Dutch expedition to Valdivia

Dutch expedition to Valdivia
Part of the Eighty Years' War
Detail from the 1646 book Journael Ende Historis Verhael van de Reyse gedaen by Oosten de Straet le Maire, naer de Custen van Chili, onder het beleyt van den heer Generael Hendrick Brouwer, Inden Jare 1643
Date 6 November 1642 – 28 December 1643 (1 year, 1 month, 3 weeks and 1 day) Location The Pacific coast of Spanish South America Result Dutch failure The Dutch leave Valdivia and then it is occupied by the Spanish
Belligerents
Dutch Republic	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Hendrik Brouwer Elias Herckmans	Chiloé forces: Andrés Herrera † Fernando de Alvarado Response (1644–1645): Pedro de Toledo Antonio de Toledo Alonso de Mujica F. López de Zúñiga Juan de Acevedo
Strength
Several ships 600 men

The Dutch expedition to Valdivia was a naval expedition, commanded by Hendrik Brouwer, sent by the Dutch Republic in 1643 to establish a base of operations and a trading post on the southern coast of Chile. With Spain and the Dutch Republic at war, the Dutch wished to take over the ruins of the abandoned Spanish city of Valdivia. The expedition sacked the Spanish settlements of Carelmapu and Castro in the Chiloé Archipelago before sailing to Valdivia, having the initial support of the local natives. The Dutch arrived in Valdivia on 24 August 1643 and named the colony Brouwershaven after Brouwer, who had died several weeks earlier. The short-lived colony was abandoned on 28 October 1643. Nevertheless, the occupation caused great alarm among Spanish authorities. The Spanish resettled Valdivia and began the construction of an extensive network of fortifications in 1645 to prevent a similar intrusion. Although contemporaries considered the possibility of a new incursion, the expedition was the last one undertaken by the Dutch on the west coast of the Americas.