mapuche Info
- The largest group of Araucanian-speaking South American Indians, living in the central valley of Chile. The Mapuche struggled for 350 years against Spanish and Chilean domination.
After Chilean independence the Mapuche were put in reservations. In the 1980s, the Chilean government transferred ownership of the land to individual Mapuche, who risk losing their land if they incur debts that they cannot repay.
Originally the Mapuche were one part of the Araucanian people but nowadays the two terms are used synonymously, as most Araucanians are Mapuche.
The Mapuche language, araucano or mapuche, is spoken in Chile and Argentina.