Carrera family

The Carrera family

The Carrera family of Chile became politically influential during the colonial period, and played a significant role in Chilean Independence. They remained politically important throughout the 19th century. Their descendants make up the bulk of the Chilean upper-class.

• María Nicolasa de Valdés y de la Carrera (1733–1810), first First Lady of Chile

• Ignacio de la Carrera (1747–1819), member of Chile's first ruling junta in 1810.

The children of Ignacio de la Carrera are known in Chilean history as the Hermanos Carrera (Carrera siblings). All except Javiera were military commanders in the fight against Spanish reconquest:

• Javiera Carrera (1771–1862), "Mother" of Chile, who sewed its first flag
• Brigadier Juan José Carrera (1782–1818), independentist hero
• General José Miguel Carrera (1785–1821), independentist leader, who governed Chile during its first period of independence, the Patria Vieja.
• Colonel Luis Carrera (1791–1818), independentist hero

Other descendants also notable in their time:

• José Miguel Carrera Fontecilla (1821–1860), leader of the Chilean Civil War of 1851
• José Miguel Valdés Carrera (1837–1898), politician and several times minister
• Luis Aldunate Carrera (1842–1908) politician and several times minister
• Ignacio Carrera Pinto (1848–1882), soldier and hero of the Battle of La Concepcion during the War of the Pacific.
• Manuel Carrera Pinto (1854–1895) politician
• Federico Santa María Carrera (1845–1925) businessman and philanthropist
• María Elena Carrera Villavicencio (1929), politician

The Carrera name has disappeared by way of marriage from Chilean society, but their descendants, who number in the few hundred, are socially, politically and financially prominent.

Additional information

See also

• History of Chile
• Manuel Rodríguez

References

Sources

• Vicuña Mackenna, Benjamín (1857) (in Spanish). El Ostracismo de los Carreras. Santiago, Chile: Imprenta del Ferrocarril. pp. 553. http://books.google.com/books?id=B_EnAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA1,M1 
• "Genealogical chart of Carrera family" (in Spanish). http://www.geocities.com/heartland/park/1132/p23.htm. Retrieved 15 October 2008. ^{[dead link]}