Juan Valiente

Juan Valiente was an African-Spanish conquistador and encomendero. He participated in the expeditions of Pedro de Alvarado in present-day Guatemala and Peru and Pedro de Valdivia in Chile. Taken into captivity as a slave in Africa, he was transported to Mexico, where he was purchased by a Spaniard named Alonso Valiente, who returned with him to Spain. As a young man, Valiente negotiated a kind of lease, a permission to join a conquistador's expedition for the chance to earn profits and buy his freedom. He was rewarded for his efforts as a conquistador with an encomienda near the city of Concepción, Chile. There he lived until his death at the Battle of Tucapel.²