She was built, like her sister ship, the protected cruiser Presidente Errázuriz, in France supervised by Juan José Latorre.

The ships were ordered in 1887 by President José Manuel Balmaceda before the beginning of the 1891 Chilean Civil War.

During the war, the two cruisers lay incomplete in French dockyards alongside the pre-dreadnought battleship Capitán Prat.

Her artillery was supplied from an English merchant in the North Sea while transiting to Chile.

In 1902, during the Thousand Days' War, the Colombian Government tried unsuccessfully to purchase Presidente Pinto.