On Irala's death, it was only natural that those elements of discord and
jealousy which his strong personality had kept in check should break
out, and cause no little confusion and strife. For a while the
Governorship of Paraguay was sought by many, and the conflicting claims
led to numerous disputes, and even occasional armed collisions. One of
the most notable of the Governors who succeeded Irala was Juan de Garay.
It was this _conquistador_ who was responsible for the second and
permanent founding of the city of Buenos Aires. Garay was a far-seeing
man, who, having established a number of urban centres inland, saw
clearly the importance of a settlement at which vessels from Europe
could touch on their first arrival at the Continent.
So the stream of white men, having been in the first instance swept by
the force of circumstances rather than its own desire from the coast in
a north-westerly direction, began now to roll back towards the coast
once again, without, however, yielding up any of the territories which
it had occupied in the interior.
In 1580 Juan de Garay determined that the supreme effort should be made.
He led an expedition down the stream, and on the spot where Pedro de
Mendoza had founded his first ill-fated settlement he built the pioneer
structures of the second town of Buenos Aires. The wisdom of this move
was evident to all, provided the place were able to withstand the
attacks of the surrounding Indians. In this the garrison succeeded, and
Buenos Aires, having now taken firm root, began the first slow growth
of its development, which eventually made of it the greatest city in
South America.
In the meantime much had been effected towards the colonization of the
land to the west of the Andes. As has been related, Almagro's
unfortunate expedition returned, dejected and diminished in numbers,
from the apparently inhospitable soil in the south. This disaster lent
to Chile an unenviable but entirely undeserved notoriety. Pedro de
Valdivia was the next to venture into these regions. Valdivia naturally
enjoyed several advantages over his predecessor, for he knew now, by the
other's experiences, the dangers and perils against which he had to
guard. In consequence of this his expedition met with considerably more
success than had been anticipated. Marching southward across the great
Atacama Desert, he penetrated to the fertile regions of the land, and
founded the town of Santiago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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