Mapuche / Araucanía

Overview

The Mapuche, also known as Araucanians, 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 Mapuche represent 77.16% of Chile’s indigenous peoples and about 8.8% of the total national population. The Mapuche are concentrated in the Araucanía region. Many have migrated from rural areas to the cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires to pursue economic opportunities. Around 92% of the Mapuches are from Chile.

Wikipedia: Mapuche·CC BY-SA 4.0

Borders & accuracy

A pastoralist or hunter-gatherer range whose extent shifted constantly with seasons and alliances.

• SOURCEreconstructed from Natural Earth country boundaries
• DETAILreconstructed-clipped-country
• SNAPSHOT1700
• POLITY TYPEnomadic-range

Wars of this empire2

Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.

• Conquest of the Desert (Patagonia)1878–85
  Significant
• Battle of Tapalque Creek1856
  Regional