Alonso de Figueroa y Cordoba

Alonso de Figueroa y Córdoba (* around 1584 in Spain ; † 1652 ) was a Spanish officer who temporarily served as governor of Chile .

Life

Figueroa was probably born in 1584. Around 1600 he entered the service of the Spanish crown, in 1605 he came to Chile. His military career was steady, but without any particular heroism. He was without his own fortune, but married, had three sons and several daughters. In 1627 he was promoted to Maestre de Campo , the governor's military deputy.

When the governor Martín de Mujica y Buitrón died in April 1649, the two people who had been chosen as successors were also dead. The Real Audiencia of Chile had to choose between two candidates with equal rights; in addition to Figueroa, Oidor Nicolás Polanco Santillana was also in the election. In the end, the Audiencia decided in favor of Figueroa.

His brief tenure was largely shaped by the war against the Indians in the south.

The new Viceroy García Sarmiento de Sotomayor in Lima did not confirm the appointment, but sent his protégé Antonio de Acuña Cabrera to Chile, who arrived in Concepción on May 4, 1650 and took over the office.

Figueroa died two years later. His grandson is the Chilean historian Pedro de Córdoba y Figueroa .

literature

• José Toribio Medina : Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile . Imprenta Elziviriana, Santiago, Chile 1906, p. 309–310 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [PDF; accessed June 15, 2010]).
• Diego Barros Arana : Historia General de Chile . tape 4 . Editorial Universitaria, Santiago de Chile 2001, p. 334–336 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [accessed June 10, 2010] First edition: 1886).

Web links

• Guillermo Coz y Méndez: Historia de Concepción ( Spanish ). Retrieved July 23, 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Coz y Méndez, footnote 98 in Chapter XII
2. ↑ Medina (p. 309) mentions that in 1642 he was in the royal service for more than forty years. Barros Arana (p. 334) writes that Figueroa had been a soldier since he was sixteen.
3. ^ Medina, p. 310