Pedro de Oña

Pedro de Oña (born 1570?, Los Confines, Chile—died 1643?, Lima, Peru) was the first known poet born in Chile.

After studying at the University of San Marcos in Lima, he entered the army and served in several battles against rebellious Indians. His most famous work is Primera parte de Arauco domado (1596; “First Part of the Araucan Conquest”), a verse epic in rhymed couplets depicting the deeds of the Marquis of Canete, viceroy of Peru from 1556 to 1560, based in part on the famous La Araucana (1569, 1578, 1589; “The Araucan”) of the Spanish poet Alonso de Ercilla. Oña’s poem brought him immediate fame. Other works are El Ignacio de Cantabria (1639; “Ignatius of Cantabria”), a religious poem about St. Ignatius Loyola, and Temblor de Lima en 1609 (“The Earthquake of Lima in 1609”).