Carlos Walker Martínez (born in

Vallenar Vallenar is a city and commune in Atacama Region, Chile. It is the capital of the Huasco Province and is located in the valley of the Huasco River. Vallenar has 52,000 inhabitants. Its main activities are farming and mining. It was founded as ...

on 2 February 1842; died in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, on 5 October 1905) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an lawyer, politician and poet.

Biography

In September 1865, he was studying law at the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, when war with Spain began, and he enlisted in the navy, participating in the engagement of Abtao, 7 February 1866. In the same year he founded the literary magazine ''La República Literaria'', at the head of which he remained while he was in Chile. He was appointed in 1867 secretary of the legation in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, was graduated in law in 1868, and traveled through

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. On his return to Chile in 1870, Walker Martínez was elected to congress for the department of Vallenar, and became secretary of the chamber of deputies. He was well known as a parliamentary orator. In 1873 he was appointed

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

of Chile in Bolivia, and in 1874 he became minister in the same republic. During the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

(1879-1883) he was president of the “Sociedad Protectora” (Protective Society) and in 1880-82 he was an editor of the journal ''El Nuevo Ferrocarril''. During the cholera epidemic of 1886-87 he was founder and president of the Red Cross society.

Works

* ''Páginas de viaje'' (Santiago, 1871) * ''Poesías líricas'' (3 vols., 1872) * ''Romances Americanos'' (2 vols., 1874) * ''Manuel Rodriguez'', a historic drama in verse (1874) * ''El Proscripto'' (1875) * ''Diego Portales'' (1877)

Notes

References