Gabriel Cano
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Don Gabriel Cano de Aponte Caballero de Alcantara |
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| Royal Governor of Chile | |
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In office December 17, 1717 – November 11, 1733 |
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| Monarch | Philip V |
| Preceded by | José de Santiago Concha |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Sánchez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1665 Mora, Spain |
| Died | November 11, 1733 (aged 67–68) Santiago, Chile |
| Spouse(s) | María Camps María Francisca Velaz |
| Profession | Lieutenant General |
Gabriel Cano de Aponte (or Gabriel Cano y Aponte) was a Spanish soldier who served as Royal Governor of Chile from 1717 to 1733. His administration was the longest of all Colonial Governors and the second longest in the history of Chile after the administration of General Augusto Pinochet, who surpassed him by some eight months.
Gabriel Cano was born in the town of Mora, near Toledo, the son of Juan Cano Ruiz and of Josefa de Aponte Carvajal. Cano joined the Spanish army and fought in Flanders for 33 years, rising through the ranks from Alférez to Brigadier and finally Marshal. He married María Campos, but she died in 1713 without descendants.
Due to his outstanding valor and performance during the War of the Spanish Succession he was promoted to Lieutenant General on October 28, 1715 and three days later, was appointed Royal Governor of Chile. On January 5, 1716, he married again, this time with María Francisca Velas de Medrano Navarra y Puelles, in the city of Pamplona. They travelled together to Chile to assume his position, arriving to Santiago on December 17, 1717.
In a flare up of the Arauco War he fought the Mapuche toqui Vilumilla in the Mapuche Uprising of 1723. It was ended with the Peace of Negrete in 1726.
In 1725, Governor Cano attempted to repress contraband, without complete success, due to the wit and skills of the French and Dutch merchants and the complicity of some of the Kingdom’s influential citizens.
As a soldier, Cano was an innovative horseman, and historians have documented Cano's "inclination for unbridled fun and equestrian exercises". On July 26, 1733, while he was participating in a game on horseback, Cano suffered an equestrian accident when he fell with his horse and was crushed by it. The sequence of events that caused his death three months later are unclear, but what is clear is that Cano was badly injured and never recovered, dying on November 11 of the same year.
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