Toro Zambrano, Mateo de (1727–1811)

Mateo de Toro Zambrano (b. 20 September 1727; d. 26 February 1811), president of the first national government of Chile (1810–1811). One of the great creole magnates of eighteenth-century Chile, and certainly one of the richest, Toro Zambrano played a full part in the public life of the colony, as militia officer, alcalde (mayor) and corregidor (municipal magistrate) of Santiago, lieutenant to the governor (1768), and as a member of the committee that disposed of the expropriated properties of the Jesuits after their expulsion in 1767 (he acquired one of the largest Jesuit haciendas). King Charles III conferred on him the title of Conde de la Conquista in 1770.

The crisis of the Spanish empire after 1808 thrust Toro Zambrano into an unexpected role: in July 1810, following the deposition of the Spanish governor Francisco Antonio García Carrasco (1742–1813), To-ro Zambrano became interim governor of the colony. Creole patriots agitating for a national junta persuaded him (partly through his confessor) to agree to a cabildo abierto (open town meeting) on 18 September 1810. At this historic assembly a junta was elected with Toro Zambrano as president. He played little part in the work of the new government, and sometimes fell asleep at its meetings. Greatly affected by his wife's death in January 1811, he died soon after.

See alsoCharles III of Spain .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jaime Eyzaguirre, El conde de la Conquista (1951; 2d ed., 1966).

Additional Bibliography

Gutiérrez Lobos, Víctor. Los Presidentes de Chile. Santiago: Zig-Zag, 1993.

Reyno Gutiérrez, Manuel. Mateo de Toro y Zambrano. Santiago: La Nación, 1985.

                                      Simon Collier