Governorate of Terra Australis

Firstly, I give you license and power to the said Pero Sancho de Hoz so that for us, and in our name and that of the royal crown of Castile, you may sail with the said ships that you thus offer to make for the said South Sea, where the said marquises don Francisco Pizarro, and adelantado don Diego de Almagro, and don Pedro de Mendoza, and Francisco de Camargo have the said governorships, to the said strait of Magellan, and the land that is on the other side of it; and on your way or return, you will discover all that coast on the side of the said strait, without entering into the limits and place of the islands and land that are given in government to other people to conquer, and to govern, nor to rescue, except for the sustenance of the people you will carry, so long as you do not touch the limits and demarcation of the Most Serene King of Portugal, our brother, nor the Malucos, nor the limits which, by the last contract and commitment, were given to the Most Serene King.

Item, we promise you that, made the said discovery of the other part of the said strait, or of some island that is not in a foreign place, we will do you the mercy of your services; and while we are informed of what you will thus discover, you will be our governor of it.

After this, the Council of the Indies would draw the limits of the portion of the Terra Australis granted to Alderete, complementing the details in question by means of a capitulation.

[2] At the end of 1554 King Charles I sends a letter to the Council of the Indies expressing: "and with regard to the land on the other side of the Strait of Magellan, which we have also given and granted in governorship to the said Geronimo de Alderete, we have ordered him, for the reasons that have been written to you, to send some ships from the said province of Chile to take notice and report on the quality and usefulness of that land, since for the present he is not to go in person or go to conquer or populate it, because at present, having to attend to what is in Chile, the one and the other could not be done, and the other could not be done, the one and the other could not be done together".

It was formally dissolved in 1544, when King Charles I sent his personal envoy, Blasco Núñez Vela, to govern the newly founded Viceroyalty of Peru that replaced the governorates.

Pedro de Valdivia held the domains of Chile and Terra Australis, which he sought to merge.
Jerónimo de Alderete was an advance officer of the part of Terra Australis near the Strait of Magellan before being appointed governor of Chile, a position he never held due to his death in Panama.
King Charles I of Spain authorized the creation of the Governorate of Terra Australis by means of a royal decree, and ratified its existence by means of other subsequent decrees.
The administrative division and the adelantado grants of Charles V prior to the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru , including Terra Australis on its South American part.