Royal Governor of Chile

Last updated February 27, 2025

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.^[1]

List of governors

Name	Entered office	Exited office	Notes	Appointed by
Pedro de Valdivia	11 June 1540	December 1547		Charles V
Francisco de Villagra	December 1547	20 July 1549
Pedro de Valdivia	20 July 1549	25 December 1553	Killed at the Battle of Tucapel.
Rodrigo de Quiroga	25 December 1553	February 1555
Francisco de Villagra			Triumvirate
Francisco de Aguirre
Cabildos of Chile	February 1555	23 May 1556	The cities of Chile governed themselves while the dispute over the governorship was settled by the Real Audiencia in Lima.
	February 1555	23 May 1556		Philip II
Francisco de Villagra	23 May 1556	April 1557
García Hurtado de Mendoza	April 1557	February 1561
Francisco de Villagra	February 1561	June 1563
Pedro de Villagra	June 1563	June 1565
Rodrigo de Quiroga	June 1565	August 1567
Real Audiencia of Chile	August 1567	August 1568
Melchor Bravo de Saravia	August 1568	January 1575
Rodrigo de Quiroga	January 1575	February 1580
Martín Ruiz de Gamboa	February 1580	July 1583
Alonso de Sotomayor	September 1583	July 1592
Pedro de Viscarra	July 1592	October 1592
Martín García Óñez de Loyola	October 1592	December 1598	Killed at the Disaster of Curalaba
	October 1592	December 1598	Killed at the Disaster of Curalaba	Philip III
Pedro de Viscarra de la Barrera	December 1598	May 1599
Francisco de Quiñónez	May 1599	July 1600
Alonso García de Ramón	July 1600	February 1601
Alonso de Ribera de Pareja	February 1601	March 1605
Alonso García de Ramón	March 1605	2 September 1610
Luis Merlo de la Fuente Ruiz de Beteta	2 September 1610	January 1611
Juan Jaraquemada	January 1611	27 March 1612
Alonso de Ribera de Pareja	27 March 1612	9 March 1617
Fernando Talaverano Gallegos	9 March 1617	14January 1618
Lope de Ulloa y Lemos	14 January 1618	8 December 1620
Cristóbal de la Cerda y Sotomayor	8 December 1620	November 1621
Cristóbal de la Cerda y Sotomayor	8 December 1620	November 1621		Philip IV
Pedro Osores de Ulloa	November 1621	September 1624
Francisco de Álava y Nureña	September 1624	May 1625
Luis Fernández de Córdoba y Arce	May 1625	December 1629
Francisco Laso de la Vega	December 1629	May 1639
Francisco López de Zúñiga 2nd Marquis of Baides	May 1639	May 1646
Martín de Mujica y Buitrón	May 1646	April 1649
Alonso de Figueroa y Córdoba	April 1649	May 1650
Francisco Antonio de Acuña Cabrera y Bayona	May 1650	January 1656
Pedro Porter Casanate	January 1656	February 1662
Diego González Montero Justiniano	February 1662	May 1662
Ángel de Peredo	May 1662	January 1664
Francisco de Meneses Brito	January 1664	1667
Francisco de Meneses Brito	January 1664	1667		Charles II
Diego Dávila Coello y Pacheco 1st Marquis of Navamorcuende	1667	February 1670
Diego González Montero Justiniano	February 1670	October 1670
Juan Henríquez de Villalobos	October 1670	April 1682
Marcos José de Garro Senei de Artola	April 1682	January 1692
Tomás Marín de Poveda 1st Marquis of Cañada Hermosa	January 1692	December 1700
Tomás Marín de Poveda 1st Marquis of Cañada Hermosa	January 1692	December 1700		Philip V
Francisco Ibáñez de Segovia y Peralta	December 1700	February 1709
Juan Andrés de Ustariz	February 1709	December 1716
José de Santiago Concha y Salvatierra	December 1716	17 December 1717
	17 December 1717	11 November 1733
Gabriel Cano y Aponte				Luis I

Francisco de Sánchez de la Barreda	11 November 1733	May 1734
Manuel Silvestre de Salamanca Cano	May 1734	November 1737
José Antonio Manso de Velasco Count of Superunda	November 1737	June 1744
Francisco José de Ovando 1st Marquis of Brindisi	June 1745	25 March 1746
Domingo Ortíz de Rosas 1st Marquis of Poblaciones	25 March 1746	28 December 1755
	25 March 1746	28 December 1755		Ferdinand VI
Manuel de Amat y Junyent	28 December 1755	9 September 1761		Ferdinand VI
	28 December 1755	9 September 1761		Charles III
Félix de Berroeta	September 1761	October 1762
Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga	October 1762	August 1768
Juan de Balmaseda	August 1768	March 1770
Francisco Javier de Morales	March 1770	March 1772

Governors and captains general of Chile

Name	Entered office	Exited office	Notes	Appointed by
Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa	March 1772	July 1780		Charles III
Tomás Álvarez de Acevedo Ordaz	July 1780	12 December 1780	Interim
Ambrosio de Benavides	12 December 1780	27 April 1787
Tomás Álvarez de Acevedo Ordaz	27 April 1787	16 May 1788	Interim

Appointed by Charles IV

Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno: (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:

Gabino Gaínza Fernández de Medrano: 19 July 1814 – 26 December 1814
Mariano Osorio (Interim): (2 October 1814 – 26 December 1815)
Francisco Marcó del Pont Ángel Díaz y Méndez: (26 December 1815 – 12 February 1817)

References

↑ Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto; Villaroel Carmona, Rafael; Lepe Orellana, Jaime; Fuente-Alba Poblete, J. Miguel; Fuenzalida Helms, Eduardo (1997). Historia militar de Chile (in Spanish) (3rd ed.). Biblioteca Militar. p. 86.

Sources

Barros Arana, Diego (1884–1902). Historia Jeneral de Chile (in Spanish). Vol. I–XVI. Santiago, Chile: Rafael Jover.
Carvallo y Goyeneche, Vicente (1875). José Toribio Medina; Diego Barros Arana; Francisco Solano Asta Buruaga y Cienfuegos; Miguel Luis Amunátegui; Luis Montt (eds.). Descripcion Histórico-Geográfica del Reino de Chile. Coleccíon de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional Vol. 9 (in Spanish). Vol. II. Santiago, Chile: Imprenta del Ferrocarril.
Medina, José Toribio (1906). Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Imprenta Elziviriana. pp. 331–332.

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[pinochetetal83-1] Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto; Villaroel Carmona, Rafael; Lepe Orellana, Jaime; Fuente-Alba Poblete, J. Miguel; Fuenzalida Helms, Eduardo (1997). Historia militar de Chile (in Spanish) (3rd ed.). Biblioteca Militar. p. 86.

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