Villa O’Higgins

Bernado O'Higgins (1778-1842) was a Chilean revolutionary and is considered the founding father of modern-day Chile. Bernado came from a wealthy family: his father, Ambrosio O'Higgins, was a Spanish colonial administrator who governed Chile between for eight years before becoming Viceroy of Peru in 1796; despite never meeting him, Bernado was supported by his father financially.

Bernado was educated in London, where he became acquainted with the American Revolution's ideals of independence and nationalism.  He used the surname Riquelme (from his mother, Isabel Riquelme) until his father's death in 1801, when he inherited land near the Chilean city of Los Ángeles and changed his surname to O'Higgins.

As a farmer, Bernado became politically active and when a national junta was established to govern Chile in 1810 (following Napoleon's invasion of Spain), O'Higgins raised a militia and began fighting for Chile's independence from Spain. In 1814, Bernado's militia was defeated by Spanish royalists and he fled to Argentina.  While in Argentina, he joined forces with José de San Martín and, in 1817, their combined army crossed the Andes, defeated the Spanish royalists, and declared independence for Chile.

Immediately, Bernado began ruling Chile under the title of supreme dictator.  As ruler, he established markets, courts, colleges, libraries, and hospitals, and instituted military reform. In 1823, after alienating wealthy landowners and the Roman Catholic Church by proposing radically liberal reforms (such as full democracy and abolition of titles of nobility) Bernado was peacefully deposed by a coup and exiled to Peru. In 1842, Chile's congress voted to allow Bernado to return to Chile; however, he had began to succumb to cardiac problems and was in too fragile condition to return.  Bernado died, in Lima, on October 24, 1842 (aged 64).