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History of Valdivia


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ldivia, and he assigned Alcaldes and a town council."

After Pedro de Valdivia's death, the war with the Mapuches, called the War of Arauco, continued as the Spanish made many attempts to defeat the Mapuche and defend the cities and forts built on their territory. On March 17 of 1575 the city was damaged by an earthquake similar to the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960.[] Until 1575 the Huilliches of Valdivia had not made any notable resistance against their new rulers. They had even fought as Indios amigos with the Spanish against the northern Mapucuhes in the Arauco War. But that year 4,000 Indians that had been fighting in Mart�n Ruiz de Gamboa's army rebelled when they returned to the surroundings of Valdivia.

Picture of Pedro de Valdivia, conquistador of Chile and founder of Valdivia

During the 16th century the economy of Valdivia was sustained by commerce of agricultural products from nearby areas and by coining and export ofplacer gold from Villarrica, Madre de Dios and Osorno. All this gold was called gold from Valdivia in Lima and the rest of Chile. Many merchants of Lima had envoys in Valdivia and the city developed a large ship building industry which produced the largest ships in the Kingdom of Chile.

After the demoralising Battle of Curalaba in 1598, in which the Mapuches killed governor ��ez de Loyola, the Mapuches and Huilliches made a mass rebellion. The Indians proceeded to destroy or force the abandonment of all the Spanish settlements and forts in their lands, in what came to be known as the Destruction of the Seven Cities. On the morning of 24 November 1599 Huilliches entered the city and massacred its inhabitants, some few being rescued by the ships in the harbour. The border of the Spanish Empire shifted north of the B�o-B�o River, while the later refounded city of Valdivia remained a Spanish enclave surrounded by native Huilliche territory, and along with Castro, Chile on the island of Chilo�, continued to be the
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