- Occupation of the Araucanía
The Occupation of the Araucania (1861–1883) was a series of
military campaign s, agreements and penetrations by theChilean army andsettler s which led to the incorporation ofAraucanía into Chilean national territory. "The Pacification of the Araucanía" was the expression used by theChile an authorities for this process.History
Background
The indigenous inhabitants of "Araucanía", the
Mapuche , had resisted for more than three hundred years Spanish attempts at conquest known as theArauco War s. They had also previously defeated theIncas . Whilst their frontier with theInca empire had been along theMaule River , the Spaniards had succeeded in establishing it at theBío-Bío River . When the Arauco Wars faded in the 18th and 19th centuries, commercial relations began to grow and cultural and ethnic mixing increased in the frontier territories.Ambrose O'Higgins and other Chilean authorities made agreements with several Mapuchechief s to end the hostilities on both sides.In the 19th century the new Chilean Republic started a period of
economic prosperity and successful wars againstSpain ,Peru andBolivia . Its politicians became attracted to taking action against the Mapuche as well, drawing comparisons with the Spanish failure in that field and the Mapuche tribes that was permanently pillaging the Argentine countryside. The Chilean population was growing fast, immigrants had already settled south of Araucania in the surroundings of Valdivia, Osorno andLlanquihue , and more land was required for settlement. ThusManuel Montt asPresident of Chile designated in 1852 a province of Arauco, intended to administer all territories south of the Bío-Bío and north of theToltén River s.The plan
In 1860, under the then Chilean president
José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano , the largely imaginary proclamation of "theKingdom of Araucania and Patagonia " by a French lawyer became the pretext for the formal incorporation of Araucania. Under a plan made by GeneralCornelio Saavedra Rodríguez , the authorities pursued a mix of military and cultural penetration, including agreements with the local chiefs, the foundation of settlements and the construction ofroads and otherpublic infrastructure such asschool s andhospital s.Occupation
In 1862 General Saavedra advanced quickly to the
Malleco River and there founded the town ofAngol , together with the forts ofMulchén and Lebu. From Valdivia in the south, troops also advanced into the Toltén River area. This first phase of the occupation was carried out with little resistance, but soon afterwards the tribes near the Malleco River rose. Despite the nascentinsurgency ,Purén was founded in the densest Mapuche population centre in 1869, securing communications between Angol and the coast.From 1871 to 1879,
Basilio Urrutia was left in charge of the occupation, which had by then been consolidated up to the Malleco River. On the north side of that river the army had established a line defended by 2,500 soldiers and atelegraph betweenAngol andCollipulli .In 1879 many of the troops in the south of Chile were moved to the north to
fightPeru andBolivia . In 1880, several Mapuche tribes took advantage of this to launch a series of largely unsuccessful attacks on Chilean forts. After victory in the War of the Pacific, the government ofDomingo Santa María launched a final campaign to incorporate theheartland of the Mapuche into Chile. A colonel,Gregorio Urrutia , was chosen for this. The old Spanish town of Villarrica was refounded and forts set up atCarahue ,Lautaro ,Pillánlelbu ,Temuco ,Nueva Imperial andPucón . The tribes living close to these forts lost their territory, and about ten thousand Mapuche were killed in skirmishes with the army. Many of the survivors escaped to the mountains where they joined with thePehuenche and other tribes which were in flight from Argentine territory to the east. Some indigenous remnants were placed into reservations and their land given to Chilean and foreign settlers.Aftermath
Araucania was not fully pacified after the close of the military campaigns, and it remained insecure despite the efforts of the central government. Even now, some Mapuche groups continue to pillage
hacienda s in what they consider to be theirancestral lands. With the construction of theMalleco viaduct in the 1890s, the region became more accessible and European settlement in southern Chile became more intense. The last areas to be occupied were the heights of the Bío-Bío River and the coast nearBudi Lake . By 1929 the Chilean government had given nearly 5,000 km² of land in more than three thousand plots to settlers in Araucanía Fact|date=September 2007. In 1934 477 workers andMapuche s were killed during theRanquil Massacre in the upperBio-Bio River [ [http://www.mapuche-nation.org/espanol/html/articulos/art-59.htm Levantamiento campesino en Ranquil, Lonquimay] es icon] .The Army of Argentina also led their own campaign of pacification in
Patagonia , "theConquest of the Desert ", which led to the migration of Patagonian Mapuche to Chile. In Argentina, the remaining indigenous peoples perished. In Chile, the remaining Indian groups were forcibly assimilated into Chilean society.The first units of Cuerpo de Carabineros, who in 1927 became Chiles national police and gendarmerie, were formed in 1903 to bring law and order to the Araucanía Region.
References
Bibliography
*Villalobos, Sergio. "Historia de Chile Tomo 4". Editorial universitaria, 1982.
ee also
*
Araucanía
*Araucanization
*Conquest of the Desert
*TheKingdom of Araucania and Patagonia
*Mapuche
*TheWar of Arauco
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