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.
The Mapuche traditional economy is based on agriculture; their traditional social organization consists of extended families, under the direction of a lonko or chief. In times of war, the Mapuche would unite in larger groupings and elect a toki (meaning "axe" or "axe-bearer") to lead them. Mapuche material culture is known for its textiles and silverwork.
At the time of Spanish arrival, the Picunche inhabited the valleys between the Choapa and Itata, Araucanian Mapuche inhabited the valleys between the Itata and Toltén rivers, south of there, and the Huilliche and the Cunco lived as far south as the Chiloé Archipelago. In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, Mapuche groups migrated eastward into the Andes and Pampas, conquering, fusing with and establishing relationships with the Poya and Pehuenche. At about the same time, ethnic groups of the Pampa regions, the Puelche, Ranquel, and northern Aonikenk, made contact with Mapuche groups. The Tehuelche adopted the Mapuche language and some of their culture, in what came to be called Araucanization, during which Patagonia came under effective Mapuche suzerainty.
Mapuche in the Spanish-ruled areas, especially the Picunche, mingled with the Spanish during the colonial period, forming a mestizo population that lost its Indigenous identity. But Mapuche society in Araucanía and Patagonia remained independent until the late nineteenth century, when Chile occupied Araucanía and Argentina conquered Puelmapu. Since then the Mapuche have become subjects, and later nationals and citizens, of those states. Today, many Mapuche and Chilean communities are engaged in the so-called Mapuche conflict over land and Indigenous rights in both Argentina and Chile.
Etymology
thumb|[[Euler diagram of Mapuche ethnicities. Historical denominations no longer in use are shown with white fields. Groups that adopted Mapuche language and culture or that have partial Mapuche descent are shown in the periphery of the main magenta-colored field.]]
Historically, the Spanish colonizers of South America referred to the Mapuche people as Araucanians ( ; ). This term is now considered pejorative by some people. For others, the importance of the term Araucanian lies in the universality of the epic work , written by Alonso de Ercilla, and the feats of that people in their long and interminable war against the Spanish Empire. The name is probably derived from the placename (Spanish Arauco), meaning "chalky/clayish water". Although some have speculated a link with the Quechua word , meaning "rebel" or "enemy", this is probably not the case.
The name Mapuche is used both to refer collectively to the Pikunche, Williche, and Moluche or Nguluche from Araucanía, at other times, exclusively to the Moluche or Nguluche from Araucanía. However, Mapuche is a relatively recent endonym meaning "People of the Earth" or "Children of the Land", with meaning "earth" or "land", and meaning "person". It is preferred as a term when referring to the people after the Arauco War.
The Mapuche identify by the geography of their territories, such as:
- Pwelche (also Hispanicized as Puelche): "people of the east" occupied Pwel mapu or , the eastern lands (Pampa and Patagonia of Argentina).
- Pikunche (also Hispanicized as Picunche): "people of the north" occupied , the "northern lands".
- Williche (also Hispanicized as Huilliche): "people of the south" occupied , the "southern lands".
- Pewenche (also Hispanicized as Pehuenche): "people of the pewen (Araucaria araucana)" occupied , "the land of the pewen".
- Lafkenche: "people of the sea" occupied , "the land of the sea"; also known as Coastal Mapuche.
- Nagche: "people of the plains" occupied , "the land of the plains" (located in sectors of the Cordillera de Nahuelbuta and the low zones bordering it). Its epic and literary name is Araucanians and its old autochthonous name is Reche. The ancient Mapuche Toqui ("axe-bearer") like Lef-Traru ("swift hawk", better known as Lautaro), Kallfülikan ("blue quartz stone", better known as Caupolicán – "polished flint") or Pelontraru ("Shining Caracara", better known as Pelantaro) were Nagche.
- Wenteche: "people of the valleys" occupied , "the land of the valleys".
History
thumb|right|upright|[[Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala|Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala's picture of the confrontation between the Mapuches (left) and the Incas (right)]]
Pre-Columbian period
Archaeological finds have shown that Mapuche culture existed in Chile and Argentina as early as 600 to 500 BC. Genetically the Mapuche differ from the adjacent Indigenous peoples of Patagonia. This suggests a "different origin or long-lasting separation of Mapuche and Patagonian populations". The southern border of the Inca Empire is believed by most modern scholars to have been situated between Santiago and the Maipo River, or somewhere between Santiago and the Maule River. Thus, the bulk of the Mapuche escaped Inca rule. Through their contact with Incan invaders Mapuches would have for the first time met people with state organizations. Their contact with the Incas gave them a collective awareness distinguishing between them and the invaders and uniting them into loose geo-political units despite their lack of state organization.
At the time of the arrival of the first Spaniards to Chile, the largest Indigenous population concentration was in the area spanning from the Itata River to Chiloé Islandthat is the Mapuche heartland. The Mapuche population between Itata River and Reloncaví Sound has been estimated at 705,000–900,000 in the mid-sixteenth century by historian José Bengoa.
thumb|center|700px|Distribution of pre-Hispanic people of Chile
Arauco War
The Spanish expansion into Mapuche territory was an offshoot of the conquest of Peru. In 1536, Diego de Almagro set out to conquer Chile, after crossing the Itata River they were intercepted by a numerous contingent of Araucanian Mapuche armed with many bows and pikes in the Battle of Reynogüelén. Discouraged by the ferocity of the Mapuches, and the apparent lack of gold and silver in these lands, Almagro decided upon a full retreat the following year to Peru. In 1541, Pedro de Valdivia reached Chile from Cuzco and founded Santiago. The northern Mapuche tribes, known as Picunches had recently gained independence from Inca rule, being commanded by Michimalonco, who had defeated the Inca governor Quilicanta. It would be the same Michimalonco who would lead the Picunche resistance against the Spanish between 1541 and 1545. His most famous achievement is the Destruction of Santiago.
thumb|left|upright=1.4|Painting El joven [[Lautaro of Pedro Subercaseaux]]
In 1550, Pedro de Valdivia, who aimed to control all of Chile to the Straits of Magellan, campaigned in south-central Chile to conquer more Mapuche controlled territory. Between 1550 and 1553, the Spanish founded several cities