Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command. In 1540, Valdivia led an expedition of 150 Spaniards into Chile, where he defeated a large force of indigenous warriors and founded Santiago in 1541. He extended Spanish rule south to the Biobío River in 1546, fought again in Peru (1546 – 48), and returned to Chile as governor in 1549. He began to conquer Chile south of the Biobío and founded Concepción in 1550. He was captured and killed in a campaign against the Mapuche. The city of Valdivia in Chile is named after him. Early life as soldier in Europe and arrival in the Americas Pedro de Valdivia is believed to have been born in Villanueva de la Serena (some say Castuera) in Extremadura, Spain around 1500 (some sources put his date of birth as early as 1497 or as late as 1505) to an impoverished hidalgo family. In 1520 a civil war broke out in Castile, the Revolt of the Comuneros, and Valdivia joined the army of Spanish king Charles I. He later fought in Flanders in 1521 and Italy between 1522 and 1527, participating in the battle of Pavia as part of the troops of the Marquis of Pescara. In May 1527, Valdivia was involved in the sack of Rome as a member of Charles I's mutinous mercenary army. He traveled with Spanish forces to South America in 1535. He was assigned for a year to present-day Venezuela. He was moved to Peru in 1537.