Slavery of Mapuches facts for kids

Slavery of Mapuches was a common practice in Chile during the 1600s. It happened because of the Arauco War, a long conflict between the Spanish and the Mapuche people. When Spanish conquistadors first took control of parts of Chile, they didn't have slavery as we know it. Instead, they used a system called encomienda. This was a type of forced labor where Mapuche people had to work for the Spanish. Sadly, this work was very hard, and many Mapuche died in the Spanish gold mines in the 1500s.

Why Mapuche Slavery Started

The Spanish King had actually said that slavery of native people was against the law. But then, a big Mapuche uprising happened between 1598 and 1604. This rebellion led to the Destruction of the Seven Cities, where several Spanish towns were destroyed. Because of this, in 1608, the King of Spain changed the law. He said that Mapuche people captured during the war could be legally enslaved.

The Spanish believed that rebelling Mapuches were like Christian traitors to their faith. This idea allowed them to be enslaved, according to the church rules at that time. This new law made it official, but Mapuche people were already being bought and sold by the Spanish before this. Making it legal meant that Spanish soldiers started slave raiding more often during the Arauco War. Mapuche slaves were even sent north to places like La Serena and Lima.

How Slave Raids Caused More War

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 Army of Arauco to capture Mapuches and sell them as slaves.

In 1654, a large group of Spanish soldiers went on a slave-hunting trip against the Cuncos. But it ended badly for them at the Battle of Río Bueno. Even after this defeat, the Spanish didn't stop. Salazar led another slave-hunting trip in 1655. People said that Salazar made a lot of money from selling Mapuche slaves. He was also the brother-in-law of the governor, Antonio de Acuña Cabrera. This connection helped him get support for his military actions. The Real Audiencia of Santiago, a high court, even said in the 1650s that Mapuche slavery was one of the main reasons the Spanish and Mapuches were always at war.

It wasn't just the Spanish who took captives. Mapuches also captured Spanish people, often women. They would trade these captives among themselves. After the Destruction of the Seven Cities, it's reported that Mapuches took about 500 Spanish women as captives, treating them as slaves. It was common for these captured Spanish women to be owned by different Mapuche people over time.

When Mapuche Slavery Ended

Slavery for Mapuches "caught in war" was officially stopped in 1683. This happened after many years of the Spanish King trying to end it. By that time, it was cheaper to hire free workers, called mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and Indigenous heritage), than to own slaves. Because of this, historian Mario Góngora suggested in 1966 that money reasons helped lead to slavery being abolished.

The 1608 law that made slavery legal was sometimes misused. Spanish settlers in the Chiloé Archipelago used it to raid 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 III of Spain's son, Philip IV of Spain, changed his mind about Mapuche slavery later in his rule. He started to limit it. Philip IV died before freeing all the Indigenous slaves in Chile. But his wife, Mariana of Austria, who ruled for their young son, and his son, Charles II of Spain, started a big campaign against slavery across the entire Spanish Empire.

The fight against slavery began in 1667. Mariana of Austria ordered that all Indigenous slaves in Peru who had been captured in Chile should be freed. People in Peru were surprised and upset by this order. She also freed all Indigenous slaves in Mexico in 1672. After a request from the Pope, she freed the slaves in the southern Andes mountains.

On June 12, 1679, Charles II made a general statement freeing all Indigenous slaves in Spanish America. In 1680, this rule was added to the Recopilación de las leyes de Indias. This was a book of all the laws for Spanish America. The only exception was for the Caribes, who were called "cannibals." Governor Juan Enríquez of Chile strongly disagreed with these new laws. He wrote protests to the king and didn't publish the decrees that freed Indigenous slaves.

Even though the royal family tried hard, Indigenous slavery didn't completely disappear in Spain's American lands. However, thousands of slaves were freed. Also, government officials stopped being involved in or helping with Spanish slave trading. People could still buy slaves, but only from Indigenous slave traders, like the Caribs of Venezuela or the Comanches.

See also

In Spanish: Esclavitud de los mapuches para niños