Valdivian Fort System

The main fort in Corral

General view of the fort in Corral

The first European to visit Valdivia River's estuary was the Genoese captain Juan Bautista Pastene, who took possession of it in 1544 in the name of the Spanish king, Carlos I. He named the river after the Governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia.[2] Pedro de Valdivia later traveled by land to the river described by Pastene, and founded the city of Valdivia in 1552 as Santa María la Blanca de Valdivia.[2]

On 23 December native Mapuche warriors led by Pelantaro ambushed and wiped out a Spanish column at the Battle of Curalaba. In 1598 a general uprising developed among the Mapuche and Huilliche people of southern Chile. The subsequent Arauco War was to smolder for over 250 years but its immediate effect was the so-called "Destruction of the Seven Cities": the Spanish cities of Angol, La Imperial, Osorno, Santa Cruz de Oñez, Valdivia and Villarrica were either destroyed or abandoned.[3] Only Chillán and Concepción resisted the Mapuche sieges and attacks.[4] With the exception of the Chiloé Archipelago all the Chilean territory south of Bío Bío River became free of Spanish rule.[3] The abandoned city of Valdivia turned into an attractive site for Spain's enemies to control since it would allow them to establish a base amidst Spain's Chilean possessions.[5]

In 1600 local Huilliches joined the Dutch corsair Baltazar de Cordes in attacking the Spanish settlement of Castro in Chiloé.[6][7] While this was an opportunistic assault, the Spanish correctly believed the Dutch could attempt to ally with the Mapuches and establish a stronghold in southern Chile.[8] Over time the Spanish became aware of actual Dutch plans to establish themselves at the ruins of Valdivia and so attempted to re-establish Spanish rule there before the arrival of the Dutch.[9] These efforts were thwarted in the 1630s by the impossibility of establishing an overland route through the territory of the hostile Mapuches. The ruins of Valdivia, at the head of its splendid natural harbour, remained a tempting target for Spain's enemies.[9]

In 1643 the Dutch arrived at the ruins and settled in the zone, planning to use Valdivia as a base for attacks on the Spanish empire. After some conflicts with the Mapuche Indians of the zone, the Dutch had to leave Valdivia.

Unaware of the Dutch departure Governor of Chile Francisco López de Zúñiga dispatched Juan de Acevedo in charge of a ship to Valdivia to gather information on April 30, 1644. De Acevedo reached Corral Bay by May noticing that the Dutch were nowhere to be found.[10][11] Having heard from the now pro-Spanish Mapuche chief Juan Manqueante that the Dutch planned to return, Pedro de Toledo conceived an occupation of Valdivia by a synchronous advance by the Spanish army in Chile by land and by a fleet sent from Peru.[12] De Toledo ordered 2,000 men to march over land from Central Chile to resettle Valdivia and fortify it. These troops penetrated Mapuche territory following the coast south and reached Toltén River on February 9, 1645.[12] Reaching so far south was a feat in itself since the Spanish had not been around these places in the last 50 years.[12] At this point the army had met considerable harassment from the Mapuches.[12] The killing of scouting auxiliaries in conjunction with uncertainty regarding the arrival by sea of the Spanish from Peru made López de Zúñiga retreat back north.[12][upper-alpha 1] De Toledo's naval expedition was made up of twenty ships and 1,000 men from El Callao in Peru. The large fleet, which gained a further two ships in Chile, was unprecedented in the region and astounded contemporary observers. It arrived at Valdivia in February 1645 without incident and disembarked the soldiers with their equipment and supplies. The Spanish disinterred and burned Brouwer's body.[13][14]

The soldiers of the new garrison and the artisans dispatched with them commenced construction of a system of defensive fortifications. These would become the Valdivian Fort System, the most important defensive complex of the American South Pacific coast. It is an exceptional example of the Hispanic-American school of fortification.[13] Spanish authorities had convicts from all-over the Viceroyalty of Peru sent to build the for system, with the Spanish settlements in Corral Bay effectively becomening penal colonies.[15] To avoid prisoner escapes the Spanish reached agreements with local Mapuches paying them for the recovery of fugitives.[15] The convicts, many of whom were Afro-Peruvians, became later soldier-settlers once they had served their sentence.[15] A 1749 census in Valdivia shows that a Afro-descendants had a strong presence in the area.[15] In the 17th century Spanish soldiers lived together with local Mapuche in the fort, some of whom were slaves.[16] Close contacts with the Mapuches made that many soldiers and prisoners had a certain command of Mapuche language.[16]

The building and maintenance of the fortifications was a heavy burden for the Spanish colonial finances but this was felt necessary in order to defend the southern approaches to Peru, the colony which, along with Mexico, constituted the main source of wealth for the Spanish Crown.[13] Investments in the defense of Corral Bay were validated in 1670 when a fully armed ship commanded by John Narborough arrived to the bay rising suspicions of an imminent English attack.[16]

As Futahuillimapu and the whole area between Valdivia and the settlements of Calbuco and Carelmapu remained independent indigenous territory closed to the Spanish, the Spanish had to rely on hearsay for information. This lack of concrete knowledge of the territory fueled substantial speculations about the mythical City of the Caesars among Valdivians.[16]

In the second half of the 18th century, a thorough plan was carried forward for restoring and improving the fortresses. The engineers José Birt and Juan Garland were commissioned for the task. The defensive complex of Valdivia reached the point of having 17 bastions, with surveillance installations, castles, fortresses and batteries. This complex would exert during the Colony a thoroughly efficacious deterrent effect, since, in fact, it frustrated the raids of the rival powers.

Niebla Fort's former headquarter (now a museum), during a representation of the capture of Valdivia

Paradoxically, those who took these defenses to pieces weren't the European enemies, but the independentist patriots. At the time of Chilean independence Valdivia remained a Spanish stronghold, and was perceived as threat to Chile's independence by Lord Cochrane, admiral of the Chilean navy who captured the forts in 1820 without facing the batteries by using a surprise land assault. Valdivia surrendered when the news about the fall of Corral Fort came.

• Barros Arana, Diego. "Capítulo XI". Historia general de Chile (in Spanish). Tomo cuarto (Digital edition based on the second edition of 2000 ed.). Alicante: Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• Bengoa, José (2003). Historia de los antiguos mapuches del sur (in Spanish). Santiago: Catalonia. ISBN 978-956-8303-02-0.
• Clark Berger, Eugene (2006). Permanent war on Peru's periphery: Frontier identity and the politics of conflict in 17th century Chile (PDF) (Ph.D.). Vanderbilt University. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
• Dillehay, Tom (2007). Monuments, empires, and resistance: The Araucanian polity and ritual narratives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-110-7407-74-9.
• Lane, Kris E. (1998). Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500–1750. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-76560-256-5.
• Medina, J. T. (1928). Feliú Cruz, Guillermo (ed.). Opúsculos varios (PDF) (in Spanish). III. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universitaria. OCLC 31175378.
• Montt Pinto, Isabel (1971). Breve Historia de Valdivia (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Francisco de Aguirre. OCLC 1397610. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
• de Rosales, Diego (1878). Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamín (ed.). Historia general de el reyno de Chile. Flandes indiano (PDF) (in Spanish). III. Valparaíso: Imprenta de El Mercurio. OCLC 55283128.
• Villalobos, Sergio; Silva, Osvaldo; Silva, Fernando; Estelle, Patricio (1974). Historia de Chile (in Spanish) (14th ed.). Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria. ISBN 978-956-11-1163-9.
• Flandes Indiano, Las Fortificaciones del Reino de Chile (1541–1826), Ediciones Universidad Catolica de Chile
• Lane, Kris E. (1998). Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500–1750. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-76560-256-5.