Mapuche Culture

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The native peoples of the new world faced numerous hardships when people from the western half of the world immigrated to north, central, and south America. The Araucanian peoples of south-central Chile was no exception. Like other native groups in the Americas, they faced harsh labor systems, disease, and colonization by European powers. However, unlike the others, the Araucanian peoples, also known today as the Mapuche, were able to successfully fend off against foreign invaders. How did the Araucanians succeed? What did they do in their wars against the Spanish that resulted in their success? The answer lies in both adaptation and rejection. The Mapuche were able to change and adapt their fighting style in order to better fend off foreign …show more content…

The core change that occurred was the conglomeration of different tribes into one Mapuche nation, a large fighting force that can band together to fight off the Spanish, but also be naturally disbanded in order to prevent capture and subjugation as well as the adoption of a few Spanish goods, such as animals, some plants, and cloth. Other than the consolidation of Mapuche tribes, the Mapuche culture intensified during the era, escalating in order to assert Mapuche cultural dominance. While the core aspect of Mapuche culture remained the …show more content…

The Mapuche intensified their political affiliations, their religion, their cultural celebrations, and their warrior ways. In the converse of this, the Mapuche fighting style changed and adapted greatly in order to adapt to the challenges they faced when fighting the Spaniards. These two methods of resistance allowed the Mapuche to survive colonization. To this day, the Mapuche people of Chile are known to be a fierce and proud group of people. Their resistance to the Spanish shows a clear reminder that the fate of natives in the new world was not uniform, that resistance can be successful for some native groups. The strong existence of the Mapuche today stands as the clearest testament to Indian

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