Mapuche Pacification in Chile

In 1810, the Spanish descendants, anti-royalists and Creoles from Chile and Argentina had started a war for the independence from Spain that lasted almost 10 years.

After the final defeat of the Spanish forces, and the declaration of independence of Argentina and Chile, these latter had abrogated the Treaty of Quillin between the Spanish Crown and the Mapuche, and had declared Mapuche land as theirs by decree.

Under the same pretext of promoting civilization used by the Spanish, they had started a gradual takeover of Mapuche land that has led to military aggression, persecution and extermination of entire communities.

After battling the Peruvians and Bolivians in the north, the Chilean military turns to engaging the Araucanians in the south.

The final defeat of the Mapuche in 1882 opens up the southern third of the national territory to wealthy Chileans who quickly carve out immense estates.

No homestead act or legion of family farmers stands in their way, although a few middle-class and immigrant agriculturalists move in.

In 1883, in Patagonia, the Mapuche people are finally defeated by both Chilean and Argentinian armies, and many people are either killed or forced from their homes to live impoverished lives in small rural communities and in the cities.

During this campaign, recorded in Chilean history as the 'Pacification of Araucania' and in Argentina as the 'Campaign of the Desert', many children are taken from their families and given to white people to be trained as servants.

Some Mapuche flee over the border to Argentina.

The army herds those who remain onto tribal reservations in 1884, where they will remain mired in poverty for generations.

Like the far north, these southern provinces will become stalwarts of national reform movements, critical of the excessive concentration of power and wealth in and around Santiago.

No related events match the current filters.