La tierra de guerra: conquistas, resistências e formação de espaços nos conflitos hispano-mapuches (Reino do Chile, 1541-1626)

Abstract

Tierra de Guerra (land of war) was a common definition used in the Hispanic texts about colonial Chile. It commonly described a warlike space, in which the war functioned as a constant mechanism for the construction of territories, among other aspects. In this scenario, warfare shaped an idiosyncratic form of relationship between the Spanish conquerors and settlers and the indigenous peoples who lived in the present-day Chilean territory. The Promaucaes, as they were called by the Incas, also known as Araucanians or Mapuches in later times, would stand out for their resistance. From this vision, some questions emerge: What constituted the Tierra de Guerra? How was it conceived? How could it be "pacified"? What was the relevance of the long period of indigenous resistance to maintain it? What kind of political and spatial relations did this produce? Understanding Hispanic-Mapuche colonial conflicts is fundamental to drafting answers to these problems. We begin with the origins of the conflict: the Conquests of America. The Iberic ideas of expansionism, religion, law, war, and otherness permitted some hidalgos to explore and conquer distant places, as Pedro de Valdivia did in Nueva Extremadura. From there, we started questioning the understanding of the general factors that led to the conquest, occupation, and Hispanic formation of a new territory, the southernmost in the scattered empery of Spain: The Kingdom of Chile, whose political foundation, in 1541, began entangled with the war waged against several indigenous groups surrounding Santiago, the capital. Afflicted by decades of constant wars and rebellions against an indigenous population, so-called "rebelada" or "de guerra", the Spaniards, settled and dispersed from Copiapó to Chiloé, living in isolated fortresses and besieged towns, had to deal with monumental native uprisings between 1598 and 1604. The fall and abandonment of the cities and fortresses south of the Biobío River was a disruptive milestone in the Spanish failure to conquer and pacify the land of war. From this, a much-debated frontier situation would develop in the 17th century. The Frontier would be an indelible mark of this colonial reality, embodied by several frontiers of war and peace. Thereafter, a long-standing complex of frontiers was established, characterized by otherness, conflicts, and the notion of the existence of a limit. In closing, it is necessary to question how historical subjects thought, deliberated, and planned to change, maintain, or obliterate the Tierra de Guerra. We mandatorily passed through the idealization and concretization of the defensive war thought by Father Luis de Valdivia, in opposition to the offensive war proposal, a Fuego y Sangre (by fire and blood), led by several commanders and governors, among them the notable Alonso de Ribera. Captains, Jesuits, viceroys, and indigenous leaders coexisted and fought over different political projects for that spatiality. The stage for historical and centenary battles, the Land of War is a fundamental part of the fierce conflicts between Spaniards and Indigenous peoples. Loudly, this land emits echoes that can be heard even today.