War Of Arauco

The Arauco War was a conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people of the region of Araucanía , of modern Chile . The beginning of the conflict is usually placed at the battle of Reynogüelén , which occurred in 1536 between an expedition of Diego De Almagro and a well organized and numerous group of Mapuche soldiers, near the cofluence of the Ñuble and Itata rivers. Its end however, is more difficult to pin down. Since 1609 , each governor of Chile held "Parlamentos" with the Mapuche chiefs, in which they discussed the maintence of a treaty between both parties, violations of which were quite frequent. However, it was not until 1881 that these finally ended, with a process known as the Pacification Of Araucanía

CAMPAIGNS OF PEDRO DE VALDIVIA

In 1544 , Pedro De Valdivia sent and expedition, under a Captain Pastene, by ship to reconnoiter the litoral south in the barks San Pedro and Santiaguillo. The expedition set sail from Valparaíso and landed at the bay of San Pedro, in Concepcion , and in Valdivia , which was christened in honor of the chief commander. It then returned to Valaparaiso.

With the goal of securing the city of Santiago , which had been destroyed on September 11 , 1541 by the Indian forces under the chief Michimalonco , and also with the hope of enlarging the territory under his jurisdiction, Valdivia resolved to take personal command of a land expedition towards Araucanía . They set out in 1546 with 60 horsemen plus indian auxiliaries, and reached the Bío-Bío River , where they were attacked by Mapuche warriors. Seeing that it would be impossible to proceed in such hostile territory with his limited forces, Valdivia decided to return to Santiago.

Founding of Concepcion, Imperial, and Valdivia

In river, where they were ambushed by the Mapuche s, suffering serious casualties. They retreated along the Laja and Bío-Bío rivers, towards San Pedro. On the banks of the Andalién river they were attacked again by the Araucanians , although with less success. In this area they established a small fort, which they garrisoned with a few soldiers, to protect their march towards San Pedro.

On March 3 of this year Valdivia founded the fort of Concepción , which was attacked some nine days later by the Mapuches. Jerónimo De Alderete succeeded in fending off the assaults, despite the low numbers of his forces. On March 20 the marine column anchored in the bay, providing materials to finish the fort and replace his casualties.

Valdivia sent an emissary to the Viceroy Of Peru , asking for additional forces, as he knew that it would not be possible to complete the conquest of Arauco with only the forces at his disposition. However, after reinforcement at Concepción, he organized another expedition to establish a fort on the banks of the Imperial River in 1551 . He then returned to Concepción to prepare another expedition, as the Viceroy was sending reinforcements by sea.

Leaving orders that the new troops should disembark on the ''Tierras de Valdivia'' that Pastene had discovered earlier, Valdivia left with 200 soldiers in the direction of fort Imperial. Once he had passed it on his way south, he ordered Jerónimo de Alderete to drive inland and establish a fort, with the goal of securing the eastern flank. To this end, Alderente reached Lake Villarrica and founded a fort of the same name. Meanwhile, Valdivia's column advanced southwards and joined the forces sent from Peru , under the command of Francisco De Villagra . There, the fort of Valdivia was established. After garrisoning the new forts, Valdivia returned to his base in Concepción in 1552 .

The Toqui Lautaro and the Battle of Tucapel

With the goal of securing the lines of communication with the southern forts, Valdivia launched a third expedition which established forts at Tucapel , Purén , Confines (nowadays Angol ), Arauco and Lebu . The Araucanians didn't offer any resistance to the conquistadors' work, which gave them the safety they needed to complete their actions.

In 1553 the Mapuches held a parliament in which, given the growing Spanish forces and their decision remain in the territiory, it was decided that war was needed. They chose as Toqui –wartime chief– a man called Lautaro , who had served as an assistant in for the Spanish cavalry, and thus knew how to fight the conquistadors.

With 6,000 warriors under his command, Lautaro attacked fort Tucapel . The Spanish garrison couldn't resist the assault and retreated to Purén . Lautaro seized the fort, sure that the Spaniards would attempt to retake it. This was exactly what Valdivia tried to do with a reduced force, which was quickly surrounded and massacred by the Mapuches. The Battle Of Tucapel would be Pedro De Valdivia 's last, as he was captured and then killed.

CAMPAIGNS OF LAUTARO

After the defeat at Tucapel, the Spanish hurriedly reorganized their forces, reinforcing fort Imperial for its defence and abandoning Confines and Arauco in order to strengthen Concepción. However, Araucanian tradition dictated a lengthy victory celebration, which kept Lauaro from exploiting the weakness of the Spanish position as he desired. It was only in February of 1554 that he succeeded in putting together an army of 8,000 men, just in time to confront a punitive expedition under the command of Francisco De Villagra .

Battle of Marihueño

Lautaro chose the hill of , which would disrupt even more the attempted retreat of Villagra.

The Spanish attack broke the first Mapuche lines, but the quick action of the third group maintained the Indian position. Later, the wings of this division began to attack the Spanish flanks, and the fourth division attacked from behind. After hours of battle, only a small group of Spanish were able to retreat.

Despite this new victory, Lautaro was again unable to pursue the opportunity due to the celebrations and beliefs of his people. By the time he arrived at Concepción, it was already abandoned. After burning it, he could not continue the offensive with his remaining forces, and the campaign came to an end as the warriors demobilized.

In Santiago , Villagra reorganized his forces, and that same year of 1554 , he departed again for Arauco and reinforced the strongholds of Imperial and Valdivia, without any interference from the Mapuches, who were dealing with their first epidemic of Smallpox , which was brought by the Spanish. In 1555 , the Real Audiencia in Lima , ordered him to reconstruct Concepción, which was done under the command of Capitan Alvarado.

Lautaro attacked Concepción when he learned that it was being rebuilt, with 4,000 warriors. He put the town under siege, which Alvarado attempted to break unsuccessfully. Only 38 Spaniards managed to escape by sea the second destruction of the city.

Peteroa and the Hills of Caune

After this action, Lautaro planned an assault on Santiago , for which he drew scant support from his troops, who soon dwindled to only 600. In October of 1556 he reached in his northward march the river Mataquito , where he destroyed a fortified camp at Peteroa . From there he launched feelers towards Santiago.

In Peteroa he repulsed small attacking Spanish forces, first under the command of Diego Cano and later Francisco de Villagra himself. Lautaro retreated towards the river Itata , with the Spaniards in pursuit. Instead of confronting them, he gave them the slip, and left for Santiago.

Despite the stealth under which the Mapuches moved, the city leaders knew of the advance, and sent a small expedition to detain them, buying time for word to be sent to Villagra to return to the city. The Spanish forces met in the field, and, presumably by the treason of a fellow Araucano, found out about the disposition of Lautaro's camp. On April 29 , the conquistadors launched a surprise attack from the hills of Caune, obtaing a decisive victory in which Lautaro was killed.

CAMPAIGNS OF CAUPOLICáN

García Hurtado De Mendoza, Marquis Of Cañete was designated the interim governor of Chile in 1557 , and immediately ordered the reconstruction of Concepción , this time with a much stronger force than before: 600 soldiers, 6 pieces of artillery, and 1,000 horses.

After the death of Lautaro, and before the new Spanish expedition, the Mapuches chose Caupolican as a new Toqui. He attacked Concepción with 3,000 warriors but was soundly defeated. Although he was able to escape immediately after the battle, as the Spanish cavalry did not arrive in time to pursue, he would not remain indefinitely out of their clutches. He was eventually captured and sentenced to death by Impaling .

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War Of Arauco