The Mapuche
Knowing themselves as the people ( che ) of the earth ( Mapu ), the Mapuche were, before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, a loose confederation of tribal groups who lived exclusively on the western, Chilean side of the cordillera. The aspiring conquistadors knew them as Araucanos (a word that derives from a Hispanic corruption of Ragko, the Mapuche name for a river in central Chile), and feared them for being indomitable and resourceful warriors. Eventually, the Spanish were forced to abandon attempts to subjugate this fiercely proud nation, opting instead for a policy of containment, but their encroachments into Araucania sparked a series of Mapuche migrations eastwards into territory that is now Argentina. These invasions, in turn, displaced ethnic groups such as the northern Tehuelche, and, in time, Mapuches became the dominant force in northern Patagonia to the east of the Andes, and became a group whose cultural and linguistic influence spread far beyond the areas they actually controlled. Four major Mapuche tribes had established territories in Argentina by the eighteenth century: the Picunches, or "the people of the north", who lived near the arid cordillera in the far north of Neuquen; the Pehuenches, or "the people of the monkey puzzle trees", dominant in the central cordillera and whose staple food was pinones ; the Huilliches, or "the people of the south" (also called Manzaneros), of the southern cordillera region based around Lago Nahuel Huapi; and the Puelches, or "the people of the east", who inhabited the river valleys of the steppe. These groups spoke different dialects of Mapudungun, a tongue which belongs to the Arawak group of languages. Lifestyles were based around a combination, to varying degrees, of nomadic hunter-gathering, rearing livestock and the cultivation of small plots around settlements of rucas (family homes that were thatched usually with reeds). Communities were headed by a lonco or cacique, but the "medicine-men" or machis also played an influential role. The single most important way in which the arrival of the Spanish influenced Mapuche culture was the introduction of cattle and the horse. Horses enabled tribes to be vastly more mobile, and caused hunting techniques to change, with the Mapuche adopting their trademark lances in lieu of the bow and arrow. As importantly, the herds of wild horses and cattle that spread across the Argentine pampas became a vital trading commodity. Relations between the Mapuche and the Hispanic criollos in both Chile and Argentina varied: periods of warfare and indigenous raids on white settlements were interspersed with times of relatively peaceful co-existence. By the end of the eighteenth century, the relationship had matured into a surprisingly symbiotic one, with the two groups meeting at joint parlamentos where grievances would be aired and terms of trade regulated. Trade flourished: criollo mule trains would leave Chilean towns for Neuquen three or four times a year, laden with spurs, beads, cereals, tobacco and clothing which the whites would trade for salt, cattle, horses and Mapuche weavings. Tensions increased after Argentina gained its independence from Spain, thanks to the increasingly expansionist policies of the nation state, and the fact that the herds of wild cattle and horses that sustained cross-Andean commerce were diminishing fast. The Mapuche resisted the military campaign that the dictator Rosas organized against them in the early 1830s, but their independence was finally crushed by Roca's Campaign of the Desert. The military humiliation of the Argentine Mapuche nation was completed with the surrender, in 1885, of Valentin Sayhueque, dynastic head of the Manzaneros. Following that, Mapuche communities were split up, forcibly relocated and "reduced" onto reservations, often on some of the most marginal lands available. For years they were effectively ignored by the nation state, and were often subjected to considerable prejudice. Nevertheless, today the Mapuche remain one of Argentina's principal indigenous nations, with a population of some 40,000 people who live in communities dotted around the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Chubut, Rio Negro and, above all, Neuquen. The link with the land is still of vital importance to most communities, and most families earn their livelihood from mixed animal husbandry - principally of goats, but also of cattle, horses and sheep, from which wool is obtained for weaving items such as ponchos and belts. Mapuche are to be found working in a variety of rural positions, some employed on a salaried basis, but more frequently on a casual basis: on estancias, for the national parks, on afforestation projects, or fighting forest fires. Some title-holding communities have opened up quarries or mines on their land. Increasingly, Mapuche communities are setting up tourist-related projects. These include opening campsites; establishing points of sale for home-made cheese or artesania such as their finely woven woollen goods, distinctive silver jewellery, ceramics and woodcarving; offering guided excursions; or receiving small tour groups - visitors are invited to share a few mates and eat tortas fritas (wedges of fried dough) with a Mapuche family. When visiting Mapuche communities, especially outside a tourist environment, remember that cameras can be a tourists' worst enemy at times: use them sensitively, and always ask permission first. Today Mapuche culture is not as visibly distinct in Argentina as it is in Chile. In Argentina, you will not find elderly women dressed day-to-day in old-style traditional outfits as you might in the markets of Chile's Temuco, even if traditional colours are still popular, especially blue - a colour which represents the sky and purity. Political organization is also less developed east of the Andes than to the west but, nevertheless, the Mapuche are one of Argentina's best-organized groups in this sense, especially in Neuquen, where Mapuche concerns in the areas of land rights, health, education and transport links to markets are at least being addressed, albeit with patchy success. The Nguillatun - a religious ritual which aimed to root out evil and ensure good harvests - is still practised in some Argentinian Mapuche communities, though they're now often somewhat shorter than they were in historical times. On rare occasions these days, certain individual white people are invited to attend, but usually these ceremonies are exclusively Mapuche affairs. After decades of being in steep decline, there is some evidence too that there may be a reawakening of interest in such ceremonies. The rehue at Norquinco, for example, stood neglected from 1947 until the year 2000, when the first Nguillatun in fifty years was held, with Mapuche delegations from both sides of the border attending.
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