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Summary

Grant of an Encomienda by Pedro de Valdivia, the Conqueror of Chile, to his Mistress, doña Inés Suárez, 1544.

You, doña Inés Suárez, came with me to these provinces to serve his Majesty there, undergoing toil and fatigue as much because of the length of our overland journey as for some encounters which we had with Indians, and hunger and other hardships suffered before arriving where we founded the city of Santiago de Chile. These things were diffi cult for the men to survive, and so much more so for a woman as delicate as you. In addition to this, when the Indians rose up and besieged this city, and were almost about to carry it off, your good efforts and work was part of the reason that they were not successful, for all the Christians in the city were fighting so hard against the enemy that they forgot about the Indian chiefs who were imprisoned which was the main reason that the Indians had come to force their release. And you, stealing your courage, ordered that the chiefs be killed, which was the reason that most of the Indians stopped fighting and left the city when they saw that their leaders were dead. And it is certain that if they had not died and had instead been freed, there would not be one Spaniard alive in the entire city today, and Spaniards throughout the land would only be able to survive with much effort.