Diego de Almagro Diego de Almagro , ( c . 1475 – July 8 , 1538 ) , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo ( The Elder ) , was a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro . He participated in the Spanish conquest of Peru and is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile . Almagro lost his left eye battling with coastal natives in the New World . In 1525 he joined the Pizarro brothers and Hernándo de Luque at Panama for the conquest of Peru . First years . Diego de Almagro was born in the Spanish city of Almagro , being the illegitimate son of Juan de Montenegro and Elvira Gutiérrez . Almagro ' s parents had promised each other to get married , but ended their relationship before fulfilling this promise . By the time of their break up , Elvira was pregnant , leading her family members to conceal her pregnancy until she gave birth to Diego in 1475 . To save Elvira ' s honor , her family kept her infant and took him to the near village of Bolaños de Calatrava , and Diego was later transferred to Aldea del Rey under the tutelage of Sancha López del Peral . When Almagro turned four , he was left under the tutelage of an uncle named Hernán Gutiérrez . Due to his uncle ' s mistreatment , Almagro fled his house at the age of 15 . Upon reaching his mother , who was now living with her new husband , he informed her of what had occurred with his uncle and his plans to make a life of his own , asking her for bread and some money to live in his misery . His mother , anguished , provided him with what he asked and reputedly told him , " Here , my dear son , do not give me more passion , and leave , and let God help you in your adventure " . Almagro was later found in Seville as the servant of don Luis de Polanco , who was one of that city ' s mayors . Almagro stabbed another servant during a fight , leaving him seriously injured . He fled , not wanting to be imprisoned , and became a wanderer in Andalucia . Around this time , the news of the discovery of the New World had reached him , and he decided to enroll himself in the armada of Pedrarias Dávila . Upon his arrival in Panama , he would meet and become friends with Francisco Pizarro . Arrival in America . Almagro arrived in the New World on June 30 , 1514 , under the expedition that Ferdinand II of Aragon had sent under the guidance of Pedrarias Dávila . The expedition had landed in the city of Santa María la Antigua del Darién , Panama , where many other future conquistadors had already arrived , among them Francisco Pizarro . There are not many details of Almagro ' s activities during this period , but it is known that he accompanied various sailors that left the city of Darien between 1514 and 1515 , although Almagro eventually returned and settled in Darien and obtained an encomienda which helped him construct a house and make a living from agriculture . Almagro undertook his first conquest on November 1515 , when he left Darien in command of 260 men and founded Villa del Acla , located in the place of the same name , but due to illness he had to leave behind this mission to the licenciate Gaspar de Espinosa . Espinosa decided to undertake a new expedition , which left in December of the same year with 200 men including Almagro himself and Francisco Pizarro , who for the first time was designated as a captain . During this expedition , which lasted 14 months , Almagro , Pizarro and Hernando de Luque became close friends . Also during this time Almagro established a friendship with Vasco Núñez de Balboa , who during the time was in charge of Acla , with the intent of making a ship with the materials of the Espinosa expedition and later finish it in the " Great South Sea " as the Pacific Ocean first became known to the Spanish . However , according to current information , there are no indications that Almagro would participate in the expedition of Balboa and probably would eventually return to Darien . Almagro took part in the incursions , foundations and conquests developed in the Gulf of Panama , participating once again in the expeditions of Espinosa , who was known to travel in the ships of Balboa . Of this expedition it is only known that Almagro served as a witness to the lists of natives which Espinosa ordered to be carried . Almagro would remain in the newly founded city of Panama , helping to populate it . During four years he did not participate in new expeditions , occupying his time in the administration of his belongings and those of Pizarro . During this time Almagro ' s first son , el " Mozo " , was born , whose mother was an indigenous woman named Ana Martínez . Conquest of Peru . By 1524 an association of conquest regarding South America was formalized among Almagro , Pizarro and Luque . By the beginning of August 1524 , they had received the requisite permission to discover and conquer lands further south . Almagro would remain in Panama to recruit men and gather supplies for the expeditions led by Pizarro . After several expeditions to South America , Pizarro secured his stay in Peru and explored the territory held by the Incas . He succeeded in defeating the Incan army under Emperor Atahualpa during the Battle of Cajamarca in 1532 . After Peru fell to the Spanish , both Pizarro and Almagro initially worked together in the founding of new cities to consolidate their dominions . As such , Pizarro dispatched Almagro to the Inca Empire ' s northern city of Quito to claim it as part of their jurisdiction . Their fellow conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar , who had gone forth without Pizarro ' s approval , had already reached Quito and witnessed the destruction of the city by Inca general Rumiñahui . The Inca warrior had ordered the city to be burned and its gold to be buried at an undisclosed location where the Spanish could never find it . The arrival and intromission of Pedro de Alvarado from Mexico in search of Inca gold further complicated the situation for Almagro and Belalcázar . Alvarado ' s presence , however , did not last long as he left South America in exchange for monetary compensation from Pizarro . In an attempt to honor Pizarro before leaving , Almagro refounded the native city of Quito as " San Francisco de Quito " in August 1534 . Four months later would come the foundation of the Peruvian city of Trujillo , which Almagro named as " Villa Trujillo " in honor of Francisco Pizarro ' s birthplace , Trujillo in Extremadura , Spain . These events were the height of the Pizarro - Almagro friendship , which historians describe as one of the last events in which their friendship soon faded and entered a period of turmoil for the control of the Incan capital of Cuzco . Conflict with Pizarro . After splitting the treasure of Inca emperor Atahualpa , both Pizarro and Almagro left towards Cuzco and took the city in 1533 . However , Almagro ' s friendship with Pizarro showed signs of deterioration in 1526 when Pizarro , in the name of the rest of the conquistadors , called forth the " Capitulacion de Toledo " law in which King Charles I of Spain had laid out his authorization for the conquest of Peru and the awards every conquistador would receive from it . Long before , however , each conquistador had promised to equally split the benefits . Pizarro managed to have a larger stake and awards for himself . Despite this , Almagro still obtained an important fortune for his services , and the King awarded him in November 1532 the noble title of " Don " and he was assigned a personal coat of arms . Although by this time Diego de Almagro had already acquired sufficient wealth in the conquest of Peru and was living a luxurious life in Cuzco , the prospect of conquering the lands further south was very attractive to him . Given that the dispute with Pizarro over Cuzco had kept intensifying , Almagro spent a great deal of time and money equipping a company of 500 men for a new exploration south of Peru . By 1534 the Spanish crown had determined to split the region in two parallel lines , forming the governorship of " Nueva Castilla " ( from the 1° to the 14° latitude , close to Pisco ) , and that of " Nueva Toledo " ( from the 14° to the 25° latitude , in Taltal , Chile ) , assigning the first to Francisco Pizarro and the second to Diego de Almagro . The crown had previously assigned Almagro the governorship of Cuzco , and as such Almagro was heading there when Charles V divided the territory between Nueva Castilla and Nueva Toledo . This might have been the reason why Almagro did not immediately confront Pizarro for Cuzco , and promptly decided to embark on his new quest for the discovery of the riches of Chile . Discovery of Chile . The preparations . According to the natives of Peru , who by this time had observed the Spanish lust for gold , the territories of Chile had abundances of gold which would justify any effort . Almagro quickly prepared his expedition with the help of men recruited from Cuzco and Lima within six months . With his personal fortune , he equipped the soldiers that would join him . Arms , tools , gunpowder and other necessary utensils were bought . Almagro was able to put together a force of 500 men , many of which had come with him to Peru . He was also joined by 100 African slaves and some 10 , 000 yanacona Indians to transport the weapons , clothing , and food . In total , it is estimated that everything cost 1 . 5 million castilian pesos . Almagro had also asked for a high - ranking official from the Inca empire to prepare a route along with three of his most trusted Spanish soldiers . For this , the Inca offered the most esteemed religious chief of the empire , Villac - Umu . The Inca , however , had planned for a large force of Spaniards to leave Peru . Once gone , they thought , the Inca armies could easily initiate an armed rebellion and retake Cuzco . Almagro , who was not yet satisfied to go forward , had ordered Juan de Saavedra to advance with one hundred men that , at a distance of thirty leagues , would establish a small town that would wait for the rest with food and natives that would be captured to serve them . Following the Inca Trail and crossing the Andes . Almagro left Cuzco on July 3 , 1535 with his supporters and stopped at Moina until the 20th of that month . Meanwhile , Francisco Pizarro ' s brother , Juan Pizarro , had arrested Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui , further complicating Almagro ' s plans as it heavily increased the dissatisfaction of the Indians submitted to Spanish rule . Not having formally been appointed governor of any territories in the Capitulation of Toledo in 1528 , however , forcing him to declare himself " adelantado " ( governor ) of Nueva Toledo , or southern Peru and present - day Chile . Some sources suggest Almagro received such a requirement in 1534 by the Spanish king and was officially declared governor of New Toledo . Once he left Moina , Almagro followed the Inca trail followed by 750 Spaniards deciding to join him in quest for the gold lost in the ransom of Atahualpa , which had mainly benefited the Pizarro brothers and their supporters . After crossing the Bolivian mountain range and traveling past Lake Titicaca , Almagro arrived on the shores of the Desaguadero River and finally set up camp in Tupiza . From there , the expedition stopped at Chicoana and then turned to the southeast to cross the Andes mountains . The expedition turned out to be a difficult and exhausting endeavor . The hardest phase was the crossing of the Andes cordillera : at almost 4 , 000 meters of altitude , the cold , hunger and tiredness meant the death of various Spaniards and natives , but mainly slaves who were not accustomed to such rigorous climate . Survivors would later recount that some fellow adventurers would stop and rest , only to die frozen ; others , upon taking off their boots , would watch in horror how their toes would be stuck to the boot . Upon this point , Almagro determined everything was a failure . He ordered a small group to go forward on the way and search for help among the indigenous population . By luck , these men found the Valley of Copiapó , where a Spaniard called Gonzalo Calvo Barrientos , a Spaniard whom Pizarro had expelled from Peru for stealing objects the Inca had offered for his ransom , had already established a friendship with the local natives . There , in the valley of the river Copiapó , Almagro took official possession of Chile and claimed it in the name of King Charles V . Dismayed in Chile . Almagro promptly initiated the exploration of the new territory starting towards the valley of the Aconcagua River , where he was well received by the natives . However , the intrigues of his interpreter , Felipillo , who had previously helped Pizarro in dealing with Atahualpa , almost thwarted Almagro ' s efforts . Felipillo had secretly urged the local natives to attack the Spanish but they surprisingly desisted and did not believe the dangers they posed . Almagro then dispatched Gómez de Alvarado along with 100 horsemen and 100 foot to continue the exploration , which ended in the confluence of the Ñuble and Itata rivers where the Battle of Reinohuelén between the Spanish and hostile Mapuche Indians forced them to turn back north . Almagro ' s own reconnaissance of the land and the bad news of Gómez de Alvarado ' s encounter with the fierce Mapuches , along with the bitter cold winter that settled ferociously upon them , only served to confirm that everything had failed . He never found gold or cities that Incan scouts informed him about ; only communities of the indigenous population that lived from agriculture and fierce resistance from local tribes . The exploration of the territories of Nueva Toledo , which lasted 2 years , was marked by a complete failure for Almagro . Despite this , at first he thought staying and founding a city would serve well for his honor . The initial optimism that led Almagro to bring his son he had with the indigenous Panamanian Ana Martínez to Chile had faded . Some observers have pointed that out that if it were not for the urging of his explorers to leave , Almagro would probably have stayed permanently in Chile . He was urged , however , to return to Peru and this time take definitive possession of Cuzco so as to consolidate an inheritance for his son . Dismayed , Almagro initiated his plans of return to Peru on September 1536 . He never officially founded a city in the territory of what is now present Chile . The withdrawal of the Spanish from valleys of Chile was violent : Almagro authorized his soldiers to ransack the natives ' properties , leaving their soil desolate ; there was not one Spaniard that did not enslave a native for his service . The locals were captured , tied and forced to carry the belongings of the conquistadors without compassion . Return to Peru . After the exhausting crossing of the Atacama desert mainly due to the climatic conditions , Almagro finally reached Cuzco , Peru , in 1537 . According to some authors , it was during this time that the burlesque Spanish term " " roto " " ( torn ) , used by Peruvians to refer to Chileans , was first mentioned given how Almagro ' s disappointed troops returned to Cuzco with their " torn clothes " due to the extensive and laborious passage on foot by the Atacama desert . Upon his return to Peru in 1537 , Almagro was bitter and eager to once and for all claim the riches of the city of Cuzco for himself . In the previous year , the Inca Manco had briefly recaptured the royal city and weakened the Spanish hold in the Sacred Valley . Hoping to enlist the help of the Inca , Almagro offered Manco Inca a pardon on behalf of the Spanish government . Manco Inca never officially joined Almagro in his attack on Cuzco . However , most of Hernándo Pizarro ' s army marched into the Andes in pursuit of Manco Inca , allowing Almagro ' s men to claim the city for themselves . When Hernando Pizarro and his army returned , Almagro ' s troops quickly defeated them and took the Pizarro brothers Hernando and Gonzalo captive . After occupying Cuzco , Almagro confronted an army sent by Francisco Pizarro to liberate his brothers . The army , led by Alonso de Alvarado , was defeated during the Battle of Abancay on July 12 , 1537 . Later , Gonzalo Pizarro and Alvarado escaped prison . Subsequent negotiations between Francisco Pizarro and Almagro concluded with the liberation of the third brother , Hernando Pizarro , in return for the definitive control and administration of Cuzco for Almagro himself . Francisco Pizarro never had the intention of giving up Cuzco to Almagro , and only wanted to win time for himself to organize an army strong enough to defeat Almagro ' s troops . During this time Almagro fell ill , and Pizarro and his brothers finally caught the opportunity to defeat him and his followers . The Almagristas were finally defeated in at Las Salinas in April 1538 , with Orgóñez being killed on the field of battle . Almagro fled to Cuzco , still in the hands of his loyal supporters , but found only temporary refuge as the forces of the Pizarro brothers entered the city without resistance . Once captured , he was humiliated by Hernando Pizarro and his requests for appeals to the King were ignored . Almagro begged for his life while Hernando responded : " - " You ' re a gentleman with an illustrious name ; do not display weakness ; it marvels me that a man of your stature fears death so much . Confess , for your death has no remedy " - " Almagro was condemned to death and decapitated while in confinement on July 8 , 1538 ( other sources suggest he was garrotte d , which would have been more likely for a Christian man of fame ) . His corpse was taken to the public Plaza Mayor of Cuzco and displayed as a sign of defeat and his severed head served as a warning to other would - be rebels . Margarita , his loyal servant and lover , took his body and buried him under the church of la Merced in Cuzco . El Mozo . Diego de Almagro II ( 1520 – 1542 ) , known as " El Mozo " ( The Lad ) , son of Diego de Almagro I , whose mother was an Indian girl of Panama , became the foil of the conspirators who had put Pizarro to the sword . The marquis was murdered on June 26 , 1541 ; the conspirators promptly proclaimed the lad Almagro Governor of Peru . From various causes , all of the conspirators either died or were killed except for one , who was executed after the lad Almagro gave an order . The lad Almagro fought the desperate battle of Chupas on September 16 , 1542 , escaped to Cuzco , but was arrested , immediately condemned to death , and executed in the great square of the city .