People / group

Mapuche

Also known as Araucanians

The Mapuche are an indigenous people of south-central Chile and south-western Argentina. They resisted Spanish conquest in the long Arauco War, keeping their independence south of the Biobío river after 1598, and dealt with Spain through treaties and parliaments. Chile and Argentina conquered their lands only in the 1860s–1880s; they remain the largest indigenous people of Chile.

Mapuche
Image: Al2 · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 4 profiles

Inca EmpireMilitaryViceroyalty of PeruMilitaryRepublic of ChileMilitaryArgentine RepublicMilitary

Mentioned in 4 state histories

Captaincy General of ChileAraucaníaSalinas Grandes ConfederationKingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mapuche. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mapuche
MLA
“Mapuche.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mapuche. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Mapuche.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mapuche.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mapuche’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mapuche (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻