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Alonso Gonzalez de Najera
Alonso Gonzalez de Najera (? - 1614) was a Spanish soldier and an advocate of reforms in the conduct of the War of Arauco. He served in the war following the Disaster of Curalaba and the great Mapuche uprising that followed in Chile that resulted in the the loss of all the Spanish settlements south of the Bio Bio River. He was sent back to the royal court in Spain to argue for a reform to the way the war against the Mapuche was fought. Najeras arguments for his reforms were incorporated in his book of Desengano y reparo de la Guerra del Reino de Chile.
Alonso de Ribera, Governor of the Kingdom of Chile, founded the fort Nacimiento on the banks of the Bio Bio near the confluence with the river Vergara, December 24, 1603. Gonzalez, Najera was responsible for building it and was its first garrison commander. After four years of military service in the war zone, he was appointed sargento mayor by the newly appointed Governor Alonso Garcia Ramon in 1605. He later returned to Santiago sick and wounded in his leg, as a result of his participation in the war.
Because of the critical military situation in Chile, Governor Ramon Garcia decided to send Gonzalez de Najera to Spain to report to King Philip III on the true state of the Kingdom. The choice of Gonzalez was based on his long years of experience and skilled, zealous service to the king in many prominent posts and positions in the army. In May 1607, he departed for Spain, where he arrived at the end of the next year. To record the critical situation that lived in Chile, and to convince the Council of the Indias and the King to send relief to Chile, he drafted and presented some considerations which were later transformed into the fifth and sixth points of his book Desengano y reparo de la Guerra del Reino de Chile.
Related websites
Alonso Gonzalez de Najera, Desengano y reparo de la guerra del Reino de Chile, Imprenta de la Viuda de Calero, Madrid, 1866
Desengano y reparo de la guerra del reino de Chile Alonso Gonzalez de Najera, Desengano y reparo de la guerra del Reino de Chile, Reproduccion digital de la edicion de Santiago de Chile, Imprenta de Ercilla, 1889.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Alonso Gonzalez de Najera
