Francisco Antonio de Acuña Cabrera y Bayona

Francisco Antonio de Acuña Cabrera y Bayona (Spain; 1597 – Lima; 1662) was a Spanish, soldier and governor of the Kingdom of Chile between 1650 and 1656. He was son of Antonio de Cabrera y Acuña y de Agueda de Bayona, was a knight of the Order of Santiago and a professional military man. After serving in Flanders and France, he went to Peru as Maestre de Campo of El Callao and a general, being designated later Royal Governor of Chile.

Governor of Chile

An ambitious man and badly advised by his relatives and friends, his government was characterized by continuous difficulties with the natives and the vecinos of Concepción. In the Parliament of Boroa (1651) he reached a peace accord with the indigenous peoples that was broken within two years.

The followers of the Governor went into Mapuche territory with the aim to profit from the war. The failure of the successive expeditions and the indigenous revolt of 1655, motivated the vecinos of Concepcion to declare the deposition of Acuña to the shouts of ” The king lives! The bad governor dies!”, an action that was not accepted by the Cabildo of Santiago, the Audiencia and the Junta de Guerra, that reestablished Acuña in control.

Given these circumstances, the Viceroy of Peru sent for him to appear before him. Acuña did not accept the order. A new governor Pedro Porter Casanate, was appointed, and his first mission was to force the return of Acuña to Lima, where he would die shortly afterward.

Additional information

Sources

• Medina, José Toribio (1906). Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana. pp. 8–9.