Valdivia determined to establish a permanent settlement in the country to which he was to proceed, and made preparation accordingly, taking with him not only two hundred Spanish fighting-men and a large body of Peruvians, but likewise several women, some monks, and a great number of European quadrupeds. Instructed by the experience of Almagro in the _Cordilleras_, although he pursued the same route, he took care to choose the summer for his passage. He thus incurred no loss on his way; but he met with a very different reception from that which had been accorded to his precursor. The inhabitants of northern _Chili_ were by this time aware that the empire of the _Incas_ was no more, and they accordingly no longer owed subjection to their Peruvian conquerors. They attacked the invaders on all sides, but with more valour than method. The Spaniards were accordingly enabled to overcome them in detail, and traversed the provinces of _Copiapo_, _Coquimbo_, _Quillota_, and _Melipilla_, and arrived with but little loss at that of _Mapocho_, now named _Santiago_. [Sidenote: 1541.] In this fertile province, which lies upon the confines of the _Andes_, Valdivia determined to make a settlement, and with this view he laid the foundations of the fair city of _Santiago_ on the 24th of February 1541. He laid out the city on the general Spanish colonial plan of dividing it into squares of uniform size; and in order to protect the settlement from attack, he constructed a fort upon a hill in the centre, which has since received the name of _S. Lucia_. His proceedings were watched by the natives with a jealous eye, and measures were concerted for getting rid of the unwelcome intruders. Valdivia, however, discovered the plot against him in time, and imprisoned the chief conspirators in his fortress, whilst he repaired with sixty horsemen to the river _Cachapoal_ in order to watch the _Promaucians_, whom he suspected of being in league with the conspirators.