The Huilliches of the Chiloé Archipelago had…
1712 CE
The Huilliches of the Chiloé Archipelago had already in 1600 taken action against their Spanish lords.
In that year, a group had helped the Dutch corsair Baltazar de Cordes attack the Spanish settlement of Castro.
In contrast with continental Chile, the indigenous population of Chiloé has grown from 1700 onwards.
Indigenous peoples by 1712 make up around fifty percent of the population of the archipelago.
The encomiendas of Chiloé are the largest of Chile and the administration of this form of labor more abusive than in the mainland.
Moreover, the encomenderos do not fulfill their obligations, registering neither tributes nor salaries.
Encomenderos often so not pay legal salaries or salaries at all and do not observe the "free time" of Indians mandated by the encomienda laws.
The encomienda activities in Chiloé require the Indians to travel to the continental coast to log for Fitzroya, or alerce, a type of cypress.
The abuses perpetrated on the Huiliche by José de Andrade, in particular the whipping of Martín Antucan, a Huilliche who Andrade had tied to tree, flogged his genitals with nettles, then covered in tow and set afire.
According to testimony gathered in 1725, Andrade judged wrongdoings himself, paid no salaries, and tortured those who did not work because of illness.
His son is reported to have behaved similarly and his majordomo is known to have kidnapped Huilliche children to send them to continental Chile.
The Huilliches, during a meeting on January 26, 1712, set February 10 as the date of their uprising.
The objective of the rebellion is not the end of Spanish rule but vengeance for perceived injustices.
The strategy of the rebellion focuses on attacking Castro, the political and economic center of the islands, where most Spaniards live and most encomiendas are located.
Houses and haciendas of Spaniards in central Chiloé are attacked on the night of February 10; Spaniards are killed and buildings set afire.
Some Spaniards manage to fortify themselves in Castro while they are surrounded by rebels.
Spanish women and children are taken as prisoners.
Only notable Spaniards die in the first night of rebellion not Spaniards of low social standing or mestizos, friars or priests.
Other Spaniards survive by hiding in the forests.
Spanish captains Juan de Aguilar and Diego Telles de Barrientos begin the next day to crush the rebellion.
Also on February 10, a Spanish militia begins to kill Huilliches in reprisal and are stopped only by the intervention of Jesuit priests.
They Spaniards subsequently fight the Huiliiches in various parts of Chiloé for eight days.
Marín de Velasco, the Royal Governor of Chiloé, is suspended from his duties after the rebellion.
However, he will later obtain the approval of the King of Spain and return to rule Chiloé in 1715 with the aim of placing the encomienda system under the rule of law.