THE MAPUCHE
PEOPLE
In the eyes of the Mapuche people, the world is delicately balanced between the positive god of life, creation and love, Ngenechen, and the negative god of death and destruction, Wekufu. They explain the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas and the destruction and suffering that followed for the indigenous people as the overpowering influence of Wekufu. This explanation was also used when gold hungry Spaniards took to enslaving Mapuches and capturing of their land. Even if it was the work of the gods, the Mapuche defended themselves bravely. They continue to defend their way of life today.
Originally dwelling from the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, south to the Island of Chiloe and west to the Argentine Patagonia, the Mapuches, or "people of the earth", were used to a life of hunting and fishing. There was plenty of land for each family so territorial disputes were few. In their society, the women had an important role as communicators with the gods. Those who spoke with the Gods of Life were called Machi. The title attributed to those who were familiar with the Gods of the Dead was Kalku. Percussion instruments such as the Kultrun and wind instruments like the Trutrucas were always used in their rituals. Their language, Mapudungun, was equally important and cultivated. The head of this society was the Lonko or Cacique, who was the head of an enormous family of as many as 500 people.
A hundred years of war between the Mapuche and the Spanish did not yield the fruits the Spaniards had hoped for. The Mapuche land was reduced to that south of the Bio Bio River, but the Spanish were eventually made to negotiate. This defeat was not taken lightly and historians refer to the Mapuches as fierce and violent in order to justify the Spanish loss. In reality, the Mapuches are peaceful people who treasure their freedom and are dedicated to their land. The friars who were present at the time of the Spanish conquest affirm these facts.
The Mapuches went about defending their much loved traditions and values practically, but with passion. They found their enemies weaknesses and used them to their advantage. The Spanish struggled to find a strategy to defeat these spirited people who had no central government to attack. In times of war, a leader called a Toqui was appointed. But in general, the Mapuches had no head of state for the Spanish to single out or any villages for them to sack. The Mapuches moved about the land with the seasons and lived in thatched roof huts called rucas.
The Toqui chosen during the Conquest was a young man named Lautaro. Initially, the Mapuches saw the attacking Spaniards and their horses as one indestructible god but Lautaro knew otherwise. Originally a Spanish prisoner, he became a page for the Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. Lautaro picked up the Spanish language as well as knowledge of Spanish methods and weaknesses. When he escaped and returned to his people he brought valuable information. He turned the Mapuche farmers into excellent horsemen. Once they could outride the Spanish, he employed tactics now known as guerilla warfare. Lautaro also employed "mounted infantry". Each horseman carried an armed foot soldier with him. This allowed the Mapuches to be very mobile. Lautaro further heightened problems for the Spanish by renewing his fighters every 20 minutes. As the Spanish ranks became tired and sluggish the Mapuches, using their superior numbers, would send in a fresh wave of bodies.
These tactics led the victorious Mapuches all the way to the gates of Santiago. However, as the Mapuche forces lay in their tents awaiting dawn and their assault on Santiago, their young leader was betrayed and killed by a member of an allied tribe. The Mapuches were shocked and weakened by this news. They returned to their homes and defended their borders for another 300 years. Lautaro is still a symbol of the fight for freedom to the Mapuche people today.
The Mapuche have been oppressed for the last century. The government of an independent Chile continued attempts to annex their territory. In 1881, the Mapuche began their final attack on the Chilean republic. Though unsuccessful against the Chilean’s modern weapons, the lonkos united and their fight is remembered as a symbol of the Mapuche’s devotion to the land. Defeated, Mapuche land became state property and was doled out in the form of reservations or reducciones. While colonists were each given between 100 and 1000 acres, Mapuche families received an average of 15 to 45 acres, often infertile and mountainous land. During this redistribution of land, only a total of 9% was given to the Mapuches. While their land in 1540 consisted of 31 million hectares (77 million acres), it has since been reduced to 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres).
Throughout the 1900’s there have been three main strategies for dealing with Chile’s indigenous people. Firstly, encouraged by missionaries, the Chileans first tried to integrate and absorb the Mapuche culture through education and religion. During the tenure of Pinochet, the Indian Law let the collective farms of the Mapuche break into individual plots. However, the people lacked the resources to keep their farms afloat and often had to sell to wealthy landowners. Cut adrift from their community many Mapuches moved to the city.
Secondly, the idea of semi-integration attempted and continues to keep Mapuche traditions alive and still adjust to the demands of modern society. Some schools now employ these principles, teaching both Spanish and Mapudungun, and supporters strive to participate in Chilean society but also keep their traditional culture alive.
Led by Manuel Aburto Manquilef, the third reaction among the Mapuches was to resist integration. They wanted their land and identity back. Old traditions were brought back and congresses were organized to amplify the Mapuche voice and ally the Mapuche cause with the larger struggle between wealthy and poor. The Worker’s Federation of Chile (FOCH) became the self-proclaimed voice of the Mapuches in Santiago.
Today, the majority of families remaining on their ancestral lands
scratch livings from subsistence farms, an average of six to seven acres
in size. These farms, isolated from markets, local infrastructure, and
public transport, produce wheat and vegetables, in addition to small scale
cattle, pig and poultry farming. The majority of these farms lack
electricity and potable water; the majority of their inhabitants lack
access to salaried jobs, dignified medical attention, and an acceptable
education. Though a significant number of Mapuches (about 50%) have
migrated to the capital city, Santiago, the Ninth Region, boasts the
largest concentration of the rural Mapuche population. Erosion now
threatens both the landscape and the livelihood of the region’s
inhabitants due to rapid deforestation, along with overgrazing and decades
of poor farming techniques.
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