Mapuche history

Origins Archaeological finds have shown the existence of a Mapuche culture in Chile as early as 600 to 500 BC. Genetically Mapuches differ from the adjacent indigenous peoples of Patagonia. This is interpreted as suggesting either a "different origin or long lasting separation of Mapuche and Patagonian populations". A 2019 study on the human leukocyte antigen genetics of Mapuche from Cañete found affinities with a variety of North and South American indigenous groups. Notably the study found also affinities also with Aleuts, Eskimos, Pacific Islanders, Ainu from Japan, Negidals from Eastern Siberia and Rapa Nui from Easter Island. There is no consensus on the linguistic affiliation of the Mapuche language, . In the early 1970s, significant linguistic affinities between Mapuche and Mayan languages were suggested. Croese (1989, 1991) has advanced the hypothesis that Mapudungun is related to the Arawakan languages. In 1954 Grete Mostny postulated the idea of a link between Mapuches and the archaeological culture of El Molle in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico. Mapuche toponymy is also found throughout the area. Albeit the Latcham hypothesis is consistent with linguistic features Guevara adds that Mapuches would be descendants of northern Changos, a poorly known coastal people, who moved southwards. This hypothesis is supported by tenuous linguistic evidence linking a language of 19th century Changos (called Chilueno or Arauco) with Mapudungun. According to a theory of historian Roberto E. Porcel the Mapuche were descendants of a group of Aymaras that migrated south as consequence of a conflict between Antisuyu and Contisuyu. Tiwanaku and Puquina influence It has been conjectured that the collapse of the Tiwanaku empire about 1000 CE caused a southward migratory wave leading to a series of changes in Mapuche society in Chile. This explains how the Mapuche language obtained many loanwords from Puquina language including (sun), (warlock), (moon), (salt) and (mother). However, a later report in the same journal, assessing the same mtDNA, concluded that the Chilean chicken specimen matches with the European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences. Thus, it may not support a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In December 2007, several human skulls with Polynesian features, such as rocker jaws and pentagonal shape when viewed from behind, were found lying on a shelf in a museum in Concepción. These skulls turned out to have come from people of Mocha Island, an island just off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, today inhabited by Mapuche. Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith of the University of Otago and José Miguel Ramírez Aliaga of the University of Valparaíso hope to win agreement soon with the locals of Mocha Island to begin an excavation to search for Polynesian remains on the island. Rocker jaws have also been found at an excavation led Ramírez in pre-Hispanic tombs and shell middens () of the coastal locality of Tunquén, Central Chile. According to Ramírez "more than a dozen Mapuche - Rapa Nui cognates have been described". Among these are the Mapuche words toki (axe), kuri (black) and piti (little). Evidence for a Chono past of the southernmost Mapuche lands in Chiloé and the nearby mainland are various placenames with Chono etymologies despite the main indigenous language of the archipelago at the arrival of the Spanish being veliche (Mapuche). This is in line with notions of ethnologist Ricardo E. Latcham who consider the Chono along other sea-faring nomads may be remnants from more widespread indigenous groups that were pushed south by "successive invasions" from more northern tribes. The Payos, an indigenous group in southern Chiloé encountered by the Spanish, may have been Chonos en route to acculturate into the Mapuche. Inca expansion and influence Troops of the Inca Empire are reported to have reached Maule River and had a battle with Mapuches from Maule River and Itata River there. The southern border of the Inca Empire is believed by most modern scholars to be situated between Santiago and the Maipo River or somewhere between Santiago and the Maule River. Spanish chroniclers Miguel de Olavarría and Diego de Rosales claimed the Inca frontier laid much further south at the Bío Bío River. chronicler Diego de Rosales gives an account of the Incas crossing the river going south all the way to La Imperial and returning north through Tucapel along the coast. The main settlements of the Inca Empire in Chile lay along the Aconcagua River, Mapocho River and the Maipo River. As it appear to be the case in the other borders of the Inca Empire, the southern border was composed of several zones: first, an inner, fully incorporated zone with mitimaes protected by a line of pukaras (fortresses) and then an outer zone with Inca pukaras scattered among allied tribes. Alternatively these toponyms originated in colonial times from the population of the Valdivian Fort System that served as a penal colony linked to the Peruvian port of El Callao. Gold and silver bracelets and "sort of crowns" were used by Mapuches in the Concepción area at the time of the Spanish arrival as noted by Jerónimo de Vivar. This is interpreted either as Incan gifts, war spoils from defeated Incas, or adoption of Incan metallurgy. ==Mapuche society at the arrival of the Spanish==

Demography and settlement types At the time of the arrival of the first Spaniards to Chile the largest indigenous population concentration was in the area spanning from Itata River to Chiloé Archipelago—that is the Mapuche heartland. The Mapuche population between Itata River and Reloncaví Sound has been estimated at 705,000–900,000 in the mid-16th century by historian José Bengoa. Mapuches lived in scattered hamlets, mainly along the great rivers of Southern Chile. Mapuches preferred to build their houses on hilly terrain or isolated hills rather than on plains and terraces. Social organization The politics, economy and religion of the pre- and early-contact Mapuches were based on the lineages of local communities called . This kind of organization was replicated at the larger rehue level that encompassed several . The politics of each lineage were not equally aggressive or submissive, but different from case to case. Early Mapuches had two types of leaders, secular and religious. The religious were machi, and the . The secular were the , ülmen and . Later the secular leaders were known as lonko, toki, and . Other agriculture types existed; while some Mapuches and Huilliches practised a slash-and-burn type of agriculture, some more labour-intensive agriculture is known to have been developed by Mapuches around Budi Lake (raised fields) and the Lumaco and Purén valleys (canalized fields). The bulk of the Mapuche population worked in agriculture. Hunting was also a common activity among Mapuches. Mapuche used a great variety of tools made of pierced stones. Mapuches used both individual digging sticks and large and heavy trident-like plows that required many men to use in agriculture. The Mapuche canoes or wampos were made of hollow trunks. In the Chiloé Archipelago another type of watercraft was common: the dalca. were made of planks and were mainly used for seafaring while wampus were used for navigating rivers and lakes. It is not known what kind of oars early Mapuches presumably used. There are various reports in the 16th century of Mapuches using gold adornments. This tradition may be unrelated to Inca influence as the Mapuche word milla is unrelated those of the Andean languages. Gold was the most important metal in Pre-Hispanic Mapuche culture. ==Early Hispanic period (1535–1598)==

Diego de Almagro Campaign (1535–1537) The Spanish expansion into Chile was an offshoot of the conquest of Peru. Diego de Almagro amassed a large expedition of about 500 Spaniards and thousands of yanaconas and arrived at the Copiapó Valley in 1535 and at Aconcagua Valley in 1536. From there he sent Gómez de Alvarado south in charge of a scouting troop. Alvarado reached the Itata River where he engaged in the Battle of Reynogüelén with local Mapuches. Alvarado then returned north and Diego de Almagro's expedition returned to Peru due the ferocity of the Mapuches, and they had not found the riches they expected. After a few months of settlement, Pedro de Valdivia gathers forces and goes directly to attack the fortress of Michimalonco in Paidahuén, leading to the battle of Paidahuén where the Mapuches are completely defeated and Michimalonco is taken prisoner. To obtain its freedom, Michimalonco offers ownership of the Marga Marga gold pans, previously exploited by the Incas, but which since the expulsion of the Incas belonged to Michimalonco. With this, Michimalonco and his imprisoned men are released and Michimalonco allocates part of its vassals to the exploitation of the gold by the Spanish. After a time of exploitation of the gold, Trangolonco, Michimalonco's brother, revolted and defeat the Spaniards in Marga Marga and destroyed the Spanish settlement, then defeat the Spanish in Concón and burned a ship under construction that was in the Bay, only a Spaniard and a slave escaped from the place. Trangolonco addresses as ambassador to all the loncos (Mapuche chiefs) of the Cachapoal, Maipo and Mapocho valleys to send their contingents and join Michimalonco, so that, just as he did with the Incas, he expels the Spanish from Araucanía. This action managed to gather around 16,000 warriors. defending the city of Santiago On September 11, 1541, Michimalonco attacked the Spanish and carried out the Destruction of Santiago, with only a handful of Spaniards barely surviving. Then Michimalonco applied the “empty war” which consisted of not giving the Spaniards any type of food or supplies so that they could go back to Peru. The Spanish barely resisted and there were a series of skirmishes between Spanish and Mapuche forces. According to chronicler Francisco de Riberos northern Mapuche put cultivation on hold for more than five years. In 1544 Michimalonco headed to the Limarí River valley to cut off land communications between Chile and Peru for the Spanish. Michimalonco becomes strong in this sector with its Mapuche contingent added to the contingent of its Diaguita allies. Northern Mapuche groups appear to have responded to the Spanish conquest abandoning their best agricultural lands and moving to remote localities away from the Spanish. After some victories against the Spanish advances, Pedro de Valdivia was forced to command his army himself and go to sustain the battle of Limarí, where the Mapuche-Diaguita hosts were defeated and Pedro de Valdivia sent Juan Bohón to found the City of La Serena at the mouth of the Elqui River. In this context one of the reasons the Spanish had to establish the city of La Serena in 1544 was to control Mapuche groups that had begun to migrate north following the Spanish founding of Santiago. The northern Mapuche, better known as Promaucaes or Picunches, unsuccessfully tried to resist the Spanish conquest. Spanish expansion to the south (1544–1553) In 1544, a naval expedition was sent, comprising the barks, San Pedro and Santiaguillo, under the command of Juan Bautista Pastene, to reconnoiter the southwestern coast of South America to the Strait of Magellan. The expedition set sail from Valparaíso, entered the bay of San Pedro, and made landings at what is now known as Concepción and at Valdivia, which was later named in honor of the commander. Encountering severe storms further south, he then returned to Valparaiso. Valdivia himself set out in 1546, with sixty horsemen plus guides and porters, and crossed the Itata River and were attacked by Mapuche warriors in the Battle of Quilacura near the Bío-Bío River. Realizing that it would be impossible to proceed in such hostile territory with so limited a force, Valdivia elected to return to Santiago after finding a site for a new city at what is now Penco and that would become the first site of Concepción. In 1550 Pedro de Valdivia, who aimed to control all of Chile to the Straits of Magellan, traveled southward to conquer more Mapuche territory. Following these initial conquests the Arauco War, a long period of intermittent war between Mapuches and Spaniards, broke out. A contributing factor was the lack of a tradition of forced labour like the Andean mit'a among the Mapuches who largely refused to serve the Spanish. Since the Spanish arrival in Araucanía in 1550, the Mapuches frequently laid siege to the Spanish cities in the 1550–1598 period. The war was mostly a low intensity conflict. Campaigns of Caupolicán and Lautaro (1553–1557) Lautaro, an early Mapuche military leader. Painting by Pedro Subercaseaux. In 1553, the Mapuches held a council at which they resolved to make war. They chose as their "toqui" (wartime chief) a strong man called Caupolicán and as his vice toqui Lautaro, because he had served as an auxiliary to the Spanish cavalry; he created the first Mapuche cavalry corps. With six thousand warriors under his command, Lautaro attacked the fort at Tucapel. The Spanish garrison was unable to withstand the assault and retreated to Purén. Lautaro seized and burned the fort and prepared his army certain that the Spaniards would attempt to retake Tucapel. Valdivia mounted a counter-attack, but he was quickly surrounded. He and his army was massacred by the Mapuches in the Battle of Tucapel. In February 1554 Lautaro succeeded in putting together an army of 8,000 men, just in time to confront a punitive expedition under the command of Francisco de Villagra at the Battle of Marihueñu. Lautaro defeated Governor Villagra and later devastated the city of Concepción. In 1555 Lautaro went to the city of Angol and destroyed it, he also returned to Concepción, rebuilt by the Spanish and destroyed it again. The outbreak of a typhus plague, a drought and a famine prevented the Mapuches from taking further actions to expel the Spanish out of Chile in 1554 and 1555. Meanwhile, in the north during 1554, news of the victories of Lautauro led to uprisings by the previously subdued northern mapuche tribes in the valley of the Mataquito River and the valley of the Aconcagua River, but these were put down. In 1556 his northward march reached the Mataquito River, where he established a fortified camp at Peteroa. In the Battle of Peteroa Lautaro repulsed attacking Spanish forces under the command of Diego Cano, and later held off the larger force commanded by Pedro de Villagra. Being advised that still more Spaniards were approaching, Lautaro decided to retreat towards the Maule River losing 200 warriors. With the Spaniards in hot pursuit he was forced to retire beyond the Itata River. In 1557 Lautaro headed with his army to destroy Santiago to liberate the whole of Central Chile from Spanish rule., In 1567 Spaniards conquered Chiloé Archipelago which was inhabited by Huilliches. In the 1570s Pedro de Villagra massacred and subdued revolting Mapuches around the city of La Imperial. Warfare in Araucanía intensified in the 1590s. Over time the Mapuche's of Purén and to a lesser extent also Tucapel gained a reputation of fierceness among Mapuches and Spaniards alike. This allowed the Purén Mapuches to rally other Mapuches in the war with the Spanish. Mapuche organization changed in response to the war and the aillarehue, a new macro-scale political unit consisting of several rehue, appeared in the late 16th century. By the late 16th century a handful of powerful Mapuche warlords had emerged near La Frontera. Changes in population patterns The Mapuche population decreased following contact with the Spanish invaders. Epidemics decimated much of the population as did the war with the Spanish. Others died in the Spanish gold mines. From archaeological evidence it has been suggested that the Mapuche of Purén and Lumaco valley abandoned the very scattered population pattern to form denser villages as a response to the war with the Spanish. Declining population meant that as agriculture diminished, many open fields in southern Chile were overgrown with forest. In the late 16th century the indigenous Picunche began a slow process of assimilation by losing their indigenous identity. This happened by a process of mestization by gradually abandoning their villages (pueblo de indios) to settle in nearby Spanish haciendas. There Picunches mingled with disparate indigenous peoples brought in from Peru, Tucumán, Araucanía (Mapuche), Chiloé (Huilliche, Cunco, Chono, Poyas) and Cuyo (Huarpe). Few in numbers, disconnected from their ancestral lands, living next to the Spanish and diluted by , the Picunche and their descendants lost their indigenous identity. ==Independence and war (1598–1641)==

Fall of the Spanish cities before the Destruction of the Seven Cities A watershed event happened in 1598. That year a party of warriors from Purén were returning south from a raid against the surroundings of Chillán. On their way back home they ambushed Martín García Óñez de Loyola and his troops who were sleeping without any night watch. It is not clear if they found the Spanish by accident or if they had followed them. The warriors, led by Pelantaro, killed both the governor and all his troops. In the years following the Battle of Curalaba a general uprising developed among the Mapuches and Huilliches. The Spanish cities of Angol, La Imperial, Osorno, Santa Cruz de Oñez, Valdivia and Villarrica were either destroyed or abandoned. Only Chillán and Concepción resisted the Mapuche sieges and attacks. With the exception of Chiloé Archipelago all the Chilean territory south of Bío Bío River became free of Spanish rule. While this was a sporadic attack, the Spanish believed the Dutch could attempt to ally the Mapuches and establish a stronghold in southern Chile. As the Spanish confirmed their suspicions of Dutch plans to establish themselves at the ruins of Valdivia they attempted to re-establish Spanish rule there before the Dutch arrived again. The Spanish attempts were thwarted in the 1630s when Mapuches did not allow the Spanish to pass by their territory. Skilled artisans, renegade Spanish, and women were generally spared by the Mapuches. In Chiloé Archipelago wheat came to be grown in lesser quantities compared to the native potatoes, given the adverse climate. Gold mining became a tabu among Mapuches in colonial times, and gold mining often prohibited under death penalty. Jesuit Father Luis de Valdivia believed Mapuches could be voluntarily converted to Christianity only if there was peace. He arranged the abolition of Mapuche servitude and the start of the so-called Defensive War with Spanish authorities. Luis de Valdivia took away warlord Anganamón's wives as the Catholic church opposed polygamy. Anganamón retaliated, killing three Jesuit missionaries on December 14, 1612. To convert the Mapuches Jesuits studied and learned their language and customs. Contrasting with their high political impact in the 1610s and 1620s, the Jesuits had little success in their conversion attempts. This legal change formalized Mapuche slavery that was already occurring at the time, with captured Mapuches being treated as property in the way they were bought and sold among the Spanish. Legalisation made Spanish slave raiding increasingly common in the Arauco War. Mapuche slaves were exported north to La Serena and Lima. ==Age of Parliaments (1641–1810)==

raid Araucanization ==Republican period (1810–1990)==

Role in Chilean Independence War (1810–1821) Guerre La Muerte and Political Turmoil (1818–1832): After the defeat of the Spanish in Chile and Argentina by Bernardo O'Higgins and San Martin's united forces, both armies had a new target that rose from the south and joined with Spanish royalists. This war became known as Guerra a Muerte (War to the Death). After defeating the Spanish in central Chile, O'Higgins and San Martin followed the Spanish to southern Chile into Mapuche lands. After O'Higgins signed the provisional Constitution of 1818, and became the Supreme Magistrate of the Chilean people, he offered to the Mapuche a pact of friendship between each other, saying "Our brothers, the inhabitants of the southern frontier". He considered the Mapuches as relatives of the Chileans, saying, "We all descend from the same Fathers, and the natural resources of our territory, our customs, and our respective needs, induce us to live in everlasting harmony and fraternity." These groups refused to abandon their territories, which they had guarded for centuries prior to the Spanish colonies, and this caused friction with the Chilean officials. However, this was not the first time the Mapuches stood up to an outside force, as in the 16th century, they were the reason that the Spanish were not able to expand further south. Yet, Mapuche politics became complicated as the Mapuche caciques had internal rivalries that predated the war itself and violently emerged when the Chilean Patriots and Spanish Royalists began to fight each other in their land. Because of their fragmented state, due to a small group of lonkos (another name for leader or cacique) gaining more and more territory, led to other the caciques chose sides in the Chilean War of Independence. A large majority of the Mapuche people aligned with the Spanish royalists, such as Francisco Mariluán, who was pro-Spanish, mainly because they would not break their previous oaths to the Spanish, in which they would provide military aid, provide gifts, or host parlementos in front of forts. These treaties between the Spanish and the Mapuche, date back to the 16th century, when the Mapuche, the Pehuenche, and the Huilliche tribes defeated the Spanish conquest. By the 18th century, the Spanish and the Mapuches began commercial relations, which were agreed upon by the Spanish and Mapuche leaders. The Spanish and Mapuche would trade merchandise and resources between each other. Over time politically and socially in which the Spaniards paid the chieftains to watch over and protect the merchants who were moving through the area. Ladinos (Native and Spanish mixed), and some chiefs who also helped relations with the two groups and later on the Spaniards gave 14 chieftains, including female chiefs, stipend from fiscal resources. The peace treaties that were signed, allowed for the Mapuche tribes to have their own lands, separate from Spanish colonialism. This kind of fighting continued for two years straight as both sides raided and pillaged each other. Francisco Mariluán also participated in some of the attacks on Chilean forces. He later joined his Spanish allies and headed toward the Llanos fort of Tucapel, which lead to his rival, Venancio Conuepan, following suite and attacking areas along the Biobío River. The Chilean wheat boom increased the pressure to acquire lands in Araucanía by Chileans and lead to numerous scams and fraud against Mapuches. A limited number of speculators obtained control over vast lands through fraud and maintained control over their assets with the help of gunmen. The encroachment of settlers that had advanced over time from the north across Bío Bío River into Mapuche territory and the appearance of German settlers in southern Mapuche territory led chief Mañil in 1859 to call for an uprising to assert control over the territory. Most Mapuches responded to the call, except the communities at Purén, Choll Choll, and the southern coastal Mapuches who had strong links with Valdivia. Later Chile would also annex Easter Island. In this context Araucanía began to be conquered by Chile due to two reasons. First, the Chilean state aimed for territorial continuity and second, it remained the sole place for Chilean agriculture to expand. Between 1861 and 1871 Chile incorporated several Mapuche territories in Araucanía. In January 1881, having decisively defeated Peru in the battles of Chorrillos and Miraflores, Chile resumed the conquest of Araucanía. The campaigns of the Argentine Army against Mapuches in the other side of the Andes pushed in 1880 many Mapuches into Araucanía. Pehuenche chief Purrán was taken prisoner by the Argentine Army; the Argentine Army penetrated the valley of Lonquimay, which Chile considered part of its legal territory. From dispossession to vindication (1883–1990) Historian Ward Churchill has claimed that the Mapuche population dropped from a total of half a million to 25,000 within a generation as result of the occupation. The conquest of Araucanía caused numerous Mapuches to be displaced and forced to roam in search of shelter and food. Some Chilean forts responded by providing food rations. In the years following the occupation the economy of Araucanía changed from being based on sheep and cattle herding to one based on agriculture and wood extraction. The loss of land by the Mapuches following the occupation caused severe erosion since they continued to practice significant livestock herding in limited areas. ==Recent history (1990–present)==

Many ethnic Mapuche now live across southern Chile and Argentina; some maintain their traditions and continue living from agriculture, but a majority have migrated to cities in search of better economic opportunities. Many are concentrated around Santiago. Chile's Araucanía Region, the former Araucanía, has a rural population that is 80% Mapuche; substantial Mapuche populations occupy areas of the regions of Los Lagos, Bío-Bío, and Maule. In the 2002 Chilean census 604,349 people identified as Mapuche, and of these the two regions with the largest numbers were Araucanía with 203,221, and Santiago Metropolitan Region with 182,963. Each major population is greater than the total Mapuche population in Argentina as of 2004–2005. In recent years, the Chilean government has tried to redress some of the inequities of the past. In 1993 the Parliament passed Law n° 19 253 (Indigenous Law, or ), which officially recognized the Mapuche people and seven other ethnic minorities as well as the Mapudungun language and culture. Mapundungun, whose use was prohibited before, is now included in the curriculum of elementary schools around Temuco. Despite representing 4.6% of the Chilean population, few Mapuche have reached government positions. In 2006 among Chile's 38 senators and 120 deputies, only one identified as indigenous. The number of indigenous politicians in electoral office is higher at municipal levels. Representatives from Mapuche organizations have joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), seeking recognition and protection for their cultural and land rights. Modern conflict Land disputes and violent confrontations continue in some Mapuche areas, particularly in the northern sections of the Araucanía region between and around Traiguén and Lumaco. In an effort to defuse tensions, the Commission for Historical Truth and New Treatments issued a report in 2003 calling for drastic changes in Chile's treatment of its indigenous people, more than 80 percent of whom are Mapuche. The recommendations included the formal recognition of political and "territorial" rights for indigenous peoples, as well as efforts to promote their cultural identities. Though Japanese and Swiss interests are active in the economy of Araucanía (Mapudungun: ), the two chief forestry companies are Chilean-owned. In the past, the firms have planted hundreds of thousands of acres with non-native species such as Monterey pine, Douglas firs and eucalyptus trees, sometimes replacing native Valdivian forests, although such substitution and replacement is now forbidden. Chile exports wood to the United States, almost all of which comes from this southern region, with an annual value of $600 million and rising. Forest Ethics (now Stand.earth), a conservation group, has led an international campaign for preservation, resulting in the Home Depot chain and other leading wood importers agreeing to revise their purchasing policies to "provide for the protection of native forests in Chile." Some Mapuche leaders want stronger protections for the forests. In recent years, the delicts committed by Mapuche activists have been prosecuted under counter-terrorism legislation, originally introduced by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet to control political dissidents. The law allows prosecutors to withhold evidence from the defense for up to six months and to conceal the identity of witnesses, who may give evidence in court behind screens. Violent activist groups, such as the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco, use tactics such as the burning of structures and pastures and death threats against people and their families. Protesters from Mapuche communities have used these tactics against properties of both multinational forestry corporations and private individuals. In 2010 the Mapuche launched a number of hunger strikes in attempts to effect change in the anti-terrorism legislation. ==Notes==