Challenge: Delay Spanish Conquest of Chile

Advernt

Initially , when the Conquistadors conquered the Incan Empire , the Spanish Colonist had very little interest in Chile , and were much more intrested in the gold of Peru instead . The first attempt at colonizing Chile , by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Almagro was abortive and the second by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Valdivia almost came to grief when Santiago was destroyed by the Mapuche .

Given that the Mapuche Indians of Chile took centuries to be subdued http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapuche, with a POD of 1530 , how far can the colonization of Chile be aborted ? Given that Chile was considered relatively poor compared to the wealth of Peru , could the colonization of Chile and the construction of lasting settlements south of the Acatama Desert be postponed till , say 1650 , or even 1700 ?
 

Rockingham

Banned
Didn't the Dutch try/want to conquer Chile at one point in OTL? If the Spanish hadn't taken it by 1650-1700,the Dutch or someone else would have.

Perhaps France?
 

Rockingham

Banned
Advernt said:
Possibilily . Can the conquest of Mapuche Chile be delayed till the Maxim is invented?
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I dont see it happening in the context I had the impression you are suggesting-ie.the bulk of America other then Chile and interior areas conquered, Europe pre-eminent, etc.

BTW the Maxim gun will be butterflied away. I assume you mean the ATL's equivalent?
 

Advernt

I'm thinking of European control of Chile on the level of the American Great plains in , say , 1830 . And yes , I mean whatever passes for a Machine gun in ATL.
 

Tocomocho

Well, it is quite easy. As long as the conquest of Peru isn't completed the Spaniards has not a reason to be interested at all in Chile. Your POD could be Manco Inca's forces successfully taking Cuzco, Lima or both when they besieged them in 1536.
 

Admiral Brown

Tocomocho said:
Well, it is quite easy. As long as the conquest of Peru isn't completed the Spaniards has not a reason to be interested at all in Chile. Your POD could be Manco Inca's forces successfully taking Cuzco, Lima or both when they besieged them in 1536.
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Yes, this would significantly delay Chile's conquest. But, as you know, the Incas had conquered a significant part of Chile around 1470. The Mapuches living between Atacama and the Mapocho river were Incan subjets. So, if the Incas survived, these indians would still be part of the empire (unless they rebell and form a separate state).

The problem is that the Mapuche living north of Mapocho river were already used to a foreign domination, and thus, even if the Incas survive in Cuzco, this land may still atracact Spanish conquerors (arable land + temperate climate + valleys + docile indians + strategic location = an atractive place for settlement, even if there's no gold at hand).
 
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