[On the death of Gabriel Cano de Aponte]. / A propósito de la muerte de Cano de Aponte y los accidentes ecuestres.

Gabriel Cano de Aponte was Governor of Chile since 1717 and until his death in 1733, being 68 years old. As a soldier, he was an experienced horse rider. The sequence of events that caused his death three months after an equestrian accident is unclear. A systematic clinical analysis of the latter is the main objective of this review. Historians have documented Cano de Aponte's "inclination for unbridled fun and equestrian exercises". During a holiday Cano de Aponte suffered a horse fall and subsequent crushing by the latter. It has been stated that a spinal lesion caused by the accident kept him bedridden for a period of three months, clear in reason and with intense pain, before his death. However, there is no evidence on historic data that conveys any typical sign associated with spinal injury following the accident. Therefore we suggest that Cano de Aponte suffered a complex pelvic ring fracture. The fact that he was prostrated, lucid, but suffered an intense pain best sustains the hypothesis of a pelvic fracture. After the initial period, one of the most common causes of death resulting from a pelvic fracture is deep venous thrombosis with secondary pulmonary thromboembolism. This must have been the sequence of events that most probably caused Cano de Aponte's death.

A propósito de la muerte de Cano de Aponte y los accidentes ecuestres / On the death of Gabriel Cano de Aponte

Gabriel Cano de Aponte was Governor of Chile since 1717 and util his death in 1733, being 68 years old. As a soldier, he was an experimented horse rider. The sequence ofevents that caused his death three months after an equestrian accident are unclear. A systematic clinical analysis of the later is the main objective of this review. Historians have documented Cano de Aponte's "inclination for unbridled fun and equestrian exercises". During a holiday Cano de Aponte suffered a horse fall and subsequent crushing by the latter. It has been stated that a spinal lesion caused by the accident kept him bedridden for a period of three months, clear in reason and with intense pain, before his death. However, there is no evidence on historie data that conveys any typical sign associated to spinal injury following the accident. Therefore we suggest that Cano de Aponte suffered a complex pelvic ring fracture. The fact that he was prostrated, lucid, but suffered and intense pain best sustains the hypothesis of a pelvic fracture. After the initial period, one ofthe most common causes of death resulting from a pelvic fracture is deep venous thrombosis with secondary pulmonary thromboembolism. This must have been the sequence ofevents that most probably caused Cano de Aponte's death).

A propósito de la muerte de Cano de Aponte y los accidentes ecuestres / On the death of Gabriel Cano de Aponte

Concluido el proceso de unificación del territorio español, las colonias dependían política y culturalmente del soberano. Así, el Reino de Chile, dependiente del Virreinato del Perú, tuvo como Gobernador a un representante nominado directamente por el rey. Desde el siglo XVI y hasta comienzos del XIX los gobernadores de Chile fueron 66. La serie se inició con don Pedro de Valdivia en 1540 y concluyó con don Mateo de Toro y Zambrano, en el año 1810.Durante el reinado de Felipe V, don Gabriel Cano de Aponte gobernó Chile por más de cinco quinquenios, y de su figura y muerte nos ocuparemos en este artículo. Hemos recurrido especialmente a la crónica que sobre su persona y administración nos dejó el historiador don Diego Barros Arana quien, a su vez, recurrió a historiadores del siglo XIX y a documentos del Archivo de Indias. Es también primera fuente la "Descripción histórico-jeográfica del Reino de Chile» de Vicente Carvallo i Goyeneche, publicada en el año 1875.