Santiago is the South American capital founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541.
Valdivia formally established the city on 12 February 1541 in Chile’s fertile Mapocho Valley, naming it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo in honor of Saint James, the patron saint of Spain. The settlement was built near Huelén Hill, which Valdivia renamed Santa Lucía. Surveyor Pedro de Gamboa laid out the early city in a grid centered on a main plaza.
Santiago was intended to serve as the administrative center of the Spanish territory then called Nueva Extremadura. Its location offered access to water, farmland and routes through the Andes, although it was also vulnerable to conflict. On 11 September 1541, just months after its founding, Indigenous forces led by Michimalonco attacked and largely destroyed the settlement. Inés de Suárez helped organize its defense.
The city was rebuilt and eventually became Chile’s permanent political and economic center. It is sometimes confused with Valparaíso, Chile’s historic port city, but Santiago is the national capital.