Editing Diego de Almagro (section)

== Discovery of Chile ==
{{Main|Discovery of Chile}}
[[File:Descubrimiento de Chile por Diego de Almagro.jpg|thumb|right|Almagro takes possession of Chile in the valley of Copiapó<br>''painting from first half 20th century'']]

=== The preparations ===
[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] had given Diego a grant extending two hundred [[league (unit)|leagues]] south of Francisco Pizarro's. Francisco and Diego concluded a new contract on 12 June 1535, in which they agreed to share future discoveries equally. Diego raised an expedition for Chile, expecting it "would lead to even greater riches than they had found in Peru."<ref name=Prescott/>{{rp|230,233–234}} Almagro prepared the way by sending ahead three of his Spanish soldiers, the religious chief of the Inca empire, [[Willaq Umu]], and Paullo Topa, brother of [[Manco Inca Yupanqui]]. De Almagro sent [[Juan de Saavedra]] forward with one hundred and fifty men, and soon followed them with additional forces.<ref name=Prescott/>{{rp|230,233–234}} Saavedra established on January 23, 1535, the first Spanish settlement in Bolivia near the [[Inca Empire|Inca]] regional capital of [[Paria, Bolivia|Paria]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--|year=-->|title=Hace 476 años el Capitán Juan de Saavedra fundó Paria la Nueva|journal=La Patria|url=http://www.lapatriaenlinea.com/?nota=56188|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629174223/http://www.lapatriaenlinea.com/?nota=56188|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 29, 2016|accessdate=10 June 2016}}</ref>

===Following the Inca Trail and crossing the Andes===
Almagro left Cuzco on July 3, 1535, with his supporters and stopped at Moina until the 20th of that month. Meanwhile, Francisco Pizarro's brother, Juan Pizarro, had arrested Inca [[Manco Inca Yupanqui]], further complicating De Almagro's plans as it heavily increased the dissatisfaction of the Indians submitted to Spanish rule. Not having formally been appointed governor of any territories in the [[Capitulation of Toledo]] in 1528, however, forcing him to declare himself ''adelantado'' (governor) of Nueva Toledo, or southern Peru and present-day Chile. Some sources suggest Almagro received such a requirement in 1534 by the Spanish king and was officially declared governor of New Toledo.

Once he left Moina, De Almagro followed the Inca trail followed by 750 Spaniards deciding to join him in quest for the gold lost in the [[Ransom Room|ransom of Atahualpa]], which had mainly benefited the Pizarro brothers and their supporters. After crossing the Bolivian mountain range and traveling past [[Lake Titicaca]], Almagro arrived on the shores of the [[Desaguadero River (Bolivia)|Desaguadero River]] and finally set up camp in Tupiza. From there, the expedition stopped at [[Chicoana]] and then turned to the southeast to cross the [[Andes]] mountains.

The expedition turned out to be a difficult and exhausting endeavor. The hardest phase was the crossing of the Andean cordilleras: the cold, hunger and tiredness meant the death of various Spanish and natives, but mainly slaves who were not accustomed to such rigorous climate.<ref name=Prescott/>{{rp|252–253}}

Upon this point, De Almagro determined everything was a failure. He ordered a small group under [[Rodrigo Orgóñez]] on a [[reconnaissance]] of the country to the south.<ref name=Prescott/>{{rp|253}}

By luck, these men found the Valley of [[Copiapó]], where Gonzalo Calvo Barrientos, a Spanish soldier whom Pizarro had expelled from Peru for stealing objects the Inca had offered for his ransom, had already established a friendship with the local natives. There, in the valley of the river Copiapó, Almagro took official possession of Chile and claimed it in the name of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|King Charles V]].