The Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia (; ), sometimes referred to as Kingdom of New France (), was an unrecognized state declared by two ordinances on November 17, 1860 and November 20, 1860 from Antoine de Tounens, a French lawyer and adventurer, who claimed that the regions of Araucanía and eastern Patagonia did not depend on any other states. Tounens had the support of the highest Mapuche lonko of Araucanía and Patagonia, Kilapan, and that of Toki Magnil Lonko Kalfukura, Lonko Leminao and others, who believed that they could help maintain independence from the Chilean and Argentine governments.

Arrested on January 5, 1862 by the Chilean authorities, Antoine de Tounens was imprisoned and declared insane on September 2, 1862 by the court of Santiago and expelled to France on October 28, 1862. He later tried three times to return to Araucanía to reclaim his kingdom, but was each time captured and deported back to France by the Chilean State. After his 3rd and final attempt he died of the ill health conditions caused during his lengthy captivity in Chilean prison.

History

thumb|left|upright|[[Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, Orélie-Antoine I, King of Araucanía and Patagonia.]]

In 1858, Antoine de Tounens, a former lawyer in Périgueux, France, who had read the book La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla, decided to go to Araucanía, inspired to become its king after reading the book. He landed at the port of Coquimbo in Chile and met some loncos (Mapuche tribal leaders) after arriving South to the Biobío. He promised them some guns and the help of France to maintain their independence from Chile. The Indians elected him Great Toqui, Supreme Chieftain of the Mapuches, possibly in the belief that their cause might be better served with a European acting on their behalf.

On November 17, 1860, and November 20, 1860, the self-proclaimed sovereign proclaimed via two decrees that the regions of Araucanía and eastern Patagonia did not need to depend on any other states and that the Kingdom of Araucanía is founded with himself as monarch under the name King Orélie-Antoine I. He declared Perquenco capital of his kingdom, created a flag, and had coins minted for the nation under the name of Nouvelle France.

He writes in his Memoirs in 1863 "I took the title of king, by an ordinance of November 17, 1860, which established the bases of the hereditary constitutional government founded by me [...] On November 17, I returned to Araucanía to be publicly recognized as king, which took place on December 25, 26, 27 and 30. Weren't we, the Araucanians, free to bestow power on me, and I to accept it?"

The supposed founding of the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia led to the Occupation of Araucanía by Chilean forces. Chilean president José Joaquín Pérez authorized Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez, commander of the Chilean troops, to arrest Antoine de Tounens on January 5, 1862. Tounens was then imprisoned and declared insane on September 2, 1862, by the court of Santiago Upon hearing that his presence in Araucanía had been revealed Orélie-Antoine de Tounens fled to Argentina, having however promised Quilapán to obtain arms. A French warship, d'Entrecasteaux, that anchored in 1870 at Corral, drew suspicions from Saavedra of some sort of French interference.

On August 28, 1873, the Criminal Court of Paris ruled that Antoine de Tounens, first "king of Araucanía and Patagonia", did not justify his claim to the status of sovereignty. He died in poverty on September 17, 1878, in Tourtoirac, France, after years of fruitlessly struggling to regain his kingdom. According to travel writer Bruce Chatwin, the later history of the "kingdom" belongs rather to "the obsessions of bourgeois France than to the politics of South America." A French champagne salesman, Gustave Laviarde, impressed by the story, decided to assume the vacant throne as Aquiles I. He was appointed heir to the throne by Orélie-Antoine. The pretenders to the throne of Araucanía and Patagonia have been called monarchs and sovereigns of fantasy, "having only fanciful claims to a kingdom without legal existence and having no international recognition". Therefore the "throne of Araucanía" is sometimes the subject of disputes between "pretenders", some journalists wrote : "The memory of the French adventurer Orélie-Antoine, self-proclaimed king in 1860, and the defense of the rights of the Mapuches guide the action of this strange symbolic monarchy" and "The intensification of the Mapuche conflict in recent years has given a new purpose to the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia, long considered an absurdity by French society."

Mapuche writer Pedro Cayuqueo considers the kingdom a lost opportunity and speculates that, in a French-ruled Araucanía, the Mapuche would have rights similar to that of the Kanak people, who were given the possibility of independence from France in a 2018 referendum.

Pretenders to the throne after Antoine de Tounens

Antoine de Tounens had died without issue, and his family members did not wish to accede to the throne. The Constitution of the Kingdom 1860 provides only for hereditary succession, however immediately prior to the death of the founding Monarch, aware of his frail state of health, he wrote a last will and testament designating the Lieutenant General of the Kingdom, Gustave Achilles Laviarde as his heir and successor, who succeeded to the Crown on the death of the King. Since his death in 1878, there have been 8 consecutive Sovereigns appointed by the Regency Council to the throne in exile in France. The current Prince of Araucania and Patagonia is Prince Antoine V.

<big>Sovereign</big>

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!No.

!image

!title

!Given name

<small>(birth- Death)</small>

!Reign

!Ref.

!Other information

|-

|1

|frameless|117x117px

|Orélie-Antoine I

|Orélie-Antoine de Tounens<br><small>(1825–1878)</small>

|1860-1862

|

|Antoine de Tounens, founded the kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia by a Royal Ordinance of 17 November 1860 and was proclaimed king by the Mapuche Nation. He took the name of Orélie-Antoine I <abbr>I</abbr> and was appointed by Mapuche Toki Kilapan and Toki Magnil as Futha Apo Toki (High war chief of the nation). He appointed French and Mapuche ministers. These were Lonko’s Kalfukura (son of Huentecurá (meaning upper stone) - Minister of Justice; Kilapan-Minister (son of High Toki Magnil (1800-1860) of War; Montril - Minister of Foreign Affairs; Quilahueque - Home Secretary; Marihual - Minister for Agriculture.

Lonko’s Lemunao, Huenchuman, Huentecol, among others who comprised the first Privy Council and Ministers of State. He was detained, imprisoned and put on trial by the republic of Chile, and later deported to France. He made 3 further expeditions to Wallmapu (Mapuche ancestral territory) during his lifetime but was detained and deported on each occasion. He maintained his Kingdom in exile until his death in France in 1878.

|}

<big>List of pretenders to the Throne and Heads of the Royal House of Araucanía and Patagonia</big>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 80%;"

|-

! width="2%" |

! width="80px" |Image

! Title

! width="30%" |Given name<br><small>(Birth–Death)</small>

! width="20%" |Reign

! Ref.

!Other information

|-

|1

|80px

|Orélie-Antoine I

|Orélie-Antoine de Tounens<br><small>(1825–1878)</small>

|1862–1878

|

|

|-

|2

|80px

|Achille I

|Gustave-Achille Laviarde<br><small>(1841–1902)</small>

|1878–1902

|

|Secretary of the preceding.

Titled Futha Apo Toki (High war Chief of the Mapuche people) Prince of Aucas and Duke of Kialeon by Antoine de Tounens in March 1882 as successor to King Antoine I.

|-

|3

|80px

|Antoine II

|Antoine-Hippolyte Cros<br><small>(1833–1903)</small>

|1902–1903

|

|Titled Duke of Niacalel and appointed Keeper of the Seals of the Kingdom of Araucanía by Achille Laviarde

|-

|4

|80px

|Laure Therese I

|Laure-Therese Cros<br><small>(1856–1916)</small>

|1903–1916

|

|Daughter of

Antoine II

|-

|5

|80px

|Antoine III

|Jacques Antoine Bernard<br><small>(1888–1952)</small>

|1916–1952

|

|abdicated in favour of prince Philippe I

|-

|6

|80px

|Prince Philippe

|Philippe Paul Alexandre Henri Boiry<br><small>(1927–2014)</small>

|1952–2014

|

Novel

  • Jean Raspail, Moi, Antoine de Tounens, roi de Patagonie (I, Antoine of Tounens, King of Patagonia) (1981)

Video games

  • In Victoria 3, the nation of Mapuche may receive Orélie-Antoine de Tounens as its leader by event, to simulate the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia.
  • In the Hearts of Iron IV expansion pack "Trial of Allegiance", a player may play as Chile and, via according focus tree, restore the Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia.

See also

  • Araucanization
  • Occupation of Araucanía

References

;Bibliography

  • North American Araucanian Royalist Society
  • Official Site of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia
  • Mapuche International Link