Who was the leader of Chile in 1817?

Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was the leader of Chile in 1817, as Supreme Director of Chile.

The 1817´s election of the leader of Chile (Supreme Director of Chile), this was the first designation of authority of this independent nation; not withstanding the election of the First National Congress in 1811.

People met an open-council in Santiago on February 15th, 1817 that the government should be ruled by Jose De San Martin, leader of the Andes Liberation Army, but they embarked on their work of freeing America, looked to Peru, the last bastion Spanish colonial in South America, for which San Martin rejected the candidacy of Supreme Director of Chile to focus on the liberation of Peru.

San Martin gave his support to Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (son of Irish and Chilean), whose nomination was already prearranged by San Martin.