Conflict between Spanish settlers of Chile and indigenous peoples (16th–17th centuries)
Arauco War
Map of the Araucanía from the 18th century, showing a large part of the territory in which the Arauco War was fought.
Date
Historiographic divergence:
1546 – until the end of the 17th century; and sporadically the 18th century[1]
1550–1662 (112 years)[2]
1550–1656 (106 years)[3]
Location
Araucanía region and surrounding regions of the Captaincy General of Chile (present-day Chile)
Result
Spanish invasion of Araucanía permanently reversed around 1600.
Gradual Spanish reestablishment of rule south of Araucanía from 1645 to 1796.
Failure of the Spanish evangelization strategy in Araucanía.
Stabilization of frontiers, development of Mapuche–Spanish diplomacy and trade since the mid-17th century.
Belligerents
Spanish Empire
Captaincy General of Chile
Mapuche allies
Mapuches, Pehuenches, Huilliches, Cuncos and other groups
Commanders and leaders
Pedro de Valdivia Francisco de Villagra García Hurtado de Mendoza Rodrigo de Quiroga Alonso de Sotomayor Martín García Óñez de Loyola † Alonso García de Ramón Alonso de Ribera Francisco Laso de la Vega Pedro Porter Casanate Gabriel Cano de Aponte and others
Local detachments and recruits from other regions (1557–1604)
Army of Arauco (1604 onward)
Indian auxiliaries:
Yanaconas
Indios reyunos
Mapuches, Pehuenches, Huilliches, Cuncos and other warriors Spanish and mestizo renegades
v
t
e
Arauco War
16th century
Quilacura
Andalien
Penco
1553 uprising
Tucapel
Marihueñu
1st Concepción
2nd Concepción
Peteroa
Mataquito
San Luis
Lagunillas
Millarapue
Cayucupil
Cañete
Quiapo
1562 uprising
1st Catirai
Arauco
Angol
3rd Concepción
Reinohuelén
Tolmillán
2nd Catirai
1st Purén
Curalaba
1598 uprising
Seven Cities
La Imperial
Valdivia
Osorno
Villarrica
17th century
Boroa
2nd Purén
Defensive War
Las Cangrejeras
Picolhué
La Albarrada
San José
1st Río Bueno
1655 uprising
Curanilahue
18th century conflicts
1723 uprising
2nd Río Bueno
1766 uprising
1769 uprising
1792 uprising
v
t
e
Spanish colonial campaigns
15th century
Canary Islands (1402–96)
Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña (1478)
Guinea (1478)
Algeria (1497)
Melilla (1497)
16th century
Algeria (1505)
Algeria (1507)
Morocco (1508)
Algeria (1509)
Algeria (1510)
Tripoli (1510)
Tunisia (1510)
Puerto Rico (1511–29)
Algeria (1516)
Algeria (1517–18)
Mexico (1519–1821)
Mexico (1519–21)
Algeria (1519)
Tunisia (1520)
Chiapas (1523–1695)
Guatemala (1524–1697)
El Salvador (1524–39)
Honduras (1524–39)
Yucatán (1527–1697)
Algeria (1529)
Algeria (1531)
Peru (1532–72)
Tunisia (1534)
Algeria (1535)
Tunisia (1535)
Colombia (1537–40)
Algeria (1541)
Algeria (1543)
Halmahera (1545)
Chile (1546–1662)
Algeria (1547)
Tunisia (1550)
Libya (1551)
Algeria (1555)
Algeria (1556)
Algeria (1558)
Tunisia (1560)
Argentine Northwest (1560–1667)
Algeria (1563)
Philippines (1565–1898)
Florida (1565)
Philippines (1567–72)
Tunisia (1574)
Brunei (1578)
Cambodia (1593–97)
Puerto Rico (1595)
Philippines (1596)
Cuba (1596)
Puerto Rico (1598)
Philippines (1599-1600)
17th century
Philippines (1602)
Tunisia (1605)
Morocco (1614)
Petén (1618–97)
Brazil (1625)
Taiwan (1626)
St. Kitts · Nevis (1629)
Philippines (1630)
Brazil (1631)
Brazil (1638)
Philippines (1638-46)
Brazil (1640)
Taiwan (1641)
Taiwan (1642)
Chiloé · Valdivia (1643)
Philippines (1646)
Tortuga (1654)
Hispaniola (1655)
Jamaica (1655)
Jamaica (1657)
Jamaica (1658)
Panama (1671)
New Mexico (1680–92)
Morocco (1689)
18th century
North America (1702–13)
Chiloé (1712)
Bahamas (1720)
Chile (1723–1726)
Oran (1732)
Banda Oriental (1735–37)
Caribbean and North America (1739–48)
Iberian Peninsula and South America (1762–63)
Portugal (1762)
Banda Oriental and Rio Grande do Sul (1762–63)
Cuba (1762)
Nicaragua (1762)
Philippines (1762)
Chile (1766–1767)
Algiers (1775)
Banda Oriental (1776–1777)
North America (1779–83)
Peru (1780–82)
New Granada (1781)
Algiers (1783)
Algiers (1784)
Chile (1792)
Caribbean (1796–1802)
19th century
Río de la Plata (1806–07)
Spanish America (1808–33)
Bolivia (1809–25)
Argentina (1810–18)
Florida (1810)
Paraguay (1810–11)
Mexico (1810–21)
Peru (1811–24)
El Salvador (1811)
Uruguay (1811)
Venezuela (1811–23)
Chile (1812–27)
Colombia (1815–16)
Colombia (1819–20)
Ecuador (1820–22)
Mexico (1821–29)
Balanguingui (1848)
Cochinchina (1858–62)
Morocco (1859–1860)
Dominican Republic (1863–65)
Peru and Chile (1864–66)
Puerto Rico (1868)
Cuba (1868–78)
Cuba (1879–80)
Morocco (1893–94)
Cuba (1895–98)
Philippines (1896–98)
Puerto Rico (1898)
Guam (1898)
20th century
Morocco (1909)
Morocco (1911–12)
Morocco (1920–26)
Morocco (1957–58)
Western Sahara (1973–76)
Western Sahara (1975)
The Arauco War was a long-running conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people, mostly fought in the Araucanía region of Chile. The conflict began at first as a reaction to the Spanish conquerors attempting to establish cities and force Mapuches into servitude. It subsequently evolved over time into phases comprising drawn-out sieges, slave-hunting expeditions, pillaging raids, punitive expeditions, and renewed Spanish attempts to secure lost territories. Abduction of women and war rape was common on both sides.[5]
After many initial Spanish successes in penetrating Mapuche territory, the Battle of Curalaba in 1598 and the following destruction of the Seven Cities marked a turning point in the war leading to the establishment of a clear frontier between the Spanish domains and the land of the independent Mapuche. From the 17th to the late 18th century a series of parliaments were held between royal governors and Mapuche lonkos and the war devolved to sporadic pillaging carried out by both sides.
In the words of Philip II, this conflict cost the largest number of Spanish lives in the New World, which is why it became known as the Flandes indiano ("Indian Flanders"), in reference to the Eighty Years' War.[6]
^Góngora, Mario (1951). El estado en el derecho indiano: época de fundación (1492–1570) (in Spanish). Instituto de Investigaciones Histórico-Culturales, Facultad de Filosofía y Educación, Universidad de Chile. p. 95.
^Villalobos, Sergio (1995). Vida fronteriza en la Araucanía: el mito de la Guerra de Arauco (in Spanish). Editorial Andrés Bello. p. 35.
^"La Guerra de Arauco (1550–1656) – Memoria Chilena".
^Guerrero, Cristián (2013). "¿Un ejército profesional en Chile durante el siglo XVII?" (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile: Centro de Estudios Históricos de la Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins. Retrieved August 24, 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Guzmán, Carmen Luz (2013). "Las cautivas de las Siete Ciudades: El cautiverio de mujeres hispanocriollas durante la Guerra de Arauco, en la perspectiva de cuatro cronistas (s. XVII)" [The captives of the Seven Cities: The captivity of hispanic-creole women during the Arauco's War, from the insight of four chroniclers (17th century)]. Intus-Legere Historia (in Spanish). 7 (1): 77–97. doi:10.15691/07176864.2014.094 (inactive January 31, 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
^Encina, Francisco, and Leopoldo Castedo, volume I, p. 36
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