Jerónimo de Alderete
Jerónimo de Alderete or Gerónimo de Alderete (* 1519 in Olmedo, Spain, † April 7, 1556 in Taboga, Panama ) was a Spanish conquistador in Venezuela, Peru and Chile, and a close confidant of Pedro de Valdivia.
Jerónimo de Alderete was born in 1519 in Olmedo in Spain. He was the son of Francisco de Mercado and Isabel de Alderete. According Central America he probably came with a caravel, which transported under the command of Captain Juan Fernandez de Alderete his cousin's 200 soldiers for the governor Jerónimo de Ortal by pariah in today's Venezuela, and in October 1534 ended in Seville. He was a close friend of Pedro de Valdivia, who later became governor, and conquistador of Chile, who accompanied him on this trip. Both took part in the Conquest of Venezuela. An attempt to join the German Conquistador Nikolaus spring man failed.
Jerónimo de Alderete came to Peru, when Francisco Pizarro founded Lima and participated there at the Conquest of the province Chunchos. End of 1540, when he learned that Pedro de Valdivia was traveling with an expedition to Chile, he joined this. After the founding of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, the capital of Chile, he was appointed by the colonial city government several times mayor. 1544 he sailed with Captain Juan Bautista de Pastene of Valparaíso on the Chilean coast to 41 ° South and took the intervening areas on behalf and in the name of Pedro de Valdivia in possession. The end of 1547 he accompanied Pedro de Valdivia to Peru, where both sides took part on the royalist Spanish troops at the Battle of Xaquixaguana in which the rebel Gonzalo Pizarro was beaten. 1549, back in Chile, was Jerónimo de Alderete by Valdivia appointed deputy captain general and fought in the Conquest of Araucania. In April 1552 Jerónimo de Alderete founded the city of Villarrica on behalf of Valdivia. From there he made a vain attempt to reach the South Atlantic after a crossing of the Andes.
In October 1552 Valdivia sent him to Spain to report to the king about the successes of the Conquest of Chile. On the way back he should bring Valdivia wife Marina de Gaete. During his stay in Spain Valdivia died and after some bureaucratic delays Jerónimo de Alderete was appointed in 1555 to his successor and governor of Chile. On his return to Chile Jerónimo de Alderete died on April 7, 1556 on the Pacific island of Taboga in Panama. He was married to Esperanza de Rueda and had a son named Diego de Alderete.