Mapuche slavery facts for kids

Mapuche slavery was a common practice in Chile during the 1600s. It was a direct result of the Arauco War, a long conflict between the Spanish and the Mapuche people. When the Spanish first arrived in Chile, they didn't have slavery. Instead, they used a system called encomienda, which was a type of forced labor. However, this system was very harsh, and many Mapuche people died while working in Spanish gold mines in the 1500s.

How Slavery Became Legal

The Spanish King had originally said that it was against the law to formally enslave native people. But after a big Mapuche uprising between 1598 and 1604, which led to the Destruction of the Seven Cities, the King of Spain changed his mind. In 1608, he declared that it was legal to enslave Mapuche people who were captured during the war.

At that time, if Mapuche people rebelled, they were sometimes seen as having turned away from Christianity. This idea was used to justify their enslavement. This new law made official what was already happening: captured Mapuche were being treated as property, bought and sold by the Spanish. This legal change made Spanish slave raids much more common during the Arauco War. Mapuche slaves were even sent north to places like La Serena and Lima.

Slavery and Mapuche Rebellions

Spanish slave raids played a big part in starting the Mapuche uprising of 1655. This rebellion happened because the Spanish were becoming more aggressive. A military leader named Juan de Salazar used the Spanish army to capture Mapuche people and sell them into slavery.

In 1654, a large slave-hunting trip against the Cunco ended badly for the Spanish at the Battle of Río Bueno. But this didn't stop them. Salazar organized another trip in 1655. It's believed that Salazar made a lot of money from the Mapuche slave trade. He was also related to the governor, Antonio de Acuña Cabrera, which helped him push for his military campaigns. Spanish officials in Santiago believed that the enslavement of Mapuche people was one of the main reasons for the ongoing war between the Spanish and the Mapuche.

The Mapuche people also captured Spaniards, often women, and traded them among themselves. After the Destruction of the Seven Cities, it was reported that Mapuche had taken about 500 Spanish women captive and held them as slaves. These captive Spanish women sometimes changed owners several times.

Slavery for Mapuche people "caught in war" was finally ended in 1683. This happened after many years of the Spanish Crown trying to stop it. By this time, it had become cheaper to hire free workers of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage (called mestizos) than to own slaves. Because of this, some historians believe that economic reasons helped lead to slavery being abolished.

The 1608 law that made slavery legal was also misused. Spanish settlers in the Chiloé Archipelago used it to launch slave raids against groups like the Chono of northwestern Patagonia. These groups had never been under Spanish rule and had never rebelled against them.

The End of Mapuche Slavery

Philip IV of Spain, who became king after Philip III, started to limit Mapuche slavery later in his rule. Philip IV died before freeing all the indigenous slaves in Chile. However, his wife, Mariana of Austria, who served as regent (ruler while the next king was too young), and his son, Charles II of Spain, started a large campaign against slavery throughout the Spanish Empire.

The anti-slavery campaign began in 1667 when Mariana of Austria ordered that all indigenous slaves in Peru who had been captured in Chile should be freed. This order surprised many people in Peru. She then freed all indigenous slaves in Mexico in 1672. After a request from the Pope, she also freed slaves in the southern Andes.

On June 12, 1679, Charles II issued a general declaration freeing all indigenous slaves in Spanish America. This was included in the Recopilación de las leyes de Indias in 1680, which was a collection of Spanish American laws. The only exception was for the Caribs, who were sometimes called "cannibals."

The governor of Chile, Juan Enríquez, strongly opposed these changes. He wrote protests to the king and did not publish the decrees that freed indigenous slaves. Even though the royal anti-slavery efforts didn't completely end indigenous slavery in Spain's American lands, they did free thousands of slaves. They also stopped government officials from helping or being involved in the Spanish slave trade. It was still possible to buy slaves, but only from indigenous slave traders, like the Caribs of Venezuela or the Comanche people.

See also

In Spanish: Esclavitud de los mapuches para niños