The Royal Governor of Chile ruled over the Spanish colonial administrative district called the

Captaincy General of Chile The Captaincy General of Chile (''Capitanía General de Chile'' ) or Governorate of Chile (known colloquially and unofficially as the Kingdom of Chile), was a territory of the Spanish Empire from 1541 to 1817 that was, for most of its existenc ...

, and as a result the Royal Governor also held the title of a

Captain General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Comma ...

. There were 66 such governors or captains during the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...

and the later periods of Spanish-centered colonialism. Since the first Spanish–Mapuche parliaments in the 17th century it became an almost mandatory tradition for each governor to arrange a parliament with the

Mapuches The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sh ...

List of governors

Governors and captains general of Chile

Appointed by Charles IV

Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno Ambrosio Bernardo O'Higgins y O'Higgins, 1st Marquess of Osorno (c. 1720 – 19 March 1801) born Ambrose Bernard O'Higgins (''Ambrós Bearnárd Ó hUiginn'', in Irish), was an Irish-Spanish colonial administrator and a member of the O'Higgins fa ...

: (May 1788 – May 1796) * José de Rezabal y Ugarte (Interim): (May 1796 – September 1796) * Gabriel de Avilés, 2nd Marquis of Avilés: (18 September 1796 – 21 January 1799) * Joaquín del Pino Sánchez de Rojas: (January 1799 – April 1801) * José de Santiago Concha Jiménez Lobatón (Interim): (April 1801 – December 1801) * Francisco Tadeo Diez de Medina Vidanges (Interim): (December 1801 – January 1802) * Luis Muñoz de Guzmán: (January 1802 – February 1808)

Appointed by Ferdinand VII

* Juan Rodríguez Ballesteros (Interim): (February 1808 – April 1808) * Francisco Antonio García Carrasco Díaz: (April 1808 – July 1810) *(Dissolved 1810-1814 Patria Vieja) :Period of the Reconquista Española: Governors and Captains General: * Mariano Osorio (Interim): (2 October 1814 – 26 December 1815) * Francisco Marcó del Pont Ángel Díaz y Méndez: (26 December 1815 – 12 February 1817)

References

Sources

* * * {{refend * History of Chile Royal Governor

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

16th-century Chilean people 17th-century Chilean people 18th-century Chilean people 1540 establishments in the Spanish Empire Chile history-related lists