Diego Dávila Coello y Pacheco

Diego Dávila Coello y Pacheco , Marqués de Navalmorquende, Señor de Cardiel, el Bodón, Montalvo, el Hito y Villar de Cañas (* around 1620 in Spain , † around 1680 ) was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served temporarily from 1667 to 1670 as Governor of Chile was in office.

Life

Dávila was born in Spain to Gonzalo Dávila Coello and his wife Mariana de Castilla y Pedrosa. He married Maria Teresa de Vilhena, the daughter of the Viceroy of Sicily , Francisco de Melo .

In Spain he went through several positions in the administration until he was appointed commander of the Callao garrison in Peru . To take over this office, he came to Lima in November 1667 , but was sent there by the new Viceroy Pedro Antonio Fernández , the Conde de Lemos, as interim governor to Chile after the allegations against Francisco de Meneses Brito had led to his removal. He reached Santiago on March 27, 1668.

One of his first official duties was the extensive legal process against his predecessor, which was to last three years. Dávila struggled to get the administration back on track. He promoted agriculture and viticulture and prevented the emigration of farm workers by prohibiting the sale of slaves from Chile to neighboring provinces.

On May 13, 1668, he left Santiago and made his way south, where the colonial rulers found themselves in a permanent war with the Mapuche . There he commanded together with his Maestre de Campo , Ignacio Carrera, in 1668 and 1669 the fighting against the rebellious Indians.

At the beginning of 1670 the Viceroy had him called to Lima because he was awaiting an appointment to a regular governor's post from the regent Maria Anna . He handed over the office until further notice to Diego González Montero and left Concepción . He never returned to Europe and left no heir.

literature

• José Toribio Medina : Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile . Imprenta Elziviriana, Santiago, Chile 1906, p. 235–236 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [PDF; accessed June 15, 2010]).
• Diego Barros Arana : Historia General de Chile . tape 4 . Editorial Universitaria, Santiago de Chile 2001, p. 87-92 (Spanish, memoriachilena.cl [accessed June 24, 2010] first edition: 1886).

Web links

• Entry in the list of rulers of Chile (Spanish)