Soon after the death of Valdivia, the colonial government in Chile was organized by the worst class of Spanish Bohemians,--men who had not even a cheap or spectacular glory to their credit, and who lacked the capacity or disposition to engage in work of any character, or to develop the resources of the country. It was a sad and calamitous existence the people led under the despotic and ruinous misrule of Spain. Nothing flourished or savored of goodness. The only landmarks of civilization left from that period are various towns, some of which from geographical positions have grown into important cities. All traces of progress lay buried beneath bigotry and tyranny. The sovereign and his representatives retarded development and advancement, evincing only selfish and unpatriotic ambition for personal gain, treacherous deception and cruel oppression. Chilean officials under Castilian rule had to be Spanish born, and with impunity they plundered the colony of all that was worth possessing. For nearly three centuries Chile lived with modest labor in honest poverty. Those conditions served as antecedents to the special characteristics of economy, industry, independence and love of liberty so manifest in the Chileans of to-day. Then there was little communication with the outside world. Colonists suffered and endured without encouragement, hope of relief, or promise of better things. But during those turbulent times, those years of oppression and Spanish misrule, when the Republican idea was growing, there was one powerful force in operation, resenting and resisting the authority of those who were plundering and robbing the country in the name of law and civilization. That force was the courageous, valiant, unconquered Araucanians who maintained their independence for over three hundred years, preferring annihilation to subjugation. A great majority of the colonists in Chile lived in poverty and ignorance, apparently resigned to their unfortunate condition. For two hundred and fifty years there had been transmitted from parents to children the idea of obedience to the king, believing that person to be of divine origin, and that his power was omnipotent. They also believed that the Spanish-American colonies would always remain subject to the authority of Spain. Fortunately, however, there was a small minority that entertained a hope of relief from the rule of oppression. This hope was encouraged, and the idea of independence implanted in the minds of the people, by the revolution of the English colonists, the declaration of independence of the United States, and the establishment of the first American Republic. The success of the North American patriots encouraged the revolutionary idea in Chile to such an extent that in 1810, when Spain was involved in the turmoil of a general European war, the opportunity was seized by the colonists to secure their independence, which was declared September 18, 1810.