Santiago Chile

Santiago City has a very interesting history. When the Spanish first came over, explorers declared there wasn't much in what is now Santiago (no gold, silver, anything of value). But another explorer, by the name of Valdivia, convinced Spain that he could make something of it. Given the green light (so to speak) he started to build his city and army. 

The story goes that Valdivia took young indigenous Mapuches males as captives and then groomed them to become members of his own army- including a guy named Lautaro . But a few years later, when Valdivia had to go off fighting down south, young Lautaro  showed his true colours, switching sides, becoming leader of the indigenous resistance and destroying the town. Valdivia comes back- gets real mad and starts killing and persecuting the Mapuche. These two guys get into some nasty skirmishes for several years until Lautaro kills and skins Valdivia, then eats his heart. Unfortunately for the Mapuche, persecution continued for quite some time.

There are two statues in the city depicting the history. First, for the Indigenous people, this statue-

It shows the broken face of a Mapuche man and is a tribute to the bravery of the original inhabitants of Chile. The face is partly cut off representing the suffering they have endured since the Spanish arrival.

Next, Valdivia gets credit for founding Santiago with a huge statue in his name:

But if you look closely, the statue has no reigns on the horse and shows Valdivia the way the indigenous see him, as a leader with no control over the direction of what he was doing!

Another interesting part of history which, fairly current, is the overthrow of 1973 government by the army headed by Pinochet:

This is the Presidential Palace and in the 1973 overthrow, there were 4 tanks at these front gates. Pinochet gave President Salvador Allende 10 minutes to step down or they were going to bomb to get in. Allende immediately goes on air and broadcasts his last message on radio; the front doors were blasted along with the Air Force bombing the palace and Allende was found dead. 

To this day, it is uncertain if Allende died of the bombs or if he took his life.

Pinochet then ruled for the next 17 years as a ruthless dictator. His brutal rule is my next blog.