Quick Facts
Biography
Juan de Saavedra (? in Valparaíso de Arriba, Cuenca, Spain – May 21, 1554 in Chuquinga, Peru) was a Spanish conquistador in Peru and Chile, and the discoverer of the site of Valparaíso, Chile.
Biography
Saavedra was a soldier in the command of Diego de Almagro. In the first expedition to Chile, in 1535, Almagro sent Saavedra to reconnoiter the coast of Chile, in the ship that had brought reinforcements from Peru. Saavedra sailed as far as Alimapu, which he named Valparaíso after the town of his birth in Spain.
On his return from this expedition, Hernando Pizarro tried to enlist him in his cause in the Peruvian civil war, but Saavedra did not want to take sides. When he learned that Cristóbal Vaca de Castro had arrived in Peru as royal governor with full powers, he joined with him. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Chupas on September 16, 1542, in which Almagro was defeated.
Saavedra died in Peru in 1554. After his death he was interred in the Church of San Miguel Arcánel de Valparaíso de Arriba.