ABSTRACT
Skilful and prudent, Vaca de Castro was wary of attacking the enemy frontally. The focal points of insurrection were at Cuzco and Lima. Vaca de Castro had reestablished order in Peru, not without difficulty, and, considering his task completed, he asked the Emperor for his recall. The geographical shape of Chile is rather absurd: a ribbon that stretches between the Cordillera of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, covering the whole gamut of climates. In the north are the great deserts of Atacama, with immense salt plains the colour of melted lead; in the centre is the Great Valley with its eternal summer; and in the south the wastes begin again, a land of fjords and glaciers. Almagro’s pride rose in protest at the very idea of turning back. Francisco Pizarro’s moral authority and Hernando’s arms would probably not have been enough to defeat Almagro had Pedro de Valdivia not lent a hand.
