Almagro, Diego de (c. 1475–1538)

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Almagro, Diego de (c. 1475–1538)

Diego de Almagro (b. ca. 1475; d. 8 July 1538), conqueror of Peru and Chile. Almagro, illegitimate son of Juan de Montenegro and Elvira Gutiérrez, was born in Almagro, in New Castile. His first years were economically and socially difficult ones, and in 1514 he left for the Indies in search of fortune. He participated with some distinction in minor discoveries in Castilla del Oro and became a close associate of Francisco Pizarro, another dynamic social-misfit soldier of fortune. With some financial assistance from cleric Hernando de Luque, who may have been representing a silent partner, the two men began making plans to explore South America's west coast, widely believed to be the seat of an empire of great riches.

Pizarro set sail southward from the Isthmus of Panama in the first expedition of 1524; Almagro, responsible for maintaining supplies, followed behind, covering much the same route and suffering hardships similar to those of the Pizarro group. In an encounter with the cacique (chief) of Las Piedras, Almagro lost an eye at Pueblo Quemado. On the second expedition (1526), which was jointly planned with Pizarro, neither the leaders nor their men got along well. When Almagro returned to the isthmus for more troops and supplies, he inadvertently carried notice of the discontent. When the governor of Panama got wind of the situation, he recalled both men. In the meantime, Pizarro was able to secure enough evidence of wealth to convince the official that a third and more massive attempt was warranted.

At this juncture Pizarro returned to Spain and procured an agreement with the crown that made him chief commander of the expedition, leaving Luque as bishop of Tumbes. Almagro, who received relatively minor offices in the north, remained on the isthmus ill, perhaps with syphillis, as Pizarro started the third expedition near the end of 1530. By the time Almagro and his men were able to reach Pizarro at Cajamarca, the Inca ruler Atahualpa had already been captured and much of the wealth allocated to Pizarro's men. Almagro did secure appointment as the chief commander of New Toledo, about 520 miles south of Pizarro's New Castile, and marched into Cuzco (Peru) on 15 November 1533.

Convinced that vast cities and wealth lay to the south, and perhaps encouraged by the duplicitous Pizarrists who wanted to be rid of him, he organized an expedition and marched southward on 3 July 1535. The group passed Lake Titicaca, crossed with great hardship and loss of life through frigid Andean passes, and entered Chile at Copiapó. The expeditionary force marched as far south as the Maule River in south-central Chile, but found no indication of the expected treasures. Instead, the Europeans were attacked by fierce Indian fighters who had eluded Inca rule.

Almagro and his men gave up and returned to Peru via the desert coastal route. The soldiers passed through what became Arequipa and marched into Cuzco on 8 April 1537, shortly after Pizarro supporters had broken the siege led by Manco Inca. Almagro and his men occupied Cuzco, believing it to be within the jurisdiction of New Toledo. Almagro, to ensure his control, imprisoned Francisco's brothers, Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro, while Friar Francisco de Bobadilla, a suspected Pizarrist, began negotiations to effect a peaceful settlement of the territorial dispute. Gonzalo Pizarro escaped jail, and Almagro freed Hernando on the condition that he return to Spain. Hernando, however, fielded a Pizarrist army that met and defeated Almagro on 6 April 1538 at Salinas, near Cuzco. Fearing an uprising of Almagro's supporters, Hernando Pizarro ordered him executed in his cell. He was buried in Cuzco's Mercedarian church.

Almagro's illegitimate mestizo son, Diego de Almagro the Younger, born in Panama in 1520 (his mother was Ana Martínez, a native of the isthmus), would later head a movement to overthrow Pizarrist domination of Peru. After the assassination of Francisco Pizarro in Lima on 26 June 1541, he governed Peru briefly, but fell to the king's forces, led by Governor Cristóval Vaca de Castro, on 16 September 1542 in the battle of Chupas, near Huamanga. He was captured and executed in Cuzco. Only twenty-two years old when he died, he was buried alongside his father in the Mercedarian church.

See alsoConquistadores; Pizarro, Francisco.