Supposedly, Ines Suarez was born in 1507. Despite the fact this date is not for certain, it is known that her place of birth was Placencia, in Spain.
Coming from a humble family, she was a seamstress since she was a little girl. At the age of 19 she married Juan Malaga, with whom she had no children. The Spaniard, attracted by the adventures of the New World and its promises of fortune, embarked towards Panama in approximately 1528, leaving his wife by herself.
With no news regarding Malaga’s whereabouts, Ines Suarez decided to begin a search.
After obtaining the permits in 1537, she arrived to America, reaching Cuzco, where she found out her husband had died during the battle of Las Salinas. In her position of widow of a Spanish soldier, she took charge of a portion of land and of a group of indigenous people which she received trough the encomienda system.
Although the exact date is unknown, she met Pedro de Valdivia in Cuzco.
She soon became part of his entourage and became the only white woman that was part of the expedition that completed the conquest of our territory. During that time, she was the lover of the Spanish conqueror, who was married to Marina Ortiz.
Settled in the recently founded capitol of the Kingdom of Chile, she fought the same as any other soldier during the first indigenous attack, courtesy of Michimalonko. On that day, she encouraged the soldiers resist and even spread fear among the indigenous people by decapitating some prisoners.
When Pedro de Valdivia was tried in Lima for his actions, he was forced to end his relationship with Suarez, reason for which he married her to another Spaniard.
The chosen one was Rodrigo de Quiroga, who in 1549 married a Saniard who was already 42 years old. They had no children, and she led an absolutely normal life until her death in 1580.
