Life
Gabriel Cano was born in the town of Mora,near Toledo,the son of Juan Cano Ruiz and of Josefa de Aponte Carvajal. Cano joined the Spanish army and fought in Flanders for 33 years,rising through the ranks from Alférez to Brigadier and finally Marshal. He married María Campos,but she died in 1713 without descendants.
Due to his outstanding valor and performance during the War of the Spanish Succession he was promoted to Lieutenant General on 28 October 1715,three days later being appointed Royal Governor of Chile. [1]
MariáFrancisca Vélaz de Medrano
On 5 January 1716 he married again,this time with María Francisca Velaz de Medrano Navarra y Puelles,in the city of Pamplona. [2] María Francisca Vélaz de Medrano was 24 years old,while he was already in his fifties. She was the daughter of María de Larrea and JoséVélaz de Medrano y Navarra,4th Viscounts of Azpa,lord of Mendillori and the town of Autol. [2] The marital agreements were formalized on January 5,1716,with the bride's father contributing a dowry of 3,000 ducats,charged as an encumbrance on his entail,plus 4,000 pesos in jewelry. [2] They had two sons:JoséAntonio de Aponte y Medrano and Juan Gabriel de Aponte y Medrano. [2] They travelled together to Chile to assume his position,arriving to Santiago on 17 December 1717. [1] His wife MariáFrancisca Vélaz de Medrano was reported to be a skillful keyboard performer. [3]
As governor of Chile
In a flare up of the Arauco War he fought the Mapuche toqui Vilumilla in the Mapuche Uprising of 1723. It was ended with the Peace of Negrete in 1726.
In 1725,Governor Cano attempted to repress contraband,without complete success,due to the wit and skills of the French and Dutch merchants and the complicity of some of the Kingdom's influential citizens.
Death
As a soldier,Cano was an innovative horseman,and historians have documented Cano's "inclination for unbridled fun and equestrian exercises". On 26 July 1733,while he was participating in a game on horseback,Cano suffered an equestrian accident when he fell with his horse and was crushed by it. [4] The sequence of events that caused his death three months later are unclear,but what is clear is that Cano was badly injured and never recovered,dying on 11 November the same year.
It has been stated that a spinal lesion caused by the accident kept him bedridden for a period of three months,clear in reason and with intense pain,before his death. However,there is no evidence that conveys any typical sign associated to spinal injury following the accident. Therefore,it is possible that Cano suffered a complex pelvic ring fracture. The fact that he was prostrated,lucid,but suffered intense pain best sustains the hypothesis of a pelvic fracture. After the initial period,one of the most common causes of death resulting from a pelvic fracture is deep venous thrombosis with secondary pulmonary thrombo-embolism. This must have been the sequence of events that most probably caused Cano de Aponte's death. [5]
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 and force Mapuches into servitude. It subsequently evolved over time into phases comprising drawn-out sieges, slave-hunting expeditions, pillaging raids, punitive expeditions, and renewed Spanish attempts to secure lost territories. Abduction of women and war rape was common on both sides.
Toqui is a title conferred by the Mapuche on those chosen as leaders during times of war. The toqui is chosen in an assembly or parliament (coyag) of the chieftains (loncos) of various clans (Rehues) or confederation of clans (Aillarehues), allied during the war at hand. The toqui commanded strict obedience of all the warriors and their loncos during the war, would organize them into units and appoint leaders over them. This command would continue until the toqui was killed, abdicated (Cayancaru), was deposed in another parliament, or upon completion of the war for which he was chosen.
The royal governor of Chile ruled over the Spanish colonial administrative district called the Captaincy General of Chile, and as a result the royal governor also held the title of a captain general. There were 66 such governors or captains during the Spanish conquest 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.
Don Martín García Óñez de Loyola was a Spanish-Basque soldier and Royal Governor of Colonial Chile. He was the grand-nephew of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.
Francisco López de Zúñiga y Meneses, 2nd Marquess of Baides and Count of Pedrosa was a Spanish soldier who served as Royal Governor of Chile from May 1639 to May 1646.
Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa was a Spanish politician and soldier who served as governor of Chile (1772–80) and viceroy of Peru (1780–84).
Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche (1742–1816) was a Chilean soldier, author and historian of Basque descent, born in Valdivia. Author of the Descripcion Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile, covering the history and geography of the Captaincy General of Chile from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to 1789. The book remained unpublished for eighty years, until it was published between 1875 and 1876 by José Toribio Medina. The text is divided in two sections. In the first Carvallo narrates events beginning with the Conquest of Chile up to the year 1789. The second section consists of a description of all the provinces of the country and the customs of the Mapuche. It was published in three parts, the last in 1876.
Battle of Peteroa was a battle in the Arauco War in 1556, in a plain beside a river in the Mataquito River valley, called Peteroa. The battle was between the Spanish forces of Pedro de Villagra, and Mapuche headed by their toqui Lautaro.
The Conquest of Chile is a period in Chilean historiography that starts with the arrival of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile in 1541 and ends with the death of Martín García Óñez de Loyola in the Battle of Curalaba in 1598, and the subsequent destruction of the Seven Cities in 1598–1604 in the Araucanía region.
The Battle of Mataquito was fought in the Arauco War on April 30, 1557, between the forces of the Spanish governor, Francisco de Villagra, and Mapuche headed by their toqui Lautaro. It was a surprise attack, carried out at dawn, on Lautaro's fortified camp between a wooded mountain and the shore of the Mataquito River. The battle is notable for ending Mapuche designs on Santiago, while also avenging the death of former governor Pedro de Valdivia, who had been killed by Lautaro's warriors four years earlier.
Vilumilla was the Mapuche Toqui elected in 1722 to lead the Mapuche Uprising of 1723 against the Spanish for their violation of the peace.
Lientur was the Mapuche toqui from 1618 to 1625. He was the successor to Loncothegua. Lientur with his vice toqui Levipillan was famed for his rapid malóns or raids. Because of his ability to slip back and forth over the Spanish border between its fortresses and patrols and raid deep into Spanish territory north of the Bio-Bio River without losses he was called the Wizard by the Spanish.
Loble, also known as Lig-lemu or Lillemu,(d. ca. 1565) was the Mapuche vice-toqui of the Moluche north of the Bio-Bio River who led the second Mapuche revolt during the Arauco War.
Juan Henríquez de Villalobos ; Spanish soldier and administrator who, after participation in various European wars, was designated as governor of Chile by Mariana of Austria. In this position, between October 1670 and April 1682, he became, according to Chilean historiography, the epítome of the corrupt and nepotistic governor. His government tenure was darkened by a long series of litigations and accusations by oidores of the Real Audiencia of Santiago and other vecinos of the colony. He was one of the governors who left the position richer than he began, with not less than 900 thousand pesos, according to Jose Toribio Medina.
Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as Royal Governor of Panama and Royal Governor of Chile.
Lebian (Lebiantu) was toqui from 1769 to 1774, who led the Pehuenche against the Spanish Empire in Chile following the Mapuche Uprising of 1766 during the Arauco War.
Tomás Antonio Álvarez de Acevedo Ordaz was a Spanish colonial administrator who twice served as interim Royal Governor of Chile, first in 1780 and again between 1787 and 1788.
Ambrosio de Benavides Medina Liñán y Torres was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as Royal Governor of Puerto Rico, Royal Governor of Charcas and Royal Governor of Chile.
In Chilean historiography, Colonial Chile is the period from 1600 to 1810, beginning with the Destruction of the Seven Cities and ending with the onset of the Chilean War of Independence. During this time, the Chilean heartland was ruled by Captaincy General of Chile. The period was characterized by a lengthy conflict between Spaniards and native Mapuches known as the Arauco War. Colonial society was divided in distinct groups including Peninsulars, Criollos, Mestizos, Indians and Black people.
Inca rule in Chile was brief, it lasted from the 1470s to the 1530s when the Inca Empire was absorbed by Spain. The main settlements of the Inca Empire in Chile lay along the Aconcagua, Mapocho and Maipo rivers. Quillota in Aconcagua Valley was likely the Incas' foremost settlement. The bulk of the people conquered by the Incas in Central Chile were Diaguitas and part of the Promaucae. Incas appear to have distinguished between a "province of Chile" and a "province of Copayapo" neighboring it to the north. In Aconcagua Valley the Incas settled people from the areas of Arequipa and possibly also the Lake Titicaca.
