Javiera Carrera
Javiera Carrera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 1, 1781 |
| Died | August 20, 1862 (aged 81) |
Resting place | Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral |
| Spouse |
Manuel de la Lastra y Sotta
(m. 1796)Pedro Díaz de Valdés
(m. 1800) |
| Children | Manuel and Dolores (first marriage); Pedro, Domitila, Pío, Santos and Ignacio (second marriage) |
Francisca Xaviera Eudoxia Rudecinda Carmen de los Dolores de la Carrera y Verdugo (March 1, 1781 – August 20, 1862), better known as Javiera Carrera, was a Chilean independence activist. Together with her brothers José Miguel, Juan José and Luis, she was one of the leading figures of the early Chilean struggle for independence during the period known as the Patria Vieja ("Old Republic"). She is credited with having sewn the first national flag of Chile and is considered to be the "Mother of Chile".
She was a member of one of the most aristocratic Chilean families, the Carrera family of Basque origin,[1] and she actively participated in the Chilean War of Independence.
Early life
[edit]She was born in Santiago, the oldest child of Ignacio de la Carrera y Cuevas and Francisca de Paula Verdugo Fernández de Valdivieso y Herrera. Although she received the conventional education given to women of her social class, she stood out from a young age for her intelligence, beauty and strong character.[2]
She married young, on May 2, 1796, to Manuel de la Lastra y de la Sotta, with whom she had two children, Manuel and Dolores. Widowed at nineteen when her husband died in 1798, she remarried in 1800 to the Spanish lawyer and aristocrat Pedro Díaz de Valdés, who had come to Santiago as a councilman and adviser to the Captaincy General of Chile. They had five children: Pedro, Domitila, Pío, Santos and Ignacio, the last of whom, Santos Díaz de Valdés, would go on to have his own public career.[3]
Independence activism
[edit]During the time of the Patria Vieja ("Old Republic"), Javiera Carrera became the firmest supporter of her family in their struggle to achieve an independent Chile. This struggle for independence affected many Chilean families, leading to politics being introduced into family dynamics. The Carreras were no exception, and she took many actions to support her family's goals. Women often acted as couriers, petitioners, activists, spies, and other roles that supported the movement for Chilean independence.[4] She organized and supported the social organizations that lent their backing to the nascent government, hid soldiers in her home, and was known for receiving, in the dead of night, ox-carts driven by huasos that carried weapons for distribution around the city; her role was so prominent that revolutionaries reportedly used the phrase "viva la Panchita" ("long live little Panchita") as a rallying watchword, and she was credited with lifting spirits during periods of military defeat.[3]
Contemporaries described her as passionate, dominant and shrewd. The British traveler and writer Maria Graham wrote that Javiera aspired to turn her brother José Miguel into a figure comparable to Napoleon, steering him away from the reckless life of a young rake and toward power and glory; Chilean historians have likewise portrayed her as the intellectual force behind her brothers' plans to liberate Chile.[3] It was during this period, in 1812, that she sewed the first Chilean flag,[5] which, according to tradition, was first presented and raised on July 4, 1812, at a dinner held with the American consul Joel Roberts Poinsett to mark the anniversary of United States independence.[3] Due to all of her activities, she became the visible face and heroine of those early struggles.
Her forceful personality earned her both devoted supporters and bitter enemies; detractors nicknamed her "la jaiba" (the crab), while her relationship with Bernardo O'Higgins was consistently hostile — she is said to have derided him as "el huacho Riquelme", a reference to his status as an illegitimate son.[3] She was likewise said to hold lasting resentment toward José de San Martín, Toribio de Luzuriaga, Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, Tomás Godoy Cruz, the Larraín family, and the Logia Lautaro, whom she blamed for her family's political, social and economic ruin.[3]
Exile
[edit]In 1814, when Spain reconquered Chile, Javiera abandoned her husband and children to go into self-exile and follow the footsteps of her three brothers. Together with them, she traveled to the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, lived in Mendoza and later moved to Buenos Aires, where she was received by the priest Bartolomé Tollo, an old friend of the family.[6] Javiera often wrote letters to her husband during her exile, stating that her separation from her family was meant to protect them because of her family's political entanglements; she also wrote that leaving her family had deeply hurt her, and that she had brought her son Perico along as a consolation for her troubles.[7]
She had difficult times in Buenos Aires, facing health problems and financial ruin, during which she began a romantic relationship with the Argentine-naturalized American captain David Jewett.[8] She directed the so-called "conspiracy of 1817" against O'Higgins, which ultimately led to the execution of her brothers Luis and Juan José in Mendoza in 1818.
When José Miguel returned from the United States and became embroiled in disputes among the caudillos of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, Javiera was banished to Luján and later to San José de Flores, near Buenos Aires, and was eventually confined to a convent in the capital by forces allied with San Martín and O'Higgins, who were enemies of the Carrera brothers.[2] Freed in 1819, she took refuge aboard a ship bound for Montevideo, Uruguay. There, in 1821, she received news of the execution of her brother José Miguel in Mendoza, a blow that reportedly left her so distraught that she grew emaciated, her face darkened, her lips cracked, and her hair began to fall out.[9] She had earlier received word of the executions of her brothers Juan José and Luis in 1818.
She refused to return to Chile so long as O'Higgins remained in power, whom she considered responsible for her brothers' deaths, reportedly vowing she would not go back while "that murderer governs my homeland."[2] She did not return until 1824, three years after José Miguel's death and one year after O'Higgins's resignation and exile, sailing into Valparaíso after ten years away.[2]
Final years
[edit]Once in Chile, she dedicated all her energies to having her brothers' bodies, which had been buried at the Claustro de la Caridad in Mendoza, repatriated; President Francisco Antonio Pinto arranged this in 1828. She spent the rest of her life in quiet retirement at her hacienda of El Monte, devoted to domestic life and charitable works,[2] and died there in August 1862.
She died at her hacienda in Santiago on August 20, 1862. Since 1952, her remains have rested alongside those of her brothers in the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral.[10]
Legacy
[edit]Carrera is seen as a symbol of a Chilean woman standing up to authority, alongside Paula Jaraquemada and Inés Suárez. She is still invoked as a role model by contemporary protesters against mistreatment.[11]
One of the most prestigious girls-only public schools in Santiago, Chile, is named after her: the Liceo A-1 Javiera Carrera (Public High School A-1 Javiera Carrera). One of its most famous students is the former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.
Javiera Carrera was widely admired during the 19th century. Maria Graham, Miguel Luis Amunátegui, Vicente Grez and Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna wrote works that highlighted her patriotism and the defense of her brothers, portraying her as a strong, determined and educated woman.[12][2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ S.A.P., El Mercurio. "Conciencia de un Legado". diario.elmercurio.cl (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Las mujeres en la Independencia de Chile: Javiera Carrera". Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile (in Spanish).
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Javiera Carrera Verdugo". Profesor En Línea (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
- ↑ Chambers, Sarah C. (2015). Families in War and Peace: Chile from Colony to Nation. Duke University Press (published May 22, 2015).
- ↑ Letter by Diego Antonio Navarro Martín de Villodras, Bishop of Concepción, written in Pasco, Peru (1814)
- ↑ "Javiera Carrera - Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile". www.memoriachilena.gob.cl. Retrieved 2021-09-17.
- ↑ Javiera Carrera. "Letters among Chile's Carreras." in Latin American Independence: An Anthology of Sources, edited by Sarah C. Chambers and John Charles Chasteen, 129–132. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2010.
- ↑ Eduardogerdingster (2021-02-22). "The Nottingham-Malvinas Group: 2021 Admiral David Jewett and his descendants". The Nottingham-Malvinas Group. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
- ↑ Encina, Francisco Antonio (January 1980). "La primera dictadura". Resumen de la Historia de Chile (in Spanish). Vol. III. Leopoldo Castedo (13th ed.). Santiago, Chile: Zig-Zag. p. 527.
- ↑ "Javiera Carrera, Revolutionary Icon". Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ↑ Margaret Power (1 November 2010). Right-Wing Women in Chile: Feminine Power and the Struggle Against Allende, 1964-1973. Penn State Press. pp. 148–. ISBN 978-0-271-04671-6.
- ↑ "Javiera Carrera, Revolutionary Icon". Retrieved 2021-08-24.
Sources
[edit]- Medina, José Toribio (1906). Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Imprenta Elzeviriana. pp. 869–870.
- Pilleux Cepeda, Mauricio. "Recopilación de Genealogia Chilena" (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- "Genealogical chart of Carrera family" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
External links
[edit]- Short Biography Archived 2006-11-07 at the Wayback Machine
- Javiera Carrera Stamp
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