Mapuche people

Araucano and Arauca redirect here.

Mapuche
1. Women of Tirúa, 2015. 2. Meeting of wise men, 1904.
Other names	Araucanians, Reche, Aucas, Moluche, Pampas, Puelche, Pehuenche, Chilenos, Huilliche, Picunche, Promaucas
Location	Argentina, Chile
Total population	1,950,156
Regions with significant populations
Chile (2017)	1,745,147
Argentina (2010)	205,009
Languages	Spanish Mapudungun
Religion	Christianity Mapuche religion
Related ethnic groups	Tehuelches, Payos, Pampas

The Mapuche (from the autonym in Mapudungun mapuche), Araucanians (the name given by the Spaniards to the Indigenous people who inhabited the historical region of Arauco), also called Reche especially in the 16th century, are an Indigenous people who live in Argentina and Chile.

In a particular sense the term refers to those who inhabited Arauco, the Araucanians, or the territory that corresponds to the present-day La Araucanía Region, and their descendants.

In a generic sense it encompasses all those who spoke or speak the Mapuche language or Mapudungun, including several groups that arose from the Mapuchization that took place between the 17th and 19th centuries through the expansion to the east of the Andes mountain range.

At the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, they lived between the Aconcagua Valley and the center of Chiloé Island, in present-day Chilean territory. The northern groups, called Picunches by historians, were partially under the rule or influence of the Inca Empire and were for the most part subjugated by the conquistadors, but those who lived in the territory south of the Maule River could not be dominated by the Incas and also opposed the Spaniards in the Arauco War, where they displayed an outstanding mastery of the horse, which was an important factor in the development of their culture. Part of them managed to preserve their independence from Spanish rule in the so-called "Arauco War", and from the mid-17th century borders and periodic peace agreements ("parlamentos") were established.

At the end of the 19th century they were subjugated by Chile and Argentina through the military campaigns known, respectively, as the Occupation of the Araucanía and the Conquest of the Desert. This meant the death of thousands of people and the loss of territory, since they were displaced onto smaller tracts of land called "reducciones" or "reservations", and the rest of the land was declared state property and auctioned off.

In the 20th and 21st centuries they have undergone a process of acculturation and assimilation into the societies of both countries, and there are manifestations of cultural resistance and conflicts over land ownership, the recognition of their organizations and the exercise of their culture.

The traditional economic system, based on hunting and horticulture, gave way to an agricultural and livestock economy in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they became a peasant people after their forced settlement on lands assigned by Chile and Argentina. Today they show great cultural fragmentation, a subdivision of property and a migration of the younger generations toward the large cities, so that the population is mostly urban, living mainly in Santiago de Chile and Temuco, although linked to varying degrees with their communities of origin.

The Mapuche population experiences racial discrimination and social discrimination in its relations with the rest of society in Chile and Argentina, which is reflected in lower rates of education and income and higher unemployment, and according to official statistics, their poverty rates are higher than the Chilean national average. In both Argentina and Chile, some initiatives to recover their historical lands have met with the refusal of multinational companies.

Etymology

In the Mapuche language or Mapudungun, the name they give themselves is mapuche, or mapunche, composed of mapu, 'land, country', and che, 'person, people'; that is, 'people of the land', «native».

This is in opposition to the foreigners who arrived from Europe and their descendants, called wingka, and to those who have adopted their way of life. In some areas, the terms mapuche and mapunche are used with slight differences of meaning. Until the 18th century, the self-designation che, 'people', or reche, 'true people', would have existed among the members of this ethnic group.

The name aucas would come from the Quechua word awqa, 'savage' or 'rebel', 'enemy', which would have been given to them by the Incas or by the Spaniards; according to the chroniclers, the Incas had already called the population living south of the Cachapoal River purumauca, and the Spaniards would merely have adopted the name «auca» to refer to it.

The designation Araucanians has predominated in historiography for the period from the first contacts with the Spaniards until approximately the 19th century and is still in use, but it is not accepted by the Mapuche. The name «Araucanian» may be a demonym of «Arauco», the name the Spaniards gave to the land they inhabited independently, whose etymology is disputed. It has been proposed that «Arauco» could derive from a Castilianization of the Mapuche word ragko, 'clayey water', which the Spaniards would have used for the inhabitants of a place so named and which later, by metonymy, would have been extended to all the remaining peoples of the area; in fact, the land near Concepción south of the Biobío is still called Arauco Province today.

The Mapuche reject the use of the name «Araucanian» because it is a foreign designation, given by their enemies. However, the word awqa was adopted by the Mapuche in the form awka with the meaning of 'untamed', 'savage' or 'brave' and they applied it to themselves.

Language

Main article: Mapuche language

Current composition and distribution

In Chile

Portrait of Mapuche women drawn by the French expeditionary Dumont D'Urville in 1842.

According to the 2017 Chilean census, 1,745,147 people in that country declared themselves to belong to the Mapuche people, 9.93% of the total population, which represents 79.84% of the country's total Indigenous population and corresponds to approximately 90% of the total Mapuche population of Chile and Argentina combined. They live mainly in the Metropolitan Region (35.23%), followed by Araucanía (18.00%) and Los Lagos (12.65%) and, to a lesser extent, in the regions of Biobío (9.10%), Los Ríos (5.34%) and Valparaíso (5.31%).

In Argentina

In Argentina the Mapuche are the most numerous Indigenous people, although their number is approximately ten times smaller than in Chile.

Based on the Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas (ECPI) 2004-2005 (Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples), carried out by the Argentine state through the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), it was calculated that almost 105,000 people belong to the Mapuche people or are first-generation descendants of it. 73% of them live in the provinces of Chubut, Neuquén and Río Negro.

According to the ECPI, 78,534 people self-identified as Mapuche in the provinces of Chubut, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, of whom 13,237 lived in Indigenous communities. In the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the 24 partidos of Greater Buenos Aires, 9,745 people self-identified as Mapuche. In the interior of Buenos Aires Province and in La Pampa Province, 20,527 people did so, none of whom lived in a community. The total for the country was 113,680 people who self-identified as Mapuche, 13,430 of them living in communities.

During the preparation of the 2001 Argentine census, Mapuche representatives criticized its design and implementation for not guaranteeing adequate participation of the original peoples, for reproducing the prejudiced stereotype of «the Indian», for underestimating Mapuche migration toward the cities and for relying on officials who failed to meet legal and political commitments.

The Commission of Indigenous Jurists in Argentina (CJIA) filed a writ of amparo requesting the postponement of the 2001 Census, arguing that it had not had participation under the conditions established by ILO Convention 169 and article 75, subsection 17 of the Argentine National Constitution. The controversy went so far as to trigger an occupation of the premises of the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) by these representatives.

When the 2001 Census was carried out, in some provinces there was direct participation of Indigenous census takers and trainers. However, many deny its validity.

Contradicting the INDEC figures, an official publication of the Argentine government reported that there were 200,000 Mapuche living in its territory. On the other hand, other unofficial sources speak of 90,000 and 200,000.

The Mapuche community itself differs greatly from the census carried out by INDEC and estimates that the Mapuche population in Argentina is 500,000 people. Calculations from 1998–2000 estimated that up to 300,000 Mapuche lived in Argentina, of whom some 70,000 were in Neuquén.

The Mapuche criticism of the Argentine census methodology was similar to that made against the Chilean one. Based on the ECPI survey, the populations of the provinces of Neuquén and Chubut are 7% and 5% of Mapuche origin, respectively.

The 2010 National Population Census in Argentina revealed the existence of 205,009 people who self-identified as Mapuche throughout the country, 39,869 of them in Río Negro Province, 39,634 in Neuquén, 36,706 in the interior of Buenos Aires Province, 31,771 in Chubut Province, 21,041 in Greater Buenos Aires, 6,806 in the City of Buenos Aires, 6,132 in Mendoza Province, 4,973 in Córdoba, 4,408 in Santa Cruz, 4,261 in La Pampa, 3,084 in Santa Fe, 1,280 in San Luis, 975 in Tierra del Fuego, 923 in Entre Ríos, 562 in Misiones, 437 in Tucumán, 417 in San Juan, 325 in La Rioja, 302 in Catamarca and 220 in Corrientes.

In Buenos Aires Province, in the partidos of General Viamonte (Los Toldos) and Rojas, 280 and 220 km west of Buenos Aires respectively, there is a semi-acculturated Mapuche community descended from the Boroano Ignacio Coliqueo, recognized as "principal cacique of the friendly Indians and colonel of the national army" of Argentina, who obtained, together with his tribe, ownership of two leagues of land. In that community the Rogativa is no longer practiced and only a few speak mapuzugun; however, they have begun a process of recovering their roots, and one of the community's three primary schools teaches the Mapuche language.

The Mapuche Confederation of Neuquén, created in 1970, brings together the rural Mapuche communities of Neuquén Province; its authorities are elected in a trahun («parliament») every two years.

Their presence is particularly important in Lanín National Park, where between 2,500 and 3,000 people live in 7 communities (Aigo, Cañicul, Cayún, Curruhuinca, Lefimán, Ñorquinko and Raquithue), in territories they consider their own, occupying some 24,000 ha.

The list of Araucanian rural communities of Neuquén existing in 2003 was:

• Aluminé Department: Aigo, Catalán, Currumil, Lefiman (*), Ñorquinko, Plácido Puel (*), Puel, Salazar, Tayiñ Rakizuam (*).
• Catán Lil Department: Cayulef, Cayupán, Filipin, Paineo, Rams, Zúñiga.
• Collón Curá Department: Ancatruz, Namuncurá.
• Confluencia Department: Kaxipayiñ, Paynemil, Purrán (*), Ragiñ Ko.
• Huiliches Department: Atreuco, Cañicul, Chiuquilihuin, Linares, Painefilu, Raquithue.
• Lácar Department: Cayún, Curruhuinca, Vera.
• Loncopué Department: Kilapi, Mellao Morales, Millaín.
• Minas Department: Antiñir Pilquiñan.
• Ñorquín Department: Colipilli, Manqui, Maripil (*).
• Picún Leufú Department: Marifil.
• Picunches Department: Cheuquel, Milaqueo.
• Zapala Department: Antipan, Gelay Ko (*), Gramajo, Kalfucurá, Quinchao, Wiñoy Folil (*), Zapata.

(*) recently constituted communities.

In Río Negro Province, the Mapuche communities are grouped in the Coordinating Body of the Parliament of the Mapuche People of Río Negro.

At the end of 2002, the following rural and urban communities existed: Cañumil; Anekon Grande; Cerro Bandera (Quimey Piuke Mapuche); Quiñe Lemu (Los Repollos); Wri Trai; Tripay Antu; Ranquehue; Monguel Mamuell; Pehuenche (Arroyo Los Berros); Makunchao; Centro Mapuche Bariloche; Trenque Tuaiñ; San Antonio; Los Menucos; Putren Tuli Mahuida; Ngpun Kurrha; Peñi Mapu; Cerro Mesa-Anekon Chico; Lof Antual; Wefu Wechu (Cerro Alto); Cañadón Chileno; Lof Painefil; Cai – Viedma; Fiske Menuco; Kume Mapu; Aguada de Guerra; Tekel Mapu; Carri Lafquen Chico Maquinchao; Laguna Blanca; Río Chico; Yuquiche; Sierra Colorada.

In Chubut Province there is the Limonao community and mestizo groups of Mapuche and Tehuelche that arose from Araucanization, who call themselves Mapuche-Tehuelche.

There are also four Mapuche-Tehuelche communities in Santa Cruz Province: in Caleta Olivia (Willimapu), Río Gallegos (Aitué), in Río Turbio (Millanahuel) and in Puerto Santa Cruz (Fem Mapu).

After the Conquest of the Desert, the Pehuenche virtually disappeared as a people in Argentine territory; many of them probably crossed the Andes into Chile.

In Mendoza Province, starting in 2007, Pehuenche groups have begun to organize by electing a werkén («spokesperson») and forming two lof («communities») in Malargüe Department, which received legal personality in 2009:

• Kupan Kupalme (or Juan Cupalme, in the eastern zone of Payunia).
• Malal Pincheira (at the Castillos de Pincheira and the Buta Mallín stream).

Since 1995 the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) began to recognize legal personality through registration in the National Registry of Indigenous Communities (Renaci), including Mapuche communities:

• In Chubut Province:

Comunidad Indígena Emilio Prane (on December 2, 1996), Comunidad Indígena Huisca Antieco (in Futaleufú Department, on November 7, 1996), Comunidad Indígena Huangelén Puelo (in Cushamen Department, on September 28, 2000), Comunidad Mapuche Motoco Cárdenas (in Cushamen Department, on June 10, 2004), Comunidad Mapuche Enrique Sepúlveda (in Cushamen Department, on February 23, 2005), Comunidad Mapuche Fentren Peñi (in the localities of Mina de Indio and Colonia Pastoril Cushamen, Cushamen Department, on November 27, 2013).

• In Neuquén Province:

Agrupación Mapuche Cañicul (on June 26, 1996), Comunidad Indígena Cayun (on July 3, 1996), Comunidad Indígena Raquitue (on July 26, 1996), Comunidad Kallfukura (in Zapala Department, on October 15, 1997), Comunidad Kaxipayiñ (in Añelo Department, on October 15, 1997), Comunidad Indígena Ñorkinko (on July 8, 1997), Comunidad Mapuche Lof Gelay Ko (in Zapala Department, on July 19, 2002), Comunidad Lof Lefiman (in Aluminé Department, on July 19, 2002), Comunidad Lof Lonko Purran (in Zapala Department, July 19, 2002), Comunidad Lof Maripil (in Ñorquín Department, July 19, 2002), Comunidad Lof Wiñoy Folil (in Zapala Department, July 19, 2002), Comunidad Lof Wiñoy Tayin Rakizuam (in Aluminé Department, on July 19, 2004), Lof Kinxikew (in Los Lagos Department, on January 9, 2006), Lof Zuñiga (in Catán Lil Department, on January 9, 2006), Lof Paichil Antreao (in Los Lagos Department, on June 5, 2007), Comunidad Huenctru Trawel Leufú (in Picún Leufú Department, on April 22, 2008), Lof Newen Mapu (in Confluencia Department, on November 12, 2009).

• In Río Negro Province:

Comunidad Indígena del Pueblo Mapuche Thripan Anty (in Bariloche Department, on August 10, 1998), Comunidad Mapuche Lof-Leufuche (in El Cuy Department, on August 31, 2000), Comunidad Mapuche Lof Wiritray (in Bariloche Department, on March 22, 2000), Comunidad Mapuche Lof Ranquehue (in Bariloche Department, on April 28, 2003), Comunidad Mapuche Tequel Mapu (in Bariloche Department, on January 13, 2005).

• In La Pampa Province:

Comunidad Ranquel Manuel Baigorrita (in Loventué Department, on September 15, 1999).

• In Mendoza Province:

Comunidad Mapuche Mapudungun (in Las Heras Department, on June 6, 2002), Lof Kupan Kupalme (in Malargüe Department, on May 19, 2009), Lof Malal Pincheira (in Malargüe Department, on May 19, 2009), Lof Poñiwe (in the locality of El Alambrado, Malargüe Department, on March 11, 2014), Lof Buta Mallín, the locality of Buta Mallín in Malargüe Department, on March 18, 2014).

• In Buenos Aires Province:

Comunidad Urbana Peñi Mapu -Hermanos de la Tierra- (in Olavarría Partido, on September 25, 2003), Comunidad Mapuche de Junín (in Junín Partido, on January 6, 2004), Comunidad Mapuche Gualmes de Malvinas Argentinas (in Malvinas Argentinas Partido, on January 27, 2004), Lof Kuripan-Kayuman (in Bahía Blanca Partido, on August 19, 2005), Comunidad Antu Ruca (in Patagones Partido, on July 20, 2009), Comunidad Mapuche Ñuque Mapu del Campo La Cruz (in Junín Partido, on January 28, 2009).

• In Santa Cruz Province:

Comunidad Mapuche Millaqueo (in Las Heras and in the locality of Villa Picardo in Deseado Department, on March 25, 2014), Comunidad Mapuche Limonau (in Las Heras and in Laguna Sirven, Deseado Department, on December 20, 2012).

• In Mendoza Province (Mapuche-Pehuenche):

Lof El Altepal (on the banks of the Malargüe River, Malargüe Department, on March 11, 2014), Lof Laguna Iberá, in the locality of El Morro, Malargüe Department, on March 18, 2014).

• In Santa Cruz Province (Mapuche-Tehuelche):

Comunidad Nehuen Mulfuñ (in Pico Truncado in Deseado Department, on March 25, 2014).

• In Chubut Province (Mapuche-Tehuelche):

Comunidad Indígena Vuelta del Río (in Cushamen Department, on February 24, 1997).

• In Río Negro Province (Mapuche-Tehuelche):

Comunidad Aborigen Río Chico (in Ñorquincó Department, on September 1, 2000).

• In Buenos Aires Province (Mapuche-Tehuelche):

Tehuelche Callvu Shotel (in La Plata Partido, on May 18, 2010).

Since 2009 Santa Fe Province began registering Indigenous communities in the Special Registry of Aboriginal Communities of Santa Fe Province (RECA) of the Provincial Institute of Santa Fe Aborigines, granting them legal personality at the provincial level, among them a Mapuche community: Comunidad Xavn Inay Leufv (in the city of Rosario in Rosario Department, on November 26, 2015).

Territorial identities and ethnic groups

Old Mapuche flag with the Star of Arauco (Guñelve) from the 1700s, which later served as inspiration for O'Higgins in designing the current flag of Chile.

Main groups

Some contemporary studies group the Mapudungun-speaking Indigenous people into different groups according to the territory they occupied and certain cultural differences derived from it; however, for them all are Mapuche, differentiated only, according to the list below, by the geographic location where they lived. The names assigned are deictic and given taking the Mapuche of La Araucanía as the point of reference:

• Picunches (people of the north): They were located between the Choapa and Itata rivers (a territory called Pikun Mapu). Part of this group, the Promaucaes, intermingled peacefully with the Inca Empire. The main economic activity was agriculture, practiced in a slash-and-burn system. They also raised llamas and knew clay pottery. They were acculturated and intermixed with the Spanish colonizers; from this mixture arose most of the population that inhabits the central zone of Chile. Other groupings identified by the Spaniards, besides the Promaucaes, were the Mapochoes, the Maules and the Cauquenes.

• Araucanians or Mapuche in the restricted sense: According to the chronicles, they were the protagonists of the Arauco War and those who successfully resisted the conquest first by the Incas and then by the Spaniards. The Mapuche on the other side of the Andes called them moluches (nguluche) ('people of the west').

• Huilliches (people of the south): Between the Toltén River and Isla Grande de Chiloé. Their economy and main foods were the potato, maize and the bean, but they also hunted, fished and gathered shellfish and seaweed on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and the beaches of Chiloé's inner sea. The Huilliches in the south, in the same way as the Promaucaes in the north, intermingled with other Indigenous peoples who spoke a different language (the Chonos).

The Huilliches continued to speak Mapudungun, but with differences of pronunciation and vocabulary; its modern dialect on the coast of Osorno is known today as Chesungun.

Some Huilliches have been called Cuncos from the area of the Chacao Channel, the Juncos of the plains of Osorno, and even the Payos who come from the south of Chiloé Island. This last group was made up of farmers and fishermen who spoke the Mapuche language, but it is not known with certainty whether they were Huilliche factions or an originally distinct group that had assimilated Mapuche culture.

• Pehuenches (people of the pehuén): In the 16th century the so-called "ancient Pehuenches" occupied the mountainous regions on both sides of the Andes; with the Mapuche expansion these tribes were the first to adopt the language and part of the Mapuche customs. By the end of the 19th century, the region was populated only by Mapudungun-speaking people of mixed culture.

The political organization of Argentina and Chile led the authorities to exercise greater border control, thus preventing their free movement.

The ancient Pehuenches are described as tall, thin, agile and dark-skinned; they had close relations with their Huarpe neighbors, learning from them the techniques of basket weaving. Their clothing could be made from animal hides, adorned with feathers of the rhea or other birds.

Today this people is located between the VIII and IX Regions of Chile, always in the mountains. Depending on the season of the year, they settle higher or lower on the hills. In winter, for example, they avoid the cold temperatures by descending to the valleys. Their source of survival is summer gathering and the products obtained from raising animals.

• Lafquenches (people of the coast): The Lafquenche territory is the Sea of the Chilean Pacific Ocean, the seashore, the slopes of the Coastal Range or the area around Lake Budi. Today Lafkenche communities are located in the south of Arauco Province. They speak Spanish and Mapudungun and are mostly engaged in artisanal fishing.

Main Araucanized peoples

The Wenufoye is the current Mapuche flag, created in 1992 and used by the Council of All Lands and other organizations.

Main article: Araucanization

From the mid-17th century, when the Arauco War was becoming less intense, trade between Araucanians and criollos increased.

Likewise, the Mapuche began to raise sheep and cattle, which they obtained both from malones (raids) against the Spaniards and against the Tehuelches and Pampas; the same happened through contact with the peoples who lived east of the Andes, with whom they traded livestock and goods, mainly salt.

The movements of peoples such as the Araucanian or Mapuche and the Tehuelche were motivated, to a large extent, by trade both with the criollos and with other Indigenous peoples. In turn, from time to time different peoples disputed control over the main trade routes, but the beginning of the process of "Mapuchization" has entirely peaceful origins, even before the middle of the 18th century, in the fairs of El Cayrú and Chapaleofú. At these fairs, located in the hills of the humid pampa of present-day Argentina, there was a very important commercial activity and exchange of products among the native inhabitants of the pampean plains and the hills of present-day Buenos Aires Province, those of northern Patagonia and those of both sides of the Andes. There were two very important fairs, at El Cayrú and at Chapaleofú. At these fairs, called "poncho fairs" by the Jesuits of the time who recorded them (such as Thomas Falkner), various types of products were exchanged: from livestock and agricultural products to garments such as ponchos. El Cayrú was located in the westernmost part of the Tandilia System (in the territory of present-day Olavarría Partido), and Chapaleofú refers to the surroundings of the stream of the same name, located in present-day Tandil Partido. Thus, from these movements of people for the exchange of products, from before the middle of the 18th century, a certain cultural exchange began among the different peoples who lived from the humid pampa, through northern Patagonia and up to the area immediately adjacent to the Andes (on both its eastern and western sides) as far as the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This is the beginning of the cultural exchange and migratory movements among the different peoples, among whom the Tehuelches, the Ranqueles and the Mapuche should be mentioned.

Mapuche influence has its origin in the above, since, starting from purposes of trade and alliances, it ended up producing a great cultural influence on the Tehuelches and other peoples, to the point that it is called the "Mapuchization" or "Araucanization" of the Pampas and Patagonia. A large part of the Tehuelches adopted many of the Mapuche customs and language, while the Mapuche adopted part of the Tehuelche way of life (such as living in tolderías) and with this the differences between the two groups blurred, to the point that their descendants refer to themselves as Mapuche-Tehuelche.

The stolen livestock and the salt extracted in the pampa were sold by the Indigenous people to the criollos of Chile and Buenos Aires, which they achieved thanks to another Spanish contribution: the introduction of the horse. With the horse, the Mapuche could cross the immensity of the pampa, a territory of vast and almost unpopulated grasslands, driving livestock in relatively little time.

With the new livestock-based way of life, the peoples of the pampas also changed their way of life; the population increased, which gave rise to a series of conflicts over resources between rival groups. This facilitated the war of conquest and subsequent acculturation of many tribes by the Mapuche.

Although from the 16th century, thanks to the horse, the Tehuelches began their expansion from the south, extending their culture throughout the pampa, in the mid-18th century this process of territorial and cultural expansion was halted by the arrival of the Araucanians.

Araucanization was characterized by the assimilation and intermixing of the conquered people and the Mapuche in a complex and gradual way, over several generations.

Around 1820 there was a migration of numerous groups of Indigenous people from the Araucanía toward present-day Argentine territory, in the context of the war to the death between royalists and pro-independence forces in southern Chile.

The main Araucanized peoples were:

• Chonos: They lived south of Chiloé (Chonos Archipelago), were taken by missionaries to the islands and adopted the Huilliche way of life. It is speculated that the Payos may have been previously Mapuchized Chonos.
• Poyas, including the Vuriloches, later «Poyuche»: They lived, and their descendants live, mainly in the mountainous areas of southern Neuquén Province and northwestern Río Negro Province.
• Puelche («people of the east»): Although the Mapuche gave this name to different groups east of the Andes, in Spanish it usually refers to those who called themselves gününa küne. They were grouped in extended families governed by a cacique. Families practiced monogamy, although caciques and important persons could have several wives. They were tall, with a rather elongated head, which they used to deform artificially in babies. Their way of life was nomadic and they obtained their main food from the guanaco and the rhea, which they hunted with bows, arrows and bolas. They also gathered roots and seeds and prepared alcoholic beverages. They lived in hide tents and their garment was the quillango, a blanket made of guanaco skin with the hair facing inward. They decorated it on the outside with geometric designs. They held their hair with a headband and wore leather moccasins. They also used to paint their faces depending on the occasion.
• Ranqueles (rangkülche, «people of the reeds»): The Ranqueles arose from the Mapuchization of groups apparently related to the Puelches. In the 19th century, especially in the time of Calfucurá, they played a very active role in the wars and raids against the Argentine population of Buenos Aires.
• Tehuelches: They lived in Patagonia, north of the Strait of Magellan and mostly in Argentine territory. The Mapuche called all the Tsonek, called Patagones by the Spaniards, by the name chewelche, «surly people» or «fierce people», because of the resistance they put up against the Mapuche expansion east of the Andes. Their sociopolitical structure recognized the presence of lineages led by a chief and the existence of shamans. They had simple religious beliefs; in their world there acted good spirits that caused joy and evil spirits that caused harm and illness. They buried the dead accompanied by their belongings, in graves dug in the ground or in caves that they covered with stones. Their economy was based on hunting guanacos and rheas, using their famous bolas, and they gathered all kinds of wild roots and seeds. They dressed in capes of guanaco skin fastened at the waist with a sash, and covered their feet with a kind of very thick leather moccasin.

Many authors include the Patagones as a Mapuche faction, but others consider that the cultural differences, such as the linguistic ones, among the Patagones were quite significant; likewise, the truth is that the relationship between the Tehuelches and the Araucanians was constantly warlike. The northern Tehuelches, outnumbered and outmatched in combat tactics, had to withdraw south in the face of the Mapuche invasion of the Comahue and the pampean region, and the survivors were mostly acculturated.

Around 1870, the Patagones continued to wage fierce battles against the Araucanians near the Chubut River, an area that was the southern limit of the Mapuche expansion.

This war between the Tehuelches and Mapuche can now be considered a form of genocide by the second people against the first.

From the 21st century onward, the subdivisions are slightly different. The names are almost always given from the point of view of the Mapuche of the Chilean IX Region, mainly of Cautín:

• The term Mapuche is in general use, with occasional distinctions between the factions. The Mapuche proper is still identified with the Araucanian, since the word Moluche has fallen into disuse.
• There are no members of the Picunche people because they were completely acculturated during the Hispanic period, forming to a large extent one of the original substrates of the population of Chile's Central Valley, but the Mapuche use the term, in its literal meaning, to refer to a community that lives further north than the speaker.
• In the provinces of Osorno and Chiloé lives the Huilliche people. On occasion the Huilliches of Chiloé prefer to call themselves veliches, as well as the variant of the language they used until the end of the 19th century.
• In the provinces of Malleco and Cautín the names nagche, «people from below», are used for the inhabitants of the Intermediate Depression, and wenteche, «people from above», for those who live in the Andean Precordillera; both designations have a territorial rather than cultural connotation.

Territory

Main article: Wallmapu

Daughter of the lonco Quilprán in 1868. Photo published in the Chilean yearbook of 1900.

The Mapuche were never a people with a centralized government, but rather a series of independent groups that spoke the same language and shared certain cultural traits. This made it difficult both to defend their territory and to strengthen and grow as an ethnic group independent of the Chilean state, which led to their gradual incorporation into Chile or Argentina.

The concept of a Mapuche nation began to emerge toward the end of the 19th century during the process of conquest by Chile and Argentina.

The territory claimed by the Mapuche is called by them Mapuche Wallontu Mapu or simply Wallmapu ('surrounding land' or 'land that surrounds'), which is divided into two parts separated by the Pire Mapu: the Andes mountain range. These two parts are subdivided into territorial spaces called fütanmapu, related to some extent to the butalmapus of the Arauco War.

Ngulu Mapu

Main article: Ngulu Mapu

Machis (Mapuche shamans).

The Ngulu Mapu, «land of the West», part of present-day Chile, inhabited by the nguluches, «people of the west», extends from the Aconcagua River in the north to the Chiloé Archipelago in the south, and between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east.

The Ngulu Mapu is divided into fütanmapu. Notable among them are the four mentioned by the Creole priest and scientist Juan Ignacio Molina at the end of the 18th century. In his work Compendio de la historia geográfica, natural y civil del Reyno de Chile, the so-called Araucanians (tribes between the Biobío and Toltén rivers) were grouped into four «Uthanmapu or parallel Principalities» of similar width, organized into «Aillarehue or Provinces», in turn divided into «Rehues or Prefectures»:

• Pikun Mapu, «land of the north»: inhabited by the Picunches, «people of the north», between the Aconcagua and Itata rivers. The anthropologist Horacio Larraín Barros in turn subdivides them into two groups:
  • The Picones, who would be native inhabitants of the zone between the Aconcagua and the Maipo, and the Mapochoes, who were the Quechua settlers in the Mapocho Valley.
  • The Promaucaes from south of the Maipo to the Itata.
• Lafken Mapu, «sea land»; Lafquenmapu or Lauquenmapu, «maritime country»: organized into the aillarehues of Arauco, Tucapel, Elicura, Boroa and Nagtolten (Lower Toltén). They were the ones who participated least in the intertribal wars, possibly because their greater contact with the Spaniards acculturated them more than their neighbors. Their demonym was Lafquenches or costinos (coastal people).
• Nag Mapu, «land below»; Lelfun Mapu, «land of the plains»; Lelgunmapu, «flat country»: organized into the aillarehues of Angol, Purén, Repocura, Maquehue and Mariquita. Its people were called Nagches, Lelfunches, llanistas or abajinos (lowlanders).
• Inapire Mapu, «land near the snows»; Wente Mapu, «land of the valleys»; Inapiremapu, «Sub-Andean country»: organized into the aillarehues of Marbén, Colhue, Chacaico, Quecheregua and Guanabue. From the 18th century they waged wars against the abajinos because both wished to expand at the expense of the others. They were nicknamed arribanos (uplanders), Wenteches or Moluches.
• Pire Mapu, «land of the snows»; Pewen Mapu, «land of the Araucarias»; Piremapu, «Andean country»: inhabited by the Pehuenches, «people of the pehuén», in Alto Biobío and in the south of the Argentine province of Mendoza and the north of Neuquén. By the 18th century the «primitive or original Pehuenches» had been completely Araucanized. These «Araucanized Pehuenches» (so called by historians to distinguish them from their ancestors) were the product of a cultural mixture of Mapuche, Puelche, Tehuelche, Chiquillán and Huilliche elements.
• Willi Mapu, «land of the south»: inhabited by the Huilliches, «people of the south», between the Toltén River and the Reloncaví Sound and Chiloé; they lived in the interior valleys.
• Futa Willi Mapu, «great territory of the south», or Chawra kawin, «gathering of the chaura»: inhabited by the Cuncos of the coast south of the Bueno River as far as Chiloé.

Regarding their historical population, there are various analyses for each group. In 1995 the historian Sergio Villalobos estimated the number of Picunches at the arrival of the Spaniards at approximately 110,000, a decrease compared with another estimate of his from 1980, in which he estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in the Aconcagua and 125,000 between the Mapocho and the Maule. Meanwhile, his colleague Jorge Hidalgo, based on a letter from Pedro de Valdivia to Hernando de Pizarro in 1545 on the number of tributary Indians between Copiapó and the Maule, makes another estimate. He considers that the number refers to heads of families, so he multiplies it by five and then doubles the result to account for those killed by the plagues in the first years of the conquest; he finally subtracts the Aconcaguas and Diaguitas and arrives at 122,500. Hidalgo also uses a letter from Bibar of 1558, which speaks of the tributary Indians between the Aconcagua and Maule rivers, to make the same type of calculation, arriving at 120,000. He considers that the Picunches lost 50% of their people by 1545 and 72% by 1558. In contrast, the anthropologist Horacio Larraín Barros stated: «It is almost impossible to calculate the number of Picunches around 1535. Perhaps the figure of 220,000 comes somewhat close to reality», subdividing them into 90,000 to 100,000 «northern Picunches» and «southern Picunches», who would number more than 120,000. There is also the opinion of Francisco Antonio Encina, who spoke of 90,000 Indigenous people between the Aconcagua and the Maule and another 200,000 between the latter river and the Biobío. Mellafe speaks of 200,000 between the Aconcagua and Itata rivers.

Regarding the peoples that would not be conquered, that is, those south of the Biobío, the anthropologist Larraín Barros believed that in 1535 they consisted of 425,000 Mapuche (Lafquenches, Wenteches and Nagches), 40,000 Pehuenches (only a few bands lived in the pre-Andean zone of Chile, the rest in present-day Argentina), 180,000 Huilliches and 100,000 Cuncos. In the specific case of the Mapuche, he bases himself on the lists of Ercilla and Bibar of the number of warriors each cacique had available. Thus, considering that men under arms could be up to 20% of the population, he arrives at these conclusions. For his part, Encina believed there must have been some 350,000 Mapuche and 430,000 Huilliches between the Biobío and Chiloé. Villalobos in 1980 speaks of 300,000 to 450,000 Mapuche, 120,000 Huilliches and 30,000 Cuncos (the latter in Chiloé). Mellafe believed there were 450,000 between the Itata and the Toltén, the most populated area of the country, and 200,000 south of the latter.

In contrast, Tomás Thayer Ojeda estimated that they must have been some 980,000 to 1,440,000, including Chiloé. John Cooper, on the other hand, believed that the Araucanía was a densely populated area that later became depopulated, estimating between half a million and a million and a half. Finally, Julian Haynes Steward speaks of one million. Hidalgo believes that any estimate of the Mapuche and Huilliches is very difficult, since their numbers of warriors were greatly exaggerated in the chronicles and the information on their peoples between the arrival of Valdivia and the uprising of Lautaro is fragmentary. Lastly, the historian José Bengoa bases himself on archaeological studies and demographic studies of the Guaraní, a people with a cultural level similar to the Mapuche at the arrival of the Spaniards, to estimate that the Araucanía must have had about half a million inhabitants, half of the national total.

During the 16th century the Indigenous people were affected by terrible plagues against which they had no natural defenses. Bengoa notes that between 1553 and 1557 an epidemic of chavalongo (typhus) took the lives of approximately 300,000 Mapuche, and a smallpox epidemic between 1561 and 1563 eliminated another 100,000, going so far as to paralyze mining work and military operations. And that is without quantifying the damage done by syphilis. In his view, by the end of that century there were barely 200,000 Araucanians left in Chile. The historian Rolando Mellafe estimates a similar demographic catastrophe. Of the million original inhabitants of Chilean territory at the arrival of Valdivia, by 1570 they had been reduced by 40%, by 1590 by 46% and by 1620 by 52%. After the disaster of Curalaba in 1598, the population of wild Indigenous people surpassed that of those held in encomienda, because of the loss of the territories south of the Biobío and the mass flight to that area, until only the increase of the mestizo population managed to make up for the loss of labor. Thus, eighty years after the founding of Santiago, the untamed population was 250,000 people.

The population recovered again during the 18th century thanks to the long period of peace, possibly reaching some 200,000, and decreased in the following century through emigration and war. Around 1890 there were estimated to be 100,000 or a little more Mapuche, Huilliches, Cuncos and Araucanized Pehuenches. Shortly afterward, in 1913, Friar Jerónimo de Amberga stated that there were 80,000 Araucanians registered in the missions, to which must be added 20% who did not live in reductions, were isolated or had moved to the cities, totaling 110,000. The anthropologist Donald Brand estimated them at 300,000 in 1941, of whom two-thirds still spoke their language. Around 1975 they were estimated at more than half a million.

Puel Mapu

The Puel Mapu ('land of the East'), part of present-day Argentina, inhabited by the Puelches (in a positional, not historical, sense), extends from the Cuarto and Diamante rivers in the north to the Limay and Negro rivers in the south, and between the Andes to the west and the Salado River of Buenos Aires (or, around 1750, the line of forts and towns of San Nicolás de los Arroyos, San Antonio de Areco, Luján and Merlo) and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

The Puel Mapu is divided into the following butanmapus:

• Mamüll Mapu ('land of the woods'): inhabited by the Mamulches, or people of the thickets or forests of calden and carob trees; it corresponds to present-day southwestern Córdoba Province, southeastern San Luis Province and the north-central and northwestern part of La Pampa Province. Its inhabitants merged with the Ranqueles at the beginning of the 19th century under the leadership of Carripilún.

• Rangkül Mapu ('land of the reed beds'): inhabited by the Ranqueles, people of the reed beds or cane fields east of the Mamulches. From the beginning of the 19th century they absorbed the Mamulches, Chadiches and other peoples, and their territory expanded to include western Buenos Aires Province, southern Santa Fe Province, southern Córdoba Province, southern San Luis Province, southeastern Mendoza Province, all of La Pampa Province and northern Río Negro Province.
• Chadi Mapu ('land of the salt flats'): inhabited by the people of the land of salt or salineros, also called Chadiches, around Urre Lauquen Lagoon in the depressed zone of southern La Pampa Province; its inhabitants merged with the others.
• Puel Willi Mapu ('land of the southeast'): inhabited by the people of the southeast, the Manzaneros or Puelches. It corresponds to the territories of western Chubut and southern Río Negro, where the Mapuche, Pehuenche and Tehuelche peoples intermixed.

Altogether, those who spoke Mapudungun and lived in the Pampas numbered up to 150,000 people before their subjugation by Argentine troops.

• Boroa ('place where there are bones'): they crossed from the Araucanía to the pampas around 1820; they numbered some 40,000 people.

History

Origin

Main article: Origin of the Mapuche

The origin of the Mapuche is not known with great certainty. However, by the 5th century there were already cultural manifestations in the Intermediate Depression of present-day Chile that can be traced up to the present era. The groups that created the Bato, El Vergel, Llolleo and Pitrén cultures are mentioned as possible ancestors of the Mapuche.

Inca expansion

The Mapuche suffered the expansion of the Inca Empire or Tawantinsuyu, which became evident from the 15th century onward, with the advance toward the Collasuyu, one of the four regions or quarters into which the Inca Empire was divided and which lay to its south.

During the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui, an expedition of conquest was carried out that began by traversing the Collao, Cochabamba and Tucumán. From Charcas it headed south and subjugated the Diaguita of the Transverse Valleys and part of the Picunche populations who inhabited the Valley of Chile (the present-day Aconcagua Valley) and some districts located to the south of it.

Depiction by Guamán Poma de Ayala of a clash between a group of natives of present-day Chile (left) and Captain Apu Camac Inca.

Thus the southern limit of the Inca Empire was set, in an area that historians and archaeology conventionally extend to the Maule River.

The Spaniard Alonso de Ercilla, in the epic poem La Araucana (1569); the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, in his book Comentarios reales de los incas (1609); and the chroniclers Jerónimo de Vivar (Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los Reinos de Chile, 1558), Miguel de Olaverría (Informe de Miguel de Olaverria sobre el Reyno de Chile, sus Indios y sus guerras, 1594) and Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche (Descripción histórico geografía del Reino de Chile, 1796) recount the Inca expedition toward the Maule River and its encounter with the Promaucaes.

The Incas called promaucaes, purumaucas or purum aucca the populations that were not subject to their Empire. The former subjugated some peoples of the Valley of Chile, who paid them tribute. In this southern campaign a war was fought between 20,000 Incas of Yupanqui and 20,000 Mapuche, south of the Maule. The Picunche tribe, known as Promaucaes by the Spaniards, having learned of the coming of the Incas, allied with the Antalli, Cauqui and Pincu.

The Incas sent envoys so that the Promaucaes would recognize Túpac Inca Yupanqui as sovereign. The Promaucaes decided to give battle and fought the Incas for three days. This event is known as the Battle of the Maule. The clash produced a large number of dead on both sides, without either army emerging victorious. On the fourth day they decided not to fight. The Promaucaes withdrew from the battlefield proclaiming victory. The Incas reportedly weighed pursuing them to continue the battle or securing what had already been conquered. Finally they decided not to try to continue the conquest, but rather to strengthen their positions and administer the territories already conquered to the north, where the new vassal peoples willingly accepted their rule and gained advantages from it.

Although archaeology has found no evidence of an Inca presence south of the Maule River, there are also some Spanish chronicles indicating that, in that expansion or a later one, a hypothetical last expansion or invasion farther south, as far as the Biobío River, would have taken place, carried out by Inca forces during the reign of Túpac Inca Yupanqui or of Huayna Cápac. The chronicles mentioned are the Report of Miguel de Olaverría, p. 24:

The Peruvians conquered and subjugated all the Indians there were as far as the great river of Biobío, as can be seen today from their having reached said river by the forts they built on the hill of the Claro River, where they set and held a frontier against the Indians of the state (of Arauco), with whom they had many battles.

and the chronicle of Father Anello Oliva in his "Historia del Perú" (published in a French translation):

qu'il soumit jusqu'à la vallée d'Arauco, où il passa l'hiver, après y avoir fait construire quelques forts. Il soumit ensuite les provinces de Chillhue et de Chillcaras (that he subjugated as far as the valley of Arauco, where he spent the winter, after having had some forts built there. He then subjugated the provinces of Chillhue and Chillcaras).

However, historians indicate that the Inca conquests beyond the Maule River, taken as a whole, are based only on what was stated by chroniclers whose chronicles were generally written with little discernment and rarely agree with one another.

The chronicles mention that during the 1520s, the two sons of the Inca Huayna Cápac, Huáscar and Atahualpa, disputed the Empire in a bitter civil war, weakening the Inca army in Mapuche territory, which would have forced them to abandon their positions and fall back to the north in order to defend their conquered territory under better conditions.

European arrival and the Arauco War

Main article: Arauco War

Battle between Spaniards and Mapuche during the Arauco War, by Alonso de Ovalle.

Decades later, the Spanish conquistadors brought down the Inca Empire and subsequently also attempted to subjugate the Araucanians, whose population was estimated at around one million people.

However, the resistance of the Mapuche led to a prolonged conflict known as the Arauco War. Thus, figures such as Lautaro (a prominent Mapuche military leader, taken prisoner as a child by the Spaniards, who served Pedro de Valdivia as a page) and later the uprising of Pelantaro in the 1590s influenced the setting of the military frontier between Spaniards and Mapuche at the Biobío River. The Battle of Curalaba, in 1598, where Governor Martín Óñez de Loyola lost his life, marked the defeat of the Spanish forces in Mapuche territory.

During that initial period, the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th, the indigenous population of present-day Chile (estimated at about one million people) was greatly reduced, mainly by the plagues brought by the Europeans, to which the natives had no immunity; one of typhus (1554–1557) killed three hundred thousand human lives and another of smallpox (1561–1563) another hundred thousand. It is very likely that at the time of the Battle of Curalaba there were no more than 200,000 indigenous people in Chile.

The epic poem Arauco Domado by the Chilean writer Pedro de Oña, together with the play of the same name by Lope de Vega, narrate from the Hispanic point of view part of the war against the Mapuche people. Likewise, the work La Araucana (1569, 1578 and 1589) by the Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ercilla, dedicated to King Philip II of Spain, is an epic that highlights the resistance put up by the Araucanian people. In it, Ercilla speaks of the Mapuche as the Araucanians, as the people produced by the land of Chile.

Chile, fertile and renowned province

in the famous Antarctic region,

respected by remote nations

as strong, foremost and powerful;

the people it produces are so excellent,

so proud, gallant and warlike,

that it has never been ruled by a king

nor subjected to foreign dominion.

— La Araucana, Alonso de Ercilla (1569).

Painting "The Young Lautaro" by Pedro Subercaseaux, showing the military genius and the skill of his people.

It has been well documented by history that the groups located between the Biobío and Toltén rivers successfully resisted the Spanish conquistadors in the so-called Arauco War, a series of battles and events that lasted some 300 years, with long periods of truce.

... unless they were of three nations, Pijaos, Taironas and Araucos, which are the three nations of the bravest people of the Indies…

— Viaje del Mundo, Pedro Ordóñez de Ceballos (c. 1555–1634)

In the following centuries, the Spaniards were cautious about venturing into Mapuche territory. At first they did so through (peaceful) religious missions led by Father Luis de Valdivia in the so-called Defensive War, which yielded no results, giving way to the "parliaments", a pre-Columbian form of negotiation. At these meetings both sides exchanged gifts and ate and drank their fill. Afterward the diners negotiated and then signed pacts that they swore to respect.

Thus, at the Parliament of Quillín, in 1641, it was agreed to end the war and to set the frontier at the Biobío River; the Mapuche promised to free the captives and to confront enemies of the Crown. Later other parliaments were held, with the approval of the King of Spain, in which the recognition of the independence of the Mapuche vis-à-vis the Spanish Crown was reiterated, and the parties committed to setting aside warlike actions. These treaties were recognized by the republican government of Supreme Director Ramón Freire at Tapihue, on January 7, 1825, at the General Parliament of Tapihue. Its articles 18 and 19 recognize Mapuche sovereignty over the territories south of the Biobío.

After this there was a period of relative peace (although small "protests" continued in various places throughout the country) that allowed the Mapuche population to recover and reach 150,000 to 200,000 by the end of the 18th century. Shortly afterward, mass migrations to the Pampa began.

The American anthropologist Tom Dillehay, the same man who discovered at Monte Verde (Chile) the first human settlement of America, has just published a book in which he explains why the Mapuche were, at the arrival of the Spaniards, a more developed society than had been thought until now.

Eastward expansion

Main article: Mapuche expansion

According to the theories, their presence in present-day Argentina is due in part to the pressure exerted by the Spaniards, and to a long process of migration through the passes of the Andes mountain range and of cultural transmission; between the 17th and 19th centuries they expanded toward the territories located east of the cordillera: the Comahue, a large part of the Pampas region, and the north of eastern Patagonia, lands until then occupied by various peoples of very different cultures and languages. In this way the northern Tehuelche and the ancient Pehuenche were subjected to a process of "Araucanization", whether violently or peacefully.

Independence and the emergence of Chile and Argentina

In Chile

Main articles: Occupation of Araucanía and Colonization of Llanquihue

Drawing of Mapuche by Giulio Ferrario published in Milan in 1827.

Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez negotiating with Mapuche lonkos in 1869, during the first phases of the Occupation of Araucanía.

During the Chilean War of Independence, it was most common for the Mapuche to side with the royalists, although they did not take much part in the battles, because these took place outside their territory. Only at the end of the period, with the War to the Death, did they become heavily involved.

After its independence from Spain, Chile followed a policy of non-aggression and caution until the second half of the 19th century, when state expansion advanced over Mapuche territory.

Thus, from 1861 to 1883, the Chilean army tried different strategies, from alliances with mutually hostile clans to war, including bribery with alcoholic beverages. The military operations were mainly in the charge of Cornelio Saavedra (a Chilean military officer, grandson of the president of the First Argentine Government Junta installed on May 25, 1810), and culminated in the complete subjugation of the Mapuche in 1883. This entire process was given the name Occupation of Araucanía.

In December 1866, the Chilean Congress passed a law that recognized the property rights of the Mapuche in the "Indigenous Territory", creating a Commission of experts — the Comisión Radicadora de Indígenas — whose mission was to demarcate the indigenous possessions. According to that law, those lands on which the Mapuche could not prove possession would be considered vacant lands, and therefore state property according to article 590 of the Civil Code of 1857. The constitution of property under the 1866 law could only be carried out after the Chilean military triumph in 1883, after which the State took military control of Mapuche territory and treated the lands as if they were state-owned, contravening the meaning of its own legislation, and the property rights of the Mapuche were massively disregarded. In this way, the Mapuche went from controlling some 10 million hectares to having to survive on barely 500 thousand, that is, 5% of their former territory. Furthermore, the policies of settlement of the southern lands ended up marginalizing them, and fostered the irregular usurpation of many of their lands, even of those recognized in the Títulos de Merced.

Regarding the communities farther south in Chile, such as the Lafkenche or coastal people of Arauco Province, the Huilliche of Valdivia, Llanquihue and San Juan de la Costa (near Osorno) and those of the Chiloé Archipelago, there is little information; however, it is known that the former took part in the War to the Death and in the rebellion of 1881, although to a lesser extent. This lesser participation in the case of the mainland Huilliche was a consequence of the acquisition of part of their ancestral lands in the viceregal period prior to Chilean independence, which resulted from the establishment of hacienda property in the area. Therefore, once the Republic of Chile was later established, it would be the colonization of Llanquihue and the process of growth and expansion of the established cities and towns that would lead to the reduction of the territories of the Huilliche communities and the pushing of their population toward the coastal and mountain areas.

In Argentina

Main article: Conquest of the Desert

Origin of Mapuche influence on other peoples

Indigenous Couple on Horseback, Julio Daufresne and Albérico Isola, 1844

La Montonera Federal by Charles Henri Pellegrini; on the right, 2 completely Araucanized Tehuelche women around 1840.

File:Indígenas Argentinos ilustración.png

Mapuche on Argentine soil.

The relationship and exchanges between the peoples on both sides of the Andes predate the arrival of Europeans in America. Since before the 18th century there was significant commercial activity and exchange of products between the native inhabitants of the Pampas plains and the hills of present-day Buenos Aires Province, those of northern Patagonia and those of both sides of the Andes. There were two very important fairs, at Cayrú and at Chapaleofú. At these fairs, called "poncho fairs" by the Jesuits of the time who recorded them (such as Thomas Falkner), various types of products were exchanged: from livestock and agricultural products to garments such as ponchos. Cayrú was located in the westernmost part of the Tandilia System (in the territory of the present-day Olavarría Partido) and Chapaleofú refers to the surroundings of the stream of the same name, located in the present-day Tandil Partido; both municipalities or partidos are located in the interior of present-day Buenos Aires Province. Thus, from these movements of people for the exchange of products, from before the mid-18th century a certain cultural exchange began among different peoples who lived from the humid pampa, through northern Patagonia, up to the area immediately adjacent to the Andes (on both its eastern and western sides) and as far as the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This is the beginning of the cultural exchange and migratory movements among the different peoples, among whom the Tehuelche, the Ranquel and the Mapuche should be mentioned.

The Mapuche influence on other peoples of Patagonia and the Pampa originates in what has been mentioned above, since, starting from commercial activities or alliances, a great cultural influence ended up being exerted on the Tehuelche and other peoples, to the point that it is called the "Mapuchization" or "Araucanization" of the Pampas and Patagonia. A large part of the Tehuelche adopted many Mapuche customs, the Mapuche language and Mapuche dress, while the Mapuche adopted the Tehuelche nomadic way of life (such as living in tolderías), and with this the differences between both groups became blurred, to the point that their descendants refer to themselves as Mapuche-Tehuelche.

Because of the relationship that the Mapuche had had since before the mid-18th century with native peoples living east of the Andes, after the independence of Chile part of the Mapuche forces, who had fought mainly on the royalist side, decided to emigrate to the Pampas region of Argentina, where there were already Mapuche living alongside the Tehuelche, made up of the Boroga and other groups.

Later the Pincheira brothers encouraged the Mapuche Boroga groups and the Araucanized Ranquel to carry out malones that attacked the towns and estancias in the frontier zone, causing numerous deaths and taking captives; they stole cattle and drove it along the route of the Rastrillada Grande toward the passes of the Andes with the aim of having it bartered in Chile or in Hispanic-Creole frontier settlements. by the Pehuenche (who controlled the mountain passes); generally exchanging the cattle for weapons and alcoholic beverages.

In Argentina the Mapuche and the "Araucanized Pampas" or "Mapuchized Pampas" were subjugated by the Argentine State through several incursions carried out south of the Salado River from the mid-19th century onward, which reached their culmination with the campaign known as the Conquest of the Desert. "Desert" was the word used in Argentina to designate that entire vast area under indigenous control, which would coincide with all of what is today: the provinces of Argentine Patagonia, all of La Pampa Province, the southern half of San Luis, the southern half of Mendoza, the entire interior of Buenos Aires Province lying south of the southern Salado River, the south of Córdoba Province and part of the south of Santa Fe Province (south and west of the southern Salado River).

Successive governments carried out the Campaigns prior to the Conquest of the Desert and the later Rosas's Desert Campaign, an attempt in 1833 that allowed Argentine troops to occupy almost all the territory north of the Negro River; some 2,900 square leagues (approximately 14,500 km²) that were left outside indigenous control. The civil war in Argentina allowed the Mapuche and Mapuchized peoples to regroup, so that at the beginning of 1870 these peoples carried out their raids almost up to the vicinity of the cities of Mendoza, San Luis and Río Cuarto, the south of the province of Santa Fe and a large part of the province of Buenos Aires, reaching about 70 km from the city of Buenos Aires.

Subsequently, and in parallel with the process of the Occupation of Araucanía being carried out in Chile, Argentina carried out a similar and successful process, the Conquest of the Desert, which was very harmful to the Mapuche.

The defeat of the aborigines was total. This conquest, formally begun in 1879 and directed by General Julio Argentino Roca, was one of the causes that led to his being elected president of Argentina the following year, in 1880.

Chile: From the 20th century to the present

From reorganization to the military dictatorship

In the following generations of Mapuche, different organizations emerged, such as the Corporación Araucana of Venancio Coñoepán, the Federación Araucana of Aburto Panguilef, the Sociedad Caupolicán and the Unión Araucana of Antonio Chiwailaf. Among these Mapuche organizations there were different positions, from traditionalism to assimilationist Catholicism, but all shared the idea of recovering the usurped lands in order to preserve their own culture. In this way the "Mapuche movement" entered the Chilean public scene, intermingling with politics and its parties, though always preserving its specificity. This process reached its climax in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

President of Chile (1970–1973) Salvador Allende greeting a group of Mapuche women.

The radical criticism of the status quo by vast sectors of Chilean society allowed the Mapuche to join in with their demands for land. Thus in 1969 the occupations of lands claimed by the Mapuche began in the province of Cautín, a process known as "the Cautinazo".

With the process of Agrarian Reform accelerated by the government of Salvador Allende, many Mapuche communities radicalized and began an unprecedented recovery of lands, outside the government's programs. By 1972, the affected landowners had organized into the comités de retoma (retaking committees), armed paramilitary groups that were prosecuted by the government under the State Security Law.

The Military Regime and the Nueva Imperial Agreement

The military dictatorship was bloody in Araucanía, where hundreds of people disappeared or were tortured. The organizations reappeared from 1978 onward, in reaction to Decree Law 2568, which abolished the legal concept of communal ownership of land, the last safeguard over their properties, as well as the indigenous status of its occupants. Thus arose, promoted by the Fundación Instituto Indígena of the Bishopric of Temuco, the Mapuche Cultural Centers, a name that offered a greater chance of evading the dictatorship's persecution, and which later (1981) would give way to the organization Ad Mapu, the trunk of later organizations.

From 1978, in application of article 25 of Decree Law No. 2568, the expansion of indigenous lands was ordered, transferring to 2,639 indigenous people a total of 51 agricultural properties during the period, which belonged to the Treasury, the SAG, the former CORA, CORFO and CONAF, with a total area of 113,342.07 hectares. With the application of that regulation, from 1978 to 1990 a total of 69,984 individual property titles were delivered to indigenous people, and by virtue of the other provisions of that legal text and the new lands transferred, 72,931 property titles were completed.

In 1989, Ana Llao of the Ad-Mapu Community, together with other female leaders of various Mapuche organizations, met in Nueva Imperial with the candidate of the opposition coalition (Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia), Patricio Aylwin Azócar. At that "parliament" it was agreed that the State would give constitutional recognition to the economic, social and cultural rights of the Indigenous Peoples, and that a Special Commission would be formed jointly with the indigenous organizations to draft an indigenous law bill. In exchange, the indigenous organizations committed to using institutional channels for their demands.

Relationship with the Concertación governments

Main article: Mapuche conflict

The forestry conflict

At the very start of the 1990s, with democracy partially restored, the Consejo de Todas las Tierras carried out several symbolic occupations of ancestral Mapuche lands in private hands. The government's response was to request the application of the State Security Law, enacted during the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, which ended with 141 Mapuche convicted and with their political rights suspended.

In 1993 the Indigenous Development Law 19.253 was passed. However, the new institutional framework it enshrined operated with the cooperation of the main Mapuche representatives until a new crisis arose in 1997. The company ENDESA España began construction of a second hydroelectric power station in the Alto Bío Bío area (named Ralco). The sisters Berta Quintremán and Nicolasa Quintremán, together with other Mapuche-Pehuenche families who lived in the area, refused to leave their lands, protected by the new legislation that required the authorization of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI) to exchange indigenous lands. Faced with this government agency's refusal to approve said exchange, because it did not meet the legal, environmental and social requirements, President Eduardo Frei dismissed the director of CONADI and the environmental authority that also opposed the megaproject. In this way, thousands of hectares of lands and sacred sites of the Mapuche-Pehuenche people were flooded, in a totally authoritarian manner.

At the same time, in the central valleys, the exploitation of forestry plantations planted in the middle of the military dictatorship began, on properties that had been recovered by the Mapuche during the Allende government but that later passed into the hands of private companies. Both the interests of the large timber companies that exploit forestry plantations in Mapuche territory and the fear of the farmers who work properties considered usurped by the Mapuche communities, together with the increase in violence in the area toward the late 1990s, led the Senate to express in a report its concern over the serious threat to legal security in the conflict zone (S 680-12). The report was questioned by Chilean and international human rights bodies such as Human Rights Watch and others, which pointed to the existence of multiple situations that justified the demands. The reports of these bodies agreed in criticizing the application to social protest of laws intended for the fight against terrorism.

The dismantling of the CAM and the violent escalation of Mapuche social protest

During the government of Ricardo Lagos, the state response to the Mapuche conflict took two main paths. On the one hand, through the application of the law against the illegal and violent actions of Mapuche activists, whose most critical moment occurred in 2002, during an illegal occupation of land at the Fundo Santa Alicia in the commune of Ercilla, Malleco Province, when the young comunero Álex Lemun Saavedra lost his life through the action of the Carabineros de Chile, who used riot shotguns loaded with lead pellets. On the other hand, through an intelligence operation called "Operation Patience", directed from the Undersecretariat of the Interior headed by Jorge Correa Sutil, the Coordinadora de Comunidades en Conflicto Arauco-Malleco was branded a terrorist organization and was prosecuted as such, with its leaders imprisoned. Paradigmatic examples of these trials were the so-called "Lonkos Case" — in which the Lonkos Pascual Pichun and Aniceto Norin were sentenced to 5 years and 1 day in prison for "threat of terrorist arson" — and the "Puluco-Pidenco Case" — in which four comuneros were sentenced to 10 years and one day in prison for "terrorist arson".

These trials have been denounced by the United Nations, through its Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples Rodolfo Stavenhagen, and by organizations such as Amnesty International, which denounce them as trials of questionable legality. The events were reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for violation of due process, among other reasons, as enshrined in the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights. This body declared the complaint admissible.

For its part, in March 2007, the Human Rights Committee, the body in charge of supervising the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, in its observations on Chile's report, also denounced the criminalizing practices against the Mapuche social movement. In this regard, it urged the Chilean State to amend Law No. 18.314 (known as the anti-terrorism law). In addition, in relation to articles 1 and 27 of the Covenant, the Committee regretted the information that "ancient lands" remain in danger due to forestry expansion and infrastructure and energy megaprojects, stating that the Chilean State should make every possible effort so that its negotiations with the indigenous communities effectively lead to a solution that respects the land rights of these communities in accordance with articles 1, paragraph 2, and 27 of the Covenant, and should expedite procedures so that such ancestral lands are recognized and duly demarcated. It also urged the Chilean State to consult the indigenous communities before granting licenses for the economic exploitation of the disputed lands and to guarantee that in no case does such exploitation violate the rights recognized in the Covenant. In 2004 the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had already made observations to the same effect.

In March 2006, 4 of the 9 Mapuche prisoners convicted under the anti-terrorism law began an indefinite hunger strike, which lasted more than 62 days without getting the government of Michelle Bachelet to agree to review the controversial trial carried out under her predecessor's government.

In 2007 many Mapuche groups have not renounced their territorial demands, and many of their organizations demand autonomy for their territories, the return of their lands and more opportunities for political representation. In October 2007 a new hunger strike was begun, which ended without the Chilean government having set up the negotiating table demanded by the strikers.

In 2008, while Michelle Bachelet Jeria was serving as Head of State, Matías Catrileo (b. September 11, 1985 – † January 3, 2008), an agronomy student and a Chilean of Mapuche origin, died on January 3, 2008, when an Uzi submachine gun pierced his lung through his back. Matías Catrileo was taking part in an illegal occupation of a privately owned estate that the Mapuche communities claimed as ancestral territory, which is why the police were called in to act.

After the events, the carabinero identified as the perpetrator of the murder was jailed while the relevant investigations were carried out. Criticism has been raised against the military prosecutor investigating the case, José Pinto Aparicio, because he is the same one who investigated the murder of Alex Lemún in 2002, which remains unpunished, as the case was dismissed by the Court Martial in 2004.

Claim to the right of self-determination

Although the Spanish Empire did not come to effectively occupy the whole of the territory inhabited by the Mapuche, the disintegration of the former that came about as a consequence of the Hispanic American Wars of Independence produced, once that process concluded, the birth of both Chile and Argentina as independent states, which several decades later managed to effectively consolidate sovereignty over the territories inherited from Spain, after the Occupation of Araucanía and the Conquest of the Desert, and assigned the Mapuche to "reductions" in Chile and "reserves" in Argentina.

In the 21st century the Mapuche population is mainly urban but maintains ties with its communities of origin, and claims to territory and to recognition of their culture persist.

Several Mapuche organizations are claiming recognition of the right to self-determination that belongs to them in their capacity as peoples, as recognized by the Charter of the United Nations. With the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations General Assembly on September 13, 2007, the international community has expressly recognized the status of indigenous people as peoples, as already affirmed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur Miguel Alfonso Martínez, who in his study commissioned by that international organization maintained that "I have been unable to find sufficient legal argument to defend the idea that indigenous people have lost their international indigenous personality as nations/peoples". They currently have representation in the UNPO.

Although the scope of the autonomy and benefits claimed varies among the different Mapuche sectors, many of the Mapuche organizations that claim it relate it to, and request it in the same way as, the right of self-determination obtained by the Inuit people in Greenland since the 1990s; or like the benefits achieved by the indigenous people of Bolivia since the most recent election of an Aymara president in that country (Evo Morales).

In addition, Mapuche organizations such as Wallmapuwen have established ties with the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), proposing to replicate the system of autonomous communities in Chile, as well as the recognition of indigenous peoples in the constitution (a case similar to the recognition of regional administrations and languages in Spain).

Their cause has also found an echo in the non-Mapuche cultural world. Examples of this are the case of the internationalist writer Asel Luzarraga, who was detained; or that of the filmmaker Elena Varela, who after being detained was later released on probation; events that, for supporters of the Mapuche demands, appear to be an offensive by Chile to silence the voices defending this indigenous people.

Culture

Main page: Category:Mapuche culture

Drawing of a trapelacucha, a silver pectoral ornament traditionally worn by Mapuche women.

Their culture is based on oral tradition. Social and religious conduct was governed by the Admapu (a set of ancient traditions, laws, rights and norms). Their language is Mapudungun, an agglutinative polysynthetic language that so far has not been satisfactorily related to any other. As a traditional sport they have palín or chueca, a sport that is more or less similar to hockey, and in other times also linao, especially among the Huilliche.

Among their tangible cultural heritage, textile art, silverwork and cuisine stand out.

Social organization

Their social organization and structure is based mainly on the family nucleus and the relationships established with other families. The traditional Mapuche family consisted of the father, his wives and his children. The marital behaviors permitted by this kinship system were interpreted by the Spaniards as morally reprehensible, giving them a negative meaning. Today traditional polygamy no longer exists among the Mapuche, although certain forms of shared conjugal life may persist. Kinship relations, as part of the articulation of the communities, receive specific names: tuwün refers to maternal ancestry, küpan to paternal ancestry and reñma to the extended network based on the paternal line.

The groups of families related through a common ancestor were called lof, often written lov, levo or caví by historians. The families that made up a lof lived in neighboring rucas and helped one another; each had as its chief a lonko ('head' in Mapudungun).

In times of war they united in larger groups called rehues, which were formed by several lofs, making up a group equivalent to a tribe; each rehue was under the command of a military chief called a toqui.

In times of great calamities such as droughts, epidemics, invasions or other major problems affecting a large expanse of territory, several rehues gathered and formed groupings called aillarehues. Their chief was the Mapu-toqui ('military chief of a district in a state of war'). The aillarehues acquired great importance in confronting the Spaniards.

The struggle against the Spanish conquistadors forced the Mapuche to form alliances among several aillarehues, which were called butalmapus or war zones. The chiefs of the butalmapus were elected by the toquis, and this chief was known to the Spaniards as the Gran toqui. There were three main historical butalmapus:

• Lafken mapu: in the coastal region.
• Lelfun mapu: in the region of the plains.
• Inapire mapu: in the Andean foothills region.

Today, in their social organization, groups of closely related families located in a specific geographic sector are called communities.

The family and the kinship system

Mapuche family in the late 19th century.

The Mapuche family essentially fulfills two functions: economic and cultural.

• In the economic sphere, it manifests itself as a unit of production and consumption. All members play an economic role, differentiated by sex and age.
• In the cultural sphere, the family is the setting where its young members are socialized, learning the culture and taking on the traditional way of life.

But these two aspects, the economic and the cultural, are not dissociated: cultural development takes place within the same process of production and consumption, and vice versa. That is why cultural development is inseparable from economic development. The transmission of cultural knowledge takes place in the domestic sphere (from fathers and mothers to children, from grandparents to grandchildren, from aunts and uncles to nieces and nephews, etc.) and through practice: at the very moment an activity is carried out, it is being taught and learned (raising livestock, preparing food, making textiles, etc.). While in large human societies it is mainly the family, the school and the media that manage and transmit culture, in smaller communities or human groups, such as the Mapuche communities, these functions are usually mixed with others of an economic and social nature.

Rules of family life

• Patrilineage: The members of the family are united by kinship ties that come from the paternal line. The nomenclature of relationships is of the Omaha type.
• Exogamy: A partner is sought outside one's own family group, defined according to the previous criterion.
• Patrilocality: The woman follows the man to his residence.

Beliefs and religion

Main article: Mapuche religion

Rehue and canelo, sacred Mapuche symbols.

Margarita Canio Llanquinao, co-author of the book Wenumapu, astronomía y cosmología mapuche.

Mapuche religion is based, in general terms, on the linking of the spiritual world with the tangible world.

Its main aspects are respect for the spiritual world; the cult of spirits and of mythical ancestors, called Pillans and Wangulén (Antu, Kuyén, etc.); the cult of the spirits of nature, called Ngen; and the interrelation of the Mapuche people with the Ñuke Mapu ("Mother Earth").

Whether belief in a supreme and omnipotent being predates contact with Christianity is a disputed question, but today Ngünechen ("Master of the People", Hispanicized as Guenechén or Ngenechén) is believed in as the equivalent of, or a synonym for, the Christian God; before Christian influence on this culture, however, his characteristics would actually have corresponded to those of individual and independent spirits.

Thus, today, as a product of syncretism and/or conversion brought about by Christian influence, the Christian religion is professed in their communities, mostly Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Evangelical.

In November 2007, the beatification of the first Mapuche, the young Argentine Ceferino Namuncurá (1886–1905), took place.

In addition, their mythology is characterized by numerous mythological beings, such as the chonchón, and semi-mythical characters such as the kalku. Within their tradition, the myth of the creation of the geography of southern Chile stands out, in the story of Cai Cai and Tren Tren or Ten Ten.

The most important figures in the Mapuche religion are, par excellence, the ngenpin, the machi and the lonko, in charge of worship, knowledge and the celebration of various rituals; among these stands out a ritual that mixes worship and amusement, called guillatún, which, depending on the territory where it is held, is of a purely religious character in the foothills and mountain areas; and the machitún, which is a ceremony of healing and augury.

There are records of human sacrifices of children among the Picunche under Inca rule, and of prisoners ritually killed in the Arauco War, or as sacrifices, to prevent or end a calamity or disaster among the Mapuche people.

The last known case occurred after the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the most devastating ever recorded by seismology, when near Puerto Saavedra a machi sacrificed a five-year-old boy and threw him into the sea after the tsunami.

Ceremonies and traditions

Main page: Category:Mapuche ceremonies and celebrations

Mapuche burial in Concepción, circa 1901–1903, with a chemamull in the center.

The Mapuche people have many ceremonies and traditions that form part of their customs, among the best known being the guillatún, the machitún, the llellipun, the machiluwün, the awün, the ngeykurewen, the afafan and the celebration of We Tripantu. Three of the main ones are explained below:

The guillatún (ngillatun) is a ceremony of petition and thanksgiving to the divinity. It requires a place specially prepared for this purpose, the ngillatuwe. A rehue is set up in its center, with the participants around it. It lasts a minimum of two days and a maximum of four, and its purpose is to ask the Guenechén or other spiritual beings to benefit the people with rain, abundant harvests, an increase in livestock and other favors. During the ceremony, dances accompanied by prayers are performed and offerings are made, such as the sacrifice of animals or the offering of fruits of the earth and muday.

The machitún (machitun) is performed to heal someone who is sick. For this a shaman called a machi intervenes, who usually prays and sings beside the sick person until entering a trance (küymin), and also discovers the cause of the illness, which according to belief is due to curses or transgressions. There are assistants (dungumachife) who translate the words of the machi and others who drive away the evil spirits involved in the illness. Along with identifying the cause of the harm, which is "extracted" from the body of the sick person, medicinal herbs and other treatments are prescribed.

We Tripantu (We Tripantu or Wiñoy Tripantu) is the celebration of the Mapuche New Year. It is held on the day of the winter solstice, between June 21 and 24. Thus, at dawn on June 24, another cycle of life begins in the Mapuche world and in mother earth. In general it is a day of reunion, and of harmonization and balance of human relations. A common tradition of this festival is bathing in a river or lake at dawn.

Buildings and structures

Proportion of a chemamüll, a Mapuche funerary statue, relative to a person.

The traditional dwelling of the Mapuche is a large construction called a ruca (ruka), with floor areas ranging between 120 and 240 square meters; these were formed by walls of adobe, planks or colihue canes, reinforced inside with wooden posts and lined with totora. The roof is of junquillo or some grass similar to paja brava. They usually have no windows. In the center of the dwelling there is a space intended for lighting the fire (kütralwe). Above that space, a hole is made in the roof to let the smoke out. The interior of some rucas may be subdivided by panels to form smaller spaces, or may include horizontal platforms that extend the storage space onto a second level. The loom is placed near the entrance in order to take advantage of natural light. The beds and other furniture are arranged near the sides. The roof beams and other structural elements are used to hang various objects, such as reins, ropes or leather bags.

An important ritual structure is the rehue (rewe), which consists of a sacred altar used by the Mapuche in many ceremonies. Also notable are the wooden statues called chemamüll (from che, person, and mamüll, wood: "timber with the appearance of a person"), which they used in funeral rites.

In 2007 the archaeologist Tom Dillehay identified the existence of around 300 burial mounds in the vicinity of Purén and Lumaco, which he called "cuel" (< kuel, "boundary"). These conical artificial hills, made of stone and mud, exceed 40 meters in height in some cases. According to the author's hypothesis, a highly populated center would have developed in the Purén swamp, which allowed the building of monuments. Dillehay dates the cueles to the two centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards: the 14th century and the 15th century. As a hypothesis, he postulates that the structures could be the result of Inca influence or of the influence of some other of the cultures of the central Andes in general.

Mathematics

The Mapuche numeral system is a decimal one, with proper names for the nine units (kiñe, epu, küla, meli, kechu, kayu, regle, pura, aylla), ten (mari), hundred (pataka) and thousand (warangka), with the rest of the names formed by composition, through addition and multiplication, in which a unit named to the left of a number of higher order multiplies it, and if named to the right, is added to it. For example, kechu pataka küla mari küla is 533 (5 × 100 + 3 × 10 + 3).

According to Félix de Augusta, the Mapuche had no established method for operating with fractions and decimals, so he adapted Spanish terminology to Mapuche usage.

In the 19th century, Claudio Matte, in the "Silabario del ojo", claimed that the Mapuche did not know how to count and that they used metaphors to express numbers. That claim led to an erroneous belief for decades.

[...] the Law of Compulsory Primary Instruction in 1928 took charge of formalizing the indigenous disdain toward our people as regards the numerical system and counting, and Mr. Claudio Matte, a great academic of the University of Chile, author of the "Silabario El Nuevo Método", commonly known as "Silabario El Ojo", in the 1950s highlighted in lesson No. 21, under the title: "The Mapuche Indians do not know how to count... to say one they say Sun, and to say two, they say bird's foot".

— ÑUKE MAPU, Centro de Documentación Mapuche.

Textile art

Mapuche woven ribbon with the typical design of the guemil, similar to the chakana.

The oldest data on the existence of textiles in the southernmost areas of the American continent (the south of present-day Chile and Argentina) come from certain archaeological finds, such as those of the Pitrén cemeteries near the city of Temuco, the Alboyanco site in the Biobío Region and the Rebolledo Arriba Cemetery in Neuquén Province. Evidence has been found of textiles made with complex techniques and designs dated to around 1300–1350 AD. On the basis of these and other finds, the textile practice developed in Araucanía has been linked to the cultures of the northern Andes (present-day Ecuador and Peru): textiles and textile knowledge would have reached the Araucanian region through the contacts and exchanges maintained with those distant regions.

The oldest historical documents that refer to the existence of textile art among the aborigines of the south of present-day Argentine and Chilean territory date from the 16th century and consist of chronicles by European explorers and colonizers. These testimonies assert that upon the arrival of Europeans in the Araucanía region, the natives of that area wore textiles made of camelid hair, which they themselves produced with the raw material obtained from raising those animals. Later, with the incorporation of the sheep brought by the Europeans, these aborigines began to raise those animals and to use their wool to make their textiles, after which wool prevailed over the use of camelid hair. Toward the end of the 16th century, these sheep raised by the natives had come to have a more robust body and thicker and longer wool than that of the livestock brought by the Europeans, characteristics that suggest they were animals of higher quality.

Wool dyed with plant dyes.

The main garment was the chamal, a kind of square blanket, which men fastened at the waist and wrapped around their legs like trousers; women fastened it on the left shoulder with a large pin, while another blanket served them as a skirt. These garments were dyed with clays and plant dyes, combining tones and designs with great artistic sense. They completed their attire with mantles, headbands, and ribbons for the head and waist. The Mapuche loom is set up vertically and consists of a frame of four timbers, a timber to raise the warp, another to tighten the weft, a shuttle and a cane to hold the threads that lift one plane of the warp. From it derives the Chilote loom or quelvo, which is larger and set up horizontally.

Economic importance of textiles

These textiles were made by women, who passed on their knowledge from generation to generation, orally and through gestural imitation, usually within the family setting. They were highly valued for their textile knowledge: through the making of their textiles, women played an important economic and also cultural role. For these reasons, when giving a dowry for his marriage, a man had to give a much larger dowry if the woman he married was a good weaver.

Today, many Mapuche women continue to make textiles according to the custom of their ancestors and to pass on their knowledge in the same way: in the domestic and family sphere, from mothers to daughters, from grandmothers to granddaughters, just as happened in the past. This form of learning is based on gestural imitation, and only on rare occasions, and when strictly necessary, does the apprentice receive explicit instructions or help from her instructors. That is to say, knowledge is passed on at the moments when the textiles are being made: doing and transmitting knowledge go together.

In Andean societies, textiles were of great importance. They were made to be used as clothing, as household utensils and coverings, and also as a status symbol. This characteristic of textiles was also visible in the Araucanía region in the 16th and 17th centuries, where, according to various chroniclers of Chile, the natives strove to obtain Hispanic clothing and fabrics as war trophies and in treaties with the Spaniards, and even corpses were dressed in their best garments for their burials.

But in addition, textiles constituted a surplus and a very important good for exchange for the natives. Numerous accounts from the 16th century onward show that textiles were used for barter among the different aboriginal groups and, from the establishment of the settlements onward, between these groups and the settlers. These barters made it possible to obtain goods that the natives did not produce or that they held in high esteem, such as horses. The volumes of textiles made by aboriginal women and traded in Araucanía and in northern Argentine Patagonia were truly considerable and constituted a fundamental economic resource for indigenous families. It is therefore erroneous to assert that the making of textiles in the times prior to European colonization was intended exclusively for the use of the family or of members of the indigenous groups.

At present, the textiles made by the Mapuche continue to be used domestically as well as for gifts, sale or barter. Although since the beginning of the 20th century women and their families wear garments with foreign designs made of industrially produced materials, and only ponchos, blankets, sashes and belts are in regular use, a large part of the textiles made are destined for trade and in many cases constitute an important source of income for families.

Music

Traditional music

As traditionally happens, popular or secular music is easily lost with changing fashions or time without leaving records. This is not the case with religious music, which is repeated ceremonially, such as the songs sung at the guillatún (for example by the tayüḻfe, who accompany the choyke with songs in its dance), which is taken as an example of traditional Mapuche music. However, there are also love songs, drinking songs, and songs about events in the homeland and about important people. They may be sung as a monologue or accompanied by some ceremonial musical instrument, making the music itself a fused whole.

There are percussion instruments such as the kultrun, though of exclusively ritual use, and the cascahuillas, which are bells tied to the knuckles.

Wind instruments include the trutruka, a hollow colihue cane with a horn at its end, and the pifilca, an aerophone of the flute family without an air duct, similar to a whistle.

An original instrument is the trompe, which uses the throat and mouth as a resonance chamber.

Contemporary music

In addition, other instruments have been incorporated, such as the accordion and the trumpet in La Araucanía and the guitar and the bombo in Los Lagos. Some prominent singers of Mapuche music are:

• Beatriz Pichimalén
• Aimé Paine
• Nancy San Martín.

Contemporary poetry

The Mapuche people have an extensive oral literature, encouraged by this people's traditional appreciation for the aesthetic use of language and for oratorical ability as the supreme social skill. The main forms of narrative are the epew and the nütram.

During the second half of the 20th century, numerous Mapuche poets decided to cross the frontier between orality and writing. Many of them publish their poetry collections in bilingual editions, in Spanish and Mapudungun, but the use of the vernacular language and of literary topics specific to the ethnic group, such as references to the natural environment, symbolism and the Mapuche worldview, are central characteristics of most of these authors.

Among contemporary Mapuche poets are:

• Lorenzo Aillapán (1940– ): Poet and musician who declares himself an üñümche, a bird man, because of his understanding of the language of birds. He has worked occasionally as an actor.
• Emilio Antilef: journalist and poet.
• Elicura Chihuailaf (1952– ): One of the most recognized Mapuche poets. His work stands out for its use of elements of the traditional symbolism of the ethnic group, such as the cult of ancestors and the color blue. He has translated works by Pablo Neruda and Víctor Jara into Mapuzugun.
• Rosendo Huenumán García (1935– ): Poet and compiler of traditional poetry. He was a deputy for the Communist Party of Chile until 1973.
• Jaime Luis Huenún (1967– ): Huilliche poet, who has also edited anthologies of other Mapuche authors.
• Leonel Lienlaf (1969– ): He openly declares himself a bilingual poet. He is also a musician.
• Eliana Pulkillanca (1963– ): Self-taught Lafkenche poet from the area of the "Lonco Kashillahue" Indigenous Community of Piutril, San José de la Mariquina.
• Graciela Huinao (1956– ): Huilliche poet and narrator. She became the first Mapuche woman to publish a book.
• María Catrileo (1944– ): Writer and professor of English, Mapudungun and Castilian at the Austral University of Chile.

Ethnotourism

In recent years, some Mapuche communities have begun to develop tourism programs, more specifically ethnotourism, known as Mapuche tourism. This takes place within the framework of a new tourism trend oriented toward a more responsible form.

Tourism, since its birth in the second half of the 1900s, has in general created lacerations, altered balances of centuries or millennia, introduced unidirectional concepts of civility, erased or relegated to a corner local traditions and customs, and destroyed natural ecosystems of all kinds.

Lately the trend has been to reverse this situation, with alternative forms of tourism development based on respect for the resource and for local communities.

Upon realizing the damage involved in mass sun-and-beach tourism, the need arose to create a new way of traveling and experiencing other places: a way in which, instead of destroying, the culture and environment of the tourist destination can be protected and strengthened. This responsible tourism is defined as travel that takes into consideration the natural, sociocultural, economic and political contexts of a destination, seeking to increase the benefits and minimize the negative impacts of tourism.

In this respect, ethnotourism is being developed through ecotourism in areas inhabited by the Mapuche people. A notable example is the ecotourism carried out by Huilliche communities, with their participation in the creation of a network of wild parks in the Lafken Mapu Lahual Marine and Coastal Area.

In doing so, a truly sustainable tourism is created. This idea manifests itself in various forms, including adventure tourism, agrotourism, rural tourism, ecological tourism, scientific tourism, historical-cultural tourism and ethnotourism. Although each has its own specific features, the general idea is to explore the reality that exists in the destinations. In particular, ethnotourism has as its goals the preservation of ethnic identity and the appreciation and transmission of cultural heritage.

In Latin America, the trend toward responsible tourism has resulted in the development of programs and networks that seek to provide opportunities at both the international and national levels. The Redturs initiative, a network whose goal is the creation and strengthening of community tourism programs, represents an effort at the international level.

Countries such as Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and Nicaragua have very well-developed examples at the national level. In fact, compared with other Latin American countries, Chile is still at the beginning of this process. Nevertheless, it continues to grow rapidly, thanks in part to the Mapuche — a people that does value its roots and wants to share them with the world. Realizing that it is essential to use the tools they have, some Mapuche groups, communities and individuals have turned to Mapuche tourism programs to share their culture with the world.

Sports and games

For centuries they have practiced kollellaullin, linao, llighkan, palín, pillmatún and rungkun, among others.

They play awar kuden, llighetun, quechucan and tecum, among others.

Cuisine

Main articles: Mapuche cuisine and Mapuche cuisine in the pre-Hispanic era

See also

• General Archive of Indigenous Affairs
• Indigenous rights
• Araucana chicken
• Georges Claraz
• Araucanía (historic region)
• Calfucurá
• Ketru metawe
• 2010 and 2011 Mapuche hunger strikes
• El despojo, documentary about the Mapuche conflict
• Lonco Pascual Coña ñi taculpazugun. Testimonio de un cacique mapuche, autobiographical work by the lonko Pascual Coña.

References

Explanatory notes

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Aldunate del Solar, Carlos (2015). Mapuche: gente de la tierra in Culturas de Chile. Santiago, Andrés Bello.
• Alvarado, Margarita (2002). "El esplendor del adorno: El poncho y el chanuntuku" in Hijos del Viento, Arte de los Pueblos del Sur, Siglo XIX. Buenos Aires: Fundación PROA.
• Bengoa, José (2000). "Historia del pueblo mapuche: siglo XIX y XX" (in español). Santiago de Chile: Lom Ediciones. ISBN 9789562822329. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
• Bengoa, José (1999). "Historia de un conflicto: el estado y los mapuches en el siglo XX" (in español). Santiago de Chile: Planeta. ISBN 9789562822329. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
• Boccara, Guillaume (1999). "Guerre et ethnogenèse mapuche dans le Chili colonial. L'invention du soi" (in français). Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. ISBN 2296377211. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
• Brugnoli, Paulina, and Soledad Hoces de la Guardia (1995). "Estudio de fragmentos del sitio Alboyanco" in Hombre y Desierto, una perspectiva cultural, 9: 375–381.
• Corcuera, Ruth (1987). Herencia textil andina. Buenos Aires: Impresores SCA.
• Corcuera, Ruth (1998). Ponchos de las Tierras del Plata. Buenos Aires: Fondo Nacional de las Artes.
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• Chertudi, Susana, and Ricardo Nardi (1961). "Tejidos araucanos de la Argentina" in Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Folklóricas, 2: 97-182.
• Eim, Stefan (2010). The Conceptualisation of Mapuche Religion in Colonial Chile (1545-1787). [4]
• Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos (2006). Chile. La otra transición chilena, derechos del pueblo mapuche, política penal y protesta social en un estado democrático. Retrieved online on September 24, 2007. [5]
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• Hérnandez, Isabel (2003). Autonomía o ciudadanía incompleta. El pueblo mapuche en Chile y Argentina. Santiago de Chile: Pehuén Editores. ISBN 956-16-0371-3
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• Ibarra, Mario (2003). Algunas reflexiones y notas a propósito de algunos tratados, en éste momento, no reconocidos, firmados entre potencias coloniales o Estados actuales y pueblos indígenas in Seminario de expertos sobre tratados, convenios y otros acuerdos constructivos entre los estados y los pueblos indígenas. Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Joseph, Claude (1931). Los tejidos araucanos. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta San Francisco, Padre Las Casas.
• Mandrini, Raúl, and Ortelli, Sara (1995). Repensando viejos problemas: Observaciones sobre la Araucanización de las Pampas. In RUNA XXII, pp. 135-150.
• Méndez, Patricia (2009a). "Herencia textil, identidad indígena y recursos económicos en la Patagonia argentina" in Revista de la Asociación de Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red, 4, 1:11-53.
• Méndez, Patricia (2009b). "Los tejidos indígenas en la Patagonia argentina: cuatro siglos de comercio textil" in Anuario INDIANA, 26: 233-265.
• Millán de Palavecino, María Delia (1960). "Vestimenta Argentina" in Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Folklóricas, 1: 95-127.
• Murra, John (1975). Formaciones económicas y políticas del mundo andino. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
• Nardi, Ricardo, and Diana Rolandi (1978). 1000 años de tejido en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura y Educación, Secretaría de Estado de Cultura, Instituto Nacional de Antropología.
• Observatorio de derechos de los pueblos indígenas (2005). Los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en Chile: Balance de 2004. Temuco, Chile. Retrieved online on September 24, 2007. [7]
• Ordóñez de Ceballos, Pedro (1851). Viaje del Mundo (in español). Cartas a Real Audiencia de Santafe.
• Palermo, Miguel Ángel (1994). "Economía y mujer en el sur argentino" in Memoria Americana 3: 63-90.
• Pinto, Jorge (2000). De la inclusión a la exclusión: la formación del estado, la nación y el pueblo mapuche. Santiago de Chile: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados.
• Saavedra Peléz, Alejandro (2002). Los mapuches en la sociedad chilena actual. Santiago de Chile: LOM Ediciones. ISBN 956-282-490-X.
• Toledo Llancaqueo, Víctor (2001). En segura y perpetua propiedad. Notas sobre el debate jurídico sobre derechos de propiedad indígena en Chile, siglo XIX in Actas 4.º Congreso chileno de antropología, Colegio de antropólogos de Chile, Santiago, pp. 1129-1136.
• Verta, Ricardo, José Aywin, Andrea Coñuecar and Elicurá Chihauilaf (2004). El despertar del pueblo mapuche. Nuevos conflictos, viejas demandas. Santiago de Chile: LOM Ediciones. ISBN 956-282-647-3.
• Wilson, Angélica (1992). Arte de mujeres. Santiago de Chile: Ed. CEDEM, Colección Artes y Oficios Nº 3.
• Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios Reales In: Marta Blanco. El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, un indio antártico 1539-1616
• Vicente Carvallo Goyeneche, Descripción Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile. Tomo I Capítulo I. Descubrimiento de Chile i entrada de los españoles en él
• Jerónimo de Vivar, Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile
• Anello Oliva, Histoire du Pérou, page 53
• PRATES, Luciano El uso de recursos por los cazadores-recolectores posthispánicos de Patagonia continental y su importancia arqueológica Relaciones-Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, 2009.

External links

• Conadi, Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena
• Portal Mapuche del Puel Mapu
• "Ser digno de ser" Myriades1 magazine
• Los mapuches Mundo Historia
• "La Cuestión Mapuche" News article
• Poblamiento Pampeano: La Araucanización Map by the historian Rodolfo Casamiquela, showing the expansion of the Mapuche into the Pampas and Patagonia.
• Maps Historical evolution of Mapuche territory in Chile.
• los mapuches del siglo XVIII Maps on pages 17 to 19.
• Grupos indígenas de Chile en 1540 Map of the ethnography among the Mapuche-speaking peoples.
• Concepciones hispanas en torno a un territorio disputado en Chile
• El caballo en la cultura mapuche
• Mapuche people
• Deportes mapuches
• "Juegos, ejercicios y armas araucanos". Oreste Plath.
• Cultura mapuche
• [8]