serious argument by Alejandro Fierro, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Chile.[1] Another disinterested and early writer, the Jesuit historian Juan Ignatius Molina, in an important general work on Chile,[2] presented a map of that country as the frontis- piece of his book and indicated the northern boundary north of the Rio Salado, approximately on the twenty-fourth paral- lel. (Molina shows the Rio Salado at 25° S., actually it is 26° 20'S.) The number of such contradictions is hardly exceeded by the number of writers themselves. The worthlessness and unknown character of the region made it a matter of trifling consequence to which country the maps assigned it.[3]
The controversy is not to be settled by reference to royal decrees, which secm to conflict in proportion to distance from the territory which they attempt to assign. After the conquest of southern Chile, Almagro received from the Spanish crown a grant of 200 leagues south of the southern limit of Peru[4] and became governor of this territory, with specific instructions as to the manner of organization and administration of the na- tives. Santiago, the present capital of Chile, was founded by Pedro de Valdivia, who was appointed successor to Almagro by La Gasca, then governor of Peru, in the name of the Span- ish crown. La Gasca wrote the Council of the Indies on May 7, 1548, of the appointment of Valdivia and incidentally notes the limits of the territory within his jurisdiction: ‘‘—from Copiapé, which is at twenty-seven degrees from the equinoctial line toward the south until forty-one degrees to the north, to south straight meridian, and wide from the sea inland 100 leagues west to east,”’ a concession which was confirmed by the Spanish emperor, Charles V. But the Royal Decrees of June 3, 1801, and June 26, 1803, declare that Paposo {about 25° S.) was then considered as the capital of the entire coast and des-
- ↑ Diario Oficial de la Repiblica de Chile, in translation from official documents published as “Narrative of the Events Which Led to the Declaration of War by Chili Against Bolivia and Peru,” London, 1879, pp. 10-11.
- ↑ G. I. Molina: Sagygio sulla storia naturale del Chili, Bologna, 1782.
- ↑ See in this connection the northern boundary of Chile, on the map of 1839 reproduced as Fig. 50 on page 177.
- ↑ J. T. Medina: Colleccién de documentos inéditos para la historia de Chile desde el viaje de Magallanes basta la batalla de Maipo 1518-1818, 30 vols., Santiago, 1888-1902; reference in Vol. 4, Almagro y sus compatieros,”” pp. 239-243. “Decree of July 19, 1534.”
