The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who share a common social, religious, and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage as Mapudungun speakers. Their homelands once extended from Choapa Valley to the Chiloé Archipelago and later spread eastward to Puelmapu, a land comprising part of the Argentine pampa and Patagonia. Today the collective group makes up over 80% of the indigenous peoples in Chile and about 9% of the total Chilean population. The Mapuche are concentrated in the Araucanía region. Many have migrated from rural areas to the cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires for economic opportunities, more than 92% of the Mapuches are from Chile.
The Araucanía, La Araucanía Region is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities include Angol and Villarrica.
Araucanía or Araucana was the Spanish name given to the region of Chile inhabited by the Mapuche peoples known as the Moluche in the 18th century. Prior to the Spanish conquest of Chile, the lands of the Moluche lay between the Itata River and Toltén River.
The Araucanization of Patagonia was the process of the expansion of Mapuche culture, influence, and its Mapudungun language from Araucanía across the Andes into the plains of Patagonia. Historians disagree over the time period during which the expansion took place, but estimate it occurred roughly between 1550 and 1850.
The Occupation of Araucanía or Pacification of Araucanía (1861–1883) was a series of military campaigns, agreements and penetrations by the Chilean army and settlers into Mapuche territory which led to the incorporation of Araucanía into Chilean national territory. Pacification of Araucanía was the expression used by the Chilean authorities for this process. The conflict was concurrent with Argentine campaigns against the Mapuche (1878–1885) and Chile's wars with Spain (1865–1866) and with Peru and Bolivia (1879–1883).
Indigenous peoples in Chile or Native Chileans form about 13% of the total population of Chile. According to the 2017 census, almost 2,200,000 people declare having indigenous origins. Most Chileans are of partially indigenous descent; however, indigenous identification and its legal ramifications are typically reserved to those who self-identify with and are accepted within one or more indigenous groups.
Quiapo is a place in Arauco Province of Chile that is 25 kilometers to the southwest of Arauco and about 25 kilometers to the north and east of the port of Lebu to the east of the Bahia del Carnero and 6.4 kilometers west of the small town of Villa Alegre. It was a low mountainous and thickly wooded area, that contained among its contours arable lands that had the same name. It is also the location where two streams come together to form the headwaters of the Quiapo River.
Lumaco is a town and commune in Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of Chile. Its name in Mapudungun means "water of luma". Lumaco is located to 120 km (75 mi) northeast of Temuco and 52 km (32 mi) from Angol. It shares a boundary to the north with the communes of Purén and Los Sauces, to the east with Traiguén and Galvarino, to the south with Cholchol and Carahue in Cautin Province, and the west with Tirúa and Contulmo in the Arauco Province of the Biobío Region.
Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco (CAM) is a radical, militant indigenist organization engaged in political violence in pursuit of attaining an autonomous Mapuche state in the territory they describe as "Wallmapu".
The Mapuche conflict involves indigenous Mapuche communities, also known as the Araucanians, located in Araucanía and nearby regions of Chile and Argentina. The conflict itself is related to the land ownership disputes between the State of Argentina and Chile since the 19th Century as well as corporations such as big forestry companies and their contractors. In the past decade of the conflict, Chilean police and some non-indigenous landowners have been confronted by indigenist militant Mapuche organizations and local Mapuche communities in the context of the conflict. Some scholars argue the conflict is an indigenous self-determination conflict; others like Francisco Huenchumilla see it as the expression of a wider political conflict that affects all of Chile given the existence of other indigenous groups.
Forestry is one of the main economic sectors of Chile, representing 14% of the value of the country's total exports. This places the forestry sector in Chile as the second largest export sector behind copper mining. From 1970 to 2005 planted forest surface in Chile grew from 300,000 ha to more than 2.07 million ha. In 2019 Chile had slightly more than 2,3 million ha of forest plantations of which 1,3 million ha were Pinus radiata and 0,9 million ha were of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens. In 2006 70% of Chile's forestry production went to export, and the industry employed more than 150,000 workers. By 2020 people employed in the sector were down to 112,200.
Mapuche flag is each of the flags used as an emblem and symbol of the Mapuche Indigenous people and the Mapuche communities and Indigenist political organizations in Chile and Argentina. There are several different flags representing the Mapuche communities and territories. The latest from 1992.
Gregorio Urrutia Venegas was a Chilean military official who made a career in the Chilean Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He held several military positions and participated in four military conflicts. He was also a deputy and businessman of a company that built railway lines.
The last major rebellion of the indigenous Mapuches of Araucanía took place in 1881, during the last phase of the Occupation of Araucanía (1861–1883) by the Chilean state. It was planned by Mapuche chiefs in March 1881 to be launched in November the same year. Mapuche support for the uprising was not unanimous: Some Mapuche factions sided with the Chileans and others declared themselves neutral. The organizers of the uprising did however succeed in involving Mapuche factions that had not previously been at war with Chile. With most of the attacks repelled within a matters of days Chile went on the next years to consolidate its conquests.
As an archaeological culture, the Mapuche people of southern Chile and Argentina have a long history which dates back to 600–500 BC. The Mapuche society underwent great transformations after Spanish contact in the mid–16th century. These changes included the adoption of Old World crops and animals and the onset of a rich Spanish–Mapuche trade in La Frontera and Valdivia. Despite these contacts Mapuche were never completely subjugated by the Spanish Empire. Between the 18th and 19th century Mapuche culture and people spread eastwards into the Pampas and the Patagonian plains. This vast new territory allowed Mapuche groups to control a substantial part of the salt and cattle trade in the Southern Cone.
Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche is an indigenous organization advocated to the creation of an autonomous Mapuche state in Araucanía, which is, they say, the revindication and recovery of former Mapuche lands. They are mostly renowned for their violent methods, often recurring to arson and poaching and armed attacks against Argentine National Gendarmerie. It operates in the Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile, seeking to secede territories of both countries to create an independent Wallmapuche country for the Mapuche nation. It is associated with the Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco, considered a terrorist organization by the Chilean government.
Pedro César Cayuqueo Millaqueo is a Chilean journalist and activist of indigenous Mapuche descent involved in the Mapuche conflict.
Weichán Auka Mapu (WAM) is a Mapuche armed and revolutionary organization that operates mainly in southern Chile, being a supporter of armed struggle through arson attacks, sabotage actions and clashes with firearms against police officers, in order to achieve full autonomy for the Mapuche people.
The Council of All Lands or Aukiñ Wallmapu Ngulam (AWNg) is an indigenist separatist organization that defines itself as aimed to create a "Mapuche state" in Chile and Argentina in the territories defined as "Wallmapu" by them. Its leader is the "werkén" Aucán Huilcamán. The organization has its roots in the Commission for the 500 years of resistance, created in 1989 as a splinter group of ADMAPU, whose members had become critical of ADMAPU. The commission subsequently changed name to Consejo de Todas las Tierras in 1990.
Forestal Mininco is the forestry branch of wood product and woodpulp company CMPC. According to CMPC "Forestal Mininco territorially manages the forest heritage of CMPC in Chile."
