San Pedro was established during the Conquest of Chile first as fort "la Candelaria" which was destroyed following the death of Governor Martín García Óñez de Loyola in 1599. It was rebuilt as part of La Frontera by Alonso de Ribera as fort "San Pedro de la Paz" in 1603. A small settlement grew up around it. During the Chilean War of Independence the town was burned in 1821, by the royalist Juan Manuel Picó on the order of Vicente Benavides during the Battle of San Pedro. The fort was ruined by the 1835 Concepción earthquake.