Chacao was a sixteenth century Carib cacique

Cacique

Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...

 who governed in the region of the valley

Valley

In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...

 of Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, at the time called San Francisco, in present-day Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. Today the region, Chacao Municipality, Miranda

Chacao Municipality, Miranda

Chacao Municipality, is one of the five political and administrative subdivisions of the city of Caracas, Venezuela. The other four are Baruta, El Hatillo, Libertador and Sucre. This legal entity is known as the Caracas Metropolitan District...

, bears his name.

Around 1567, Chacao was taken prisoner by Juan de Gamez upon the orders of Diego de Losada

Diego de Losada

Diego de Losada was a Spanish conquistador and the founder of Santiago de León de Caracas, the current capital of Venezuela.Losada was born in Rionegro del Puente, in what is now the province of Zamora. He reached Puerto Rico in 1533....

, who had told him to go out and capture natives; Losada later slackened the order. Losada's reasons for the order remain unknown, but it has been suggested that he wanted to befriend the cacique before attempting to pacify the region. Regardless, in 1568, Chacao allied himself with Guaicaipuro

Guaicaipuro

Guaicaipuro was a native Venezuelan chief of both the Teques and Caracas tribes. Though known today as Guaicaipuro, in documents of the time his name was written Guacaipuro.-Life:...

 and several other local chiefs in a futile attempt to stop the advance of the conquistador

Conquistador

Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

s; they were beaten, by the same Losada, in the Battle of Maracapana.