Chacao (cacique)

Chacao was a 16th-century

Kalina Kalina may refer to: People * Kalina people The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in ...

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

who governed in the region of the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, at the time called San Francisco, in present-day

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Today the region, Chacao Municipality, Miranda, bears his name. Around 1567, Chacao was taken prisoner by Juan de Gamez upon the orders of

Diego de Losada Diego de Losada y Cabeza de Vaca (1511 – 1569) was a Spanish conquistador and the founder of Santiago de León de Caracas, the current capital of Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country ...

, who had told him to go out and capture natives; Losada later slackened the order. Losada's reasons for the order remain unknown, but it has been suggested that he wanted to befriend the cacique before attempting to pacify the region. Regardless, in 1568, Chacao allied himself with

Guaicaipuro Cacique Guaicaipuro was a legendary native (indigenous) Venezuelan chief of both the Teques and Caracas tribes. Though known today as Guaicaipuro, in documents of the time his name was written Guacaipuro. Life Guaicaipuro formed a powerful coa ...

and several other local chiefs in a futile attempt to stop the advance of the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s; they were beaten, by the same Losada, in the Battle of Maracapana. 16th-century births Venezuelan caciques Kalina people Year of death unknown {{Venezuela-hist-stub