Alonso de Sotomayor
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Don Alonso de Sotomayor Caballero de Santiago |
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| Royal Governor of Chile | |
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In office 1583–1592 |
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| Monarch | King Philip II |
| Preceded by | Martín Ruiz de Gamboa |
| Succeeded by | Pedro de Viscarra |
| Royal Governor of Panama | |
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In office 1596–1602 |
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| Monarch | King Philip II |
| Preceded by | Juan del Barrio |
| Succeeded by | Hernando de Añazco |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1545 Trujillo, Spain |
| Died | 1610 (aged 64–65) Spain |
| Religion | Catholic |
Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano (1545–1610) was a Spanish conquistador from Extremadura, and a Royal Governor of Chile.
He was born in Trujillo, in the province of Extremadura, the son of Gutiérrez de Sotomayor e Hinojosa and Beatriz de Valmediano. At the age of 15 he joined the army, serving first in Italy until 1567, and then moving to Flanders.
In 1580 he was called back to Madrid by his official duties. King Philip II, seeing his military record, awarded him a knighthood in the Order of Santiago and sent him on a campaign against Portugal. However, at that time news arrived from Chile, where the Arauco War continued and reinforcements were needed. The king subsequently decided to name Sotomayor governor of the district and send him there with a large contingent of soldiers to resolve the situation.
Sotomayor arrived in Chile in 1583 and found himself required to play the role of judge, hearing innumerable accusations against the previous governor Martín Ruiz de Gamboa. This previous governor had become extremely unpopular for a tax regime, the Tasa de Gamboa, which prohibited the payment of taxes by the Indians in the form of labor. Sotomayor was forced to arrest and imprison Gamboa in the government house at Santiago, from which he was released only after providing a bond. However, Sotomayor later absolved Gamboa and freed him entirely.
With these antecedents, Sotomayor's first decision was reestablishing the old system of labor levies, abolishing the Tasa de Gamboa and reinstituting the previous Tasa de Santillán, albeit with provisions to humanize the old system, with the goal of avoiding the excesses of the encomenderos against the Indians.
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