Civil Wars in Peru
Alvarado also took part in the civil wars that faced Diego de Almagro and Francisco Pizarro. He was made a prisoner by Almagro in 1537 but he managed to escape. Later with the followers of Pizarro and in support of his allegiance to the king, Alvarado defeated the followers of Almagro in the Battle of Las Salinas in 1538.
On the order of Francisco Pizarro, he looked in 1539 for the ideal place for the foundation of a city halfway between Lima and Cusco. Thus, along with Francisco de Cárdenas, he took part in the foundation of Huamanga.
Avenging the death of his father, Diego de Almagro II, "El Mozo" (The Lad), killed Francisco Pizarro in 1541. In the following year, the governor Cristóbal Vaca de Castro, allied to the Alonso de Alvarado, defeated "El Mozo" in the battle of Chupas. The loyalty and the merits of Alvarado were honored by Carlos I of Spain who he named a member of the Order of Santiago and Marshall of Peru.
In April 1548, Alvarado had to prove again the allegiance to the Crown fighting against the rebellious younger brother of Pizarro, Gonzalo. Under the control of Pedro de la Gasca, he ensured victory in the battle of Jaquijahuana, but this victory did not calm the many discontented Spanish settlers opposed to the increasing control of the envoys of the Spanish court, and some years later a group of them, led by Francisco Hernández Girón, revolted. Sent to fight them, Alvarado was defeated in the battle of Chuquinga and he fled to Lima, where he died in 1556.
Chachapoyas was, from his foundation, a city - port of that numerous expeditions that left for the forest. The legend of "El Dorado" inspired the thirst for wealth of the first Spanish explorers. Although the enthusiasm for the tasty reward was commanding his sleep, his companies met frustadas for unsuspected enemies: the famine, the illnesses, the Indians and the forest itself.
"El Dorado" described from the imaginary one of the conqueror, is a city which streets and temples are covered of gold and he keeps, in his constructions and squares, made pieces of massive gold. Sometimes he was looked to the north, from Chachapoyas; others, from Quillabamba; in other occasions, some more recent explorers located his track (that later they "lost") in the central forest and inclusive in Colombia. Nevertheless, this golden legend opened the doors for the initial colonization and evangelization of some of the most extensive and remote regions of South America.
Read more about this topic: Alonso De Alvarado
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