User:Dentren/Dutch occupation of Valdivia

In 1643 the Spanish ruins of Valdivia were occupied by a Dutch force in command of Elias Herckman. The Dutch colony was named Brouwershaven. The Dutch did not find the gold mines they expected and the hostility of the natives forced them to leave on 28 October 1643.

Background
In the years following the Battle of Curalaba (1598) a general uprising developed among Mapuches and Huilliches. The Spanish cities of Angol, La Imperial, Osorno, Santa Cruz de Oñez, Valdivia and Villarrica were either destroyed or abandoned. Only Chillán and Concepción resisted the Mapuche sieges and attacks. With the exception of Chiloé Archipelago all the Chilean territory south of Bío Bío River became free of Spanish rule.

Chiloé did however also suffer Mapuche (Huilliche) attacks when in 1600 local Huilliche joined the Dutch corsair Baltazar de Cordes to attack the Spanish settlement of Castro. While this was a sporadic attack the Spanish believed the Dutch could attempt to ally the Mapuches and establish a stronghold in southern Chile. The Spanish knew of the Dutch plans to establish themselves at the ruins of Valdivia so they attempted to re-establish Spanish rule there before the Dutch arrived again. The Spanish attempts were thwarted in the 1630s when Mapuches did not allow the Spanish to pass by their territory.

Occupation
In 1642, the Dutch East India Company joined the Dutch West Indies Company in organizing an expedition to Chile to establish a base for trading gold at the abandoned ruins of Valdivia. The fleet sailed from Dutch Brazil where John Maurice of Nassau provided them with supplies. While rounding Cape Horn, the expedition established that Staten Island was not part of the unknown Southern land. After landing on Chiloe Island, Brouwer made a pact with the Mapuche (then known as the Araucanians) to aid in establishing a resettlement at Valdivia. However, on August 7, 1643 Hendrik died (at the age of 62) before arriving, and was succeeded by his vice-admiral Elias Herckman, who landed at the ruins of Valdivia on August 24. Brouwer was buried in the new settlement, which Herckman named Brouwershaven after him.

The Dutch colony was settled by Dutch soldiers and allied Huilliches the Dutch bought from Chiloé Archipelago. From Valdivia the Dutch atempted to locate gold mines, forge an alliance with Mapuche tribes against the Spanish and explore Santa María Island. In Valdivia the Dutch begun the construction of a fort, nevertheless nearby Mapuches begun to distrust the Dutch and halted their delivery of food. In view of these problems on October 15 the Dutch decided to move to Mancera Island abandoning Valdivia.

The Dutch did not find the gold mines they expected and the hostility of the natives forced them to leave on 28 October 1643.

Aftermath


Having been told that the Dutch had plans to return to the location, the Spanish viceroy in Peru sent 1000 men in twenty ships (and 2000 men by land, who never made it) in 1644 to resettle Valdivia and fortify it. The Spanish soldiers in the new garrison disinterred and burned Brouwer's body.