The Indians of Latin America, when they arrived in Araucanía, Chile, were called the Mapuche (aka Alaucans). They have their own language, called Mapuche. They have their own territory and homeland, just in Araucanía, in southern Chile.
In Santiago, a local friend recommended me to Gomeco, the capital of Araucanía, Chile's ninth region. He said that the place was quite famous because it had endured more than three hundred years of heroic struggle against Spanish colonial rule.
Southern Chile is already a more typical polar climate, and it is best to go there in the summer. After a period of planning, I finally boarded the bus to Temuco. Chile is a wealthy country, and long-distance buses are a watery Mercedes-Benz bus. Chileans call long-distance seats "beds," and I bought semi-cama, a half-lying, half-sitting bed.
In Chile, every step southwards feels like one step closer to the poles. Sit in the Mercedes-Benz bus, walking through the oat belts, beet strips, corn belts, vineyards and lush woods on both sides, and marvel at the beauty of this country at the end of the world.
After more than nine hours of long travel, we finally arrived at our destination in Temuco. After getting out of the car, I found a private hotel, the hostess named Andrea, about thirty-eight or nine years old, a Mapuche woman, who seemed very capable.
After I settled in, I took out the prepared instant noodles and asked the hostess to boil water and prepare to cook instant noodles. At that time, instant noodles had not yet entered the Chilean market, and instant noodles could not be bought in the huge Santiago supermarket, not to mention Temuco, hundreds of kilometers south!
The hostess looked at me suspiciously and said, this meal is too easy, how many children can afford to support! The Mapuche woman was very talkative. Of course, in this country thousands of miles away, any small thing can be written with relish. However, my subject today is to write about the struggle of the Mapuche people against colonial rule.
Speaking of the Araucanía War, which Europeans are familiar with, it was a long-running war between the Spanish colonists and the Mapuche, and the longest in the world. Because it happened in Araucanía, it was called the Araucanía War.
The war is generally thought to have been counted from the Battle of Renauvillen in 1536. After the Spanish colonist Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in Peru, he sent his accomplice Almagro to invade Chile, and the indigenous people of Chile launched the Battle of Reno Veron, and Almagro fled Peru in 1538 due to the crisis of the attack.
In 1540, Pizarro sent Valdivia to invade Chile again, successively controlling a large area north of the Biobio River, and successively built the cities of Santiago, Concepción, Imperial City and Valdivia, and Chile basically became a Spanish colony. The armed forces of the Mapuche people, who also retreated to the area south of the Biobio River, continued to fight against colonial rule.
In 1553, the Mapuche, led by Kaopolican and Lefzajo, launched the first armed uprising, encircling Valdivia's troops stationed in the city of Tukapel, and after a fierce battle, the rebel army won. Valdivia was captured and killed in prison, thus ending his bloody life.
Due to the Spanish wielding modern weapons, the Spaniards still had the upper hand in the contest of power north and south of the Biobio River, achieving many successful expansions in the territory of the Mapuche. But after the famous Battle of Curalaba in 1598 and the later Battle of the Seven Cities, the war finally took a turn.
In September 1592, tubak, the hero of the anti-colonial rule of the Inca Empire, was captured and killed. Amaru while being reused by the Spaniard De. Loyola, appointed by the Spanish royal family as the second governor of Chile, wanted him to be the best person to end the Araucanía War.
morality. Loyola was a very conceited man who advocated penetrating deep into the mapuche with a strong force of soldiers directly from Panama. In May 1594, he founded the Castle of Santa Cruz on the banks of the Relais River, at the confluence of the Biobio and Laha rivers.
On 21 December 1598, the Mapuche led by Perantaro raided the city of Curalaba, and the defenders of the city were wiped out except for two who escaped. morality. Loyola was killed in battle, becoming the second Spanish governor in Chile to die in the Araucanía War.
The victory at the Battle of Curarraba greatly boosted the morale of the Mapuche, who succeeded in launching a third armed uprising, setting off a climax of the destruction of the Spaniard city and the killing of the Spaniards. This was followed by the famous Battle of the Seven Cities, which dealt a heavy blow to Spanish colonial rule and essentially wiped out all Spaniard settlements south of the Biobio River, with the exception of the Chiloe Islands.
morality. After Loyola's death, the Spanish Governor-General in Peru sent Kiniones as Governor-General of Chile. Although he was a soldier, he was careful in everything. As a result, he was unable to face the crisis situation and soon found an excuse to resign.
From 1599 to 1604, the Mapuche launched a fierce offensive. The destruction or forcing Spanish colonists to abandon seven cities, known in history as the Battle of the Seven Cities, killed more than 3,000 Spaniards and captured more than 500 Spanish women. These seven cities were originally the cities of the Mapuche people on the south bank of the Biobio River.
The "seven cities" are: Santa Cruz in Coa, Santa Maria in Valdivia, San Andrés in the Infantry, Imperial City, and Santa Maria in Villarrica. The city of Magdalena, the city of San Mateo in Osorno, the city of San Felipe in Alaucan.
After the victories at the Battle of Curalaba and the Battle of the Seven Cities, the war finally took a turn. The Spanish colonists eventually signed an agreement with the Free Mapuche, which stipulated that the two sides would use the Biobio-Tolten River as the boundary, not to invade each other, to return each other's captives, and the Spaniards to demolish Fort San Jerónimo and to allow Spanish missionaries to enter mapuche territory.
From the 17th century to the late 18th century, battles large and small continued to take place. The Mapuche believed that this was their homeland, and why did the Spaniards occupy their territory, rob them of their food, and open their gold mines. Although the Mapuche were inferior in weapons to the Spaniards, and they were repeatedly defeated, they were still defeated and fought for generations.
According to relevant historical records, nearly ten million Mapuche were killed in the war against colonial rule. Among them, there are also a large number of heroes such as Kapollican, Lefzajo, Galvarino, Ca de Guala, and Perantaro. In their honor, their statues are distributed in various regions of Araucanía.
Later, a series of meetings were held between the Spanish Governor and the Mapuche Chief, and the war gradually turned into a sporadic robbery between the Spanish soldiers and the Mapuche fighters and gangsters. However, local conflicts and small battles occur from time to time.
After the victory in the Chilean War of Independence, the Chilean government also sent troops to the Biobio River Valley. Along the original boundary river, a situation of three forces was formed. The Spaniards defended their colonial rule, the Mapuche protected their territory and homeland, and the Chilean army defended the unity of the country.
They fight for their own interests, sometimes united and sometimes opposed. It was not until 1883, when Chilean troops completely occupied Araucanía, that Mapuche was liberated from the shackles of Spanish colonial rule, halting the 345-year war. Araucanía was also officially incorporated into Chile as an administrative region of Chile.