[ Dec.2015 ] Santiago in Chile starts at the foot of Santa Lucia Hill, shown in this photo.
The Spanish conqueror, Pedro de Valdivia declared the foundation of this city on the 12th February in 1541.
After that he built a church, a court, a prison, a town hall and so on quickly and from here, he kept working on the conquest.
But the resistance of the native people in the south called Mapuche was tough and Valdivia was killed in 1553.
His death is said to have been very barbarous.
One version is that he was forced to swallow molten gold.
Another version is that he was lanced to death and his chest was ripped and his heart was taken out.
Well, for the original local people who had been living peacefully, Valdivia was a real nuisance, wasn’t he.
The Santa Lucia Hill itself was neglected for a long time, but in 1872 they made up a park using 150 prisoners.
It is not so high, but the old stairs were very slippery.
The view from the top was worth seeing.
