increase Spanish lands further south, where it was once again the Mapuche who put up fierce resistance, and Valdivia himself was killed by the great Mapuche chief Lautano – it is said, by having molten gold poured down his throat. Nevertheless, further subjugation of the local Chilean population continued after Valdivia’s death, and the foundations of colonial society were steadily laid. This resulted in the emergence of powerful landowners and estates worked by a disempowered native workforce, the decimation of the indigenous population by diseases from Europe, and the conquered people’s gradual conversion to Christianity by the Catholic Church.