According to a national census, there are approximately 1.5 million Mapuche living in Chile today, with another 200,000 living in Argentina. This makes them the third largest native population in South America. With rich culture and traditions they continue to live among the other inhabitants of Chile, but how long have they been there, and what happened along the way?

* Early History

Prior to 1541, when the Spanish first arrived in Chile, the population of the Mapuche was said to number over 2 million. They inhabited an expansive territory known as the Southern Cone of South America. The Spanish brought war and turmoil with them and many of the Mapuche were killed in the skirmishes with the Spanish.

A hundred years later, in 1641, the Spanish agreed to and signed a treaty with the Mapuche that defined frontiers with the Mapuche nation. This was the Treaty of Quillin and it was upheld for around 170 years. However, in 1810 there were the new states of Argentina and Chile in South America and they abolished the treaty with the Mapuche.

* Nineteenth Century

After the abolition of the Treaty of Quillin, the new Republics of Argentina and Chile attempted to barter new treaties with the Mapuche that led to the gradual takeover of the Mapuche territory. After this point the Mapuche were stripped of their territories and were subjected to military persecution and slaughter, leading to the massacre of entire Mapuche populations.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, the armies of Argentina and Chile gained control of the Mapuche territories by force, leading both of the countries to record dispossessions against the Mapuche. In Argentina this dispossession was known as the Campaign of the Desert, while in Chile it was described as the Pacification of the Araucanian.

Finally, in 1885, the Mapuche were completely defeated by both the Argentineans and Chileans. After this, a great number of Mapuche were killed and many of those that survived were forced from their homes. Mapuche adults were often made to live in very poor village dwellings within cities, while children were primarily given to white people to be trained as servants.

* Today’s Mapuche

Even today, Mapuche people are not recognized in the Chilean constitution and they hold none of the human rights or basic freedoms afforded to other indigenous people of South America. The Chilean policies of integration have had devastating effects on the Mapuche population as a whole and the Mapuche language has all but died out. The Mapuche remain in a state of dependency on the Chilean government. Sadly, no action is currently taken to assist their development or allow them to control their own destiny in any way.

Sources:

http://www.mapuche-nation.org