Pedro de Valdivia and the Sacralization of Power: Faith, Violence, and Legitimacy in the Conquest of Chile

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes the correspondence of Pedro de Valdivia as a discursive device that incorporates faith as a political criterion. The central hypothesis argues that the first governor of Chile understood evangelization not as a spiritual goal, but as a tool for governmental legitimation and, consequently, as a strategic resource to consolidate his authority. The study introduces the concept of the sacralization of power to describe how Christian rhetoric is instrumentalized to support an emerging political project and a nascent colonial order. The findings show that the religious dimension reinforces Valdivia’s authority in the absence of stable institutions, structuring obedience, violence, and domination through a theo-political framework.

Keywords:
Pedro de Valdivia; sacralization of power; christian rhetoric; colonial order; evangelization