Pedro de Avendaño (1529-1561) was a Spanish-

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

soldier who fought in the

Arauco War The Arauco War was a long-running conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people, mostly fought in the Araucanía region of Chile. The conflict began at first as a reaction to the Spanish conquerors attempting to establish cities a ...

. He was known for capturing the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

leader

Caupolicán Caupolicán (meaning ‘polished flint’ (queupu) or ‘blue quartz stone’ (Kallfulikan) in Mapudungun) was a ''toqui'' or war leader of the Mapuche people, who led the resistance of his people against the Spanish Conquistadors who invaded the ...

in 1558. Avendaño was later killed by the Mapuches in 1561. Avendaño was born around 1529 in the

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

province of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He arrived in

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 ...

in 1557 as a soldier in the guard of the new Governor García Hurtado de Mendoza. He first fought at the

Battle of Millarapue The Battle of Millarapue that occurred November 30, 1557 was intended by the Toqui Caupolicán as a Mapuche ambush of the Spanish army of García Hurtado de Mendoza that resulted in a Spanish victory when the ambush failed. History After th ...

. He later served in the garrison of the Cañete de la Frontera settlement under Captain

Alonso de Reinoso Alonso de Reinoso (or Reynoso) (1518–1567) was a Spanish Conquistador in Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Chile. He was born in Torrijos, Spain, Torrijos Toledo (province), Toledo, Spain in 1518. He was married to Catalina Flores de Riofrío before he ...

. Reinoso eventually found an Indian who revealed the secret hideout of

, the Mapuche Toki. Avendaño, with 50 Spanish cavalrymen under his command and the traitorous Indian as his guide, marched in stormy weather into the mountains to Pilmaiquén and captured Caupolicán as he was planning a new offensive against the Spaniards, on February 5, 1558. Avendaño brought the Toki back to Cañete de la Frontera, where Caupolicán was executed by impalement at the order of Captain Alonso de Reinoso. As a reward for capturing Caupolicán, Avendaño was given an

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish Labour (human activity), labour system that rewarded Conquistador, conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including mil ...

in the Purén Valley. Avendaño became notorious for his cruel treatment of the Indian workers on his encomienda. In July 1561, the Mapuches of the Purén Valley ambushed Avendaño and two other Spaniards who were visiting his encomienda, killing all three of them with axes.Rosales, Historia..., Tomo II, pg 103-104. Enrique de Flandes and Pedro Pagúete were the other two Spaniards. These Mapuches then cut off Avendaño's head and put it on a pike, and displayed it to the other Mapuches, which helped trigger the "second revolt" of the

References

Sources

* Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo
Historia de Todas las Cosas que han Acaecido en el Reino de Chile y de los que lo han gobernado (1536-1575) (History of All the Things that Have happened in the Kingdom of Chile and of those that have governed it (1536-1575)
Edición digital a partir de Crónicas del Reino de Chile, Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 75–224, (on line in Spanish) *

*

* Pedro Mariño de Lobera
Crónica del Reino de Chile, escrita por el capitán Pedro Mariño de Lobera....reducido a nuevo método y estilo por el Padre Bartolomé de Escobar. Edición digital a partir de Crónicas del Reino de Chile Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 227-562, (Biblioteca de Autores Españoles; 569-575).
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (on line in Spanish) *

* Diego de Rosales
Historia general de el Reino de Chile, Flandes Indiano, Tomo II; Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, Impr. del Mercurio, 1878.
Original from Harvard University, Digitized May 21, 2007 1561 deaths 16th-century Spanish explorers People of the Arauco War 1529 births Basque conquistadors Spanish military personnel killed in action People killed in the Arauco War Encomenderos {{Spain-mil-bio-stub