Juan de Saavedra

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Two men named Juan de Saavedra were among the early Spanish colonists in Peru. The first (b. Valparaíso de Arriba, Cuenca, Spain, d. May 21, 1554, Chuquinga, Peru), was a Spanish conquistador in Peru and Chile, and the discoverer of the site of Valparaíso, Chile.

He was a soldier in the command of Diego de Almagro. In the first expedition to Chile, in 1535, Almagro sent Saavedra to reconnoiter the coast of Chile, in the ship that had brought reinforcements from Peru. Saavedra sailed as far as Alimapu, which he named Valparaíso after the town of his birth in Spain.

On his return from this expedition, Hernando Pizarro tried to enlist him in his cause in the Peruvian civil war, but Saavedra did not want to take sides. When he learned that Cristóbal Vaca de Castro had arrived in Peru as royal governor with full powers, he joined with him. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Chupas on September 16, 1542, in which Almagro was defeated.

Saavedra died in Peru in 1554. After his death he was interred in the Church of San Miguel Arcánel de Valparaíso de Arriba.

The second Juan de Saavedra was president of the Audiencia of Lima (Peru) in February, 1564, when Viceroy Diego López de Zúñiga y Velasco died or was killed. Saavedra served as interim viceroy briefly until Lope García de Castro replaced him as president of the Audiencia and interim viceroy later in the same year. Juan de Saavedra's name appears in some lists of Peruvian viceroys, but not in all.