The Chilean Nation-State and the Mapuche Question in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

The Chilean nation-state was consolidated in the nineteenth century, and one of the greatest challenges it faced was how to deal with the plight of the autonomous indigenous people, the Mapuches or Araucanas, who had resisted Spanish conquest for centuries. The aim of this article is to explore and interpret this problem, which has had a unique importance in the history of the Chilean nation-state, but has not been an equally significant issue in other Latin American countries. The study also examines the extent to which it is justified to trace the roots of the current conflict back to the Pinochet era alone.