On Irala’s death, it was only natural that those elements of discord and jealousy which his strong personality had kept in check should break out, and cause no little confusion and strife.  For a while the Governorship of Paraguay was sought by many, and the conflicting claims led to numerous disputes, and even occasional armed collisions.  One of the most notable of the Governors who succeeded Irala was Juan de Garay.  It was this conquistador who was responsible for the second and permanent founding of the city of Buenos Aires.  Garay was a far-seeing man, who, having established a number of urban centres inland, saw clearly the importance of a settlement at which vessels from Europe could touch on their first arrival at the Continent.

So the stream of white men, having been in the first instance swept by the force of circumstances rather than its own desire from the coast in a north-westerly direction, began now to roll back towards the coast once again, without, however, yielding up any of the territories which it had occupied in the interior.

In 1580 Juan de Garay determined that the supreme effort should be made.  He led an expedition down the stream, and on the spot where Pedro de Mendoza had founded his first ill-fated settlement he built the pioneer structures of the second town of Buenos Aires.  The wisdom of this move was evident to all, provided the place were able to withstand the attacks of the surrounding Indians.  In this the garrison succeeded, and Buenos Aires, having now taken firm root, began the first slow growth of its development, which eventually made of it the greatest city in South America.

In the meantime much had been effected towards the colonization of the land to the west of the Andes.  As has been related, Almagro’s unfortunate expedition returned, dejected and diminished in numbers, from the apparently inhospitable soil in the south.  This disaster lent to Chile an unenviable but entirely undeserved notoriety.  Pedro de Valdivia was the next to venture into these regions.  Valdivia naturally enjoyed several advantages over his predecessor, for he knew now, by the other’s experiences, the dangers and perils against which he had to guard.  In consequence of this his expedition met with considerably more success than had been anticipated.  Marching southward across the great Atacama Desert, he penetrated to the fertile regions of the land, and founded the town of Santiago.

All this was not effected without encountering the hostility of the local Indians, and the inhabitants of the new town carried their lives in their hands for a considerable while after the foundation of the city.  Perhaps, indeed, no pioneers experienced greater hardships than did those of Chile.  For the first few years of its existence every member of the new colony became accustomed to live in an unceasing condition of short rations, and it was on very poorly furnished stomachs that the garrison was obliged to meet and to repel the attacks of the natives.  In the end, however, the seeds which had been brought by the adventurers took root and grew.  Provisions became fairly abundant, and the settlements in the neighbourhood of Santiago were now firmly established.