Mapuche

Mapuche
Ma·pu·che (mä-po͞oʹchā, -chĕ) n. pl. Mapuche or Ma·pu·ches
1. A member of a South American Indian people inhabiting south-central Chile.
2. The Araucanian language of the Mapuche. Also called Mapudungun.
  [Mapuche : mapu, earth + che, people.]

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Most numerous group of Araucanian-speaking South American Indians (see Araucanian), who live in the central valley of Chile.

They are noted for their 350-year struggle against Spanish and Chilean domination. In the 16th–18th centuries they learned to use horses in battle and united over great distances to fight Spanish incursions. After Chile gained independence in the 19th century, the government settled them on reservations. In the 1980s the reservation land was transferred to individuals, but their rights have become endangered by debt accrued to support their traditional, non-intensive agriculture.

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people
      the most numerous group of Indians in South America. They numbered more than 1,400,000 at the turn of the 21st century. Most inhabit the Central Valley of Chile, south of the Bío-Bío River. A smaller group lives in Neuquén provincia, west-central Argentina. Historically known as Araucanians, the Mapuche were one of three groups—Picunche, Mapuche, Huilliche—identified by Spanish ethnographers. All Araucanians now identify themselves as Mapuche.

      In the pre-Spanish period, the Mapuche lived in scattered farming villages throughout the Central Valley. Each settlement had a cacique, or chief, whose authority did not generally extend beyond his own village. The Mapuche cultivated corn (maize), beans, squash, potatoes, chili peppers, and other vegetables and fished, hunted, and kept guinea pigs for meat. They kept llamas as pack animals and as a source of wool. A man's wealth was reckoned in terms of the size of his llama herd.

      The Mapuche are famous for their 350-year struggle against Spanish and, later, Chilean domination. To resist the Spanish in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the Mapuche reorganized their traditional way of life. Widely separated villages formed military, political, and economic alliances; Mapuche warriors learned to use the horse against the Spanish; and Mapuche leaders such as Lautaro emerged as innovative and effective strategists.

      In the 1800s, after Chile became independent of Spain, the Chilean government settled the Mapuche on reservations. For more than 100 years, the Mapuche held and farmed the reservation land collectively, and individual Mapuche could not lose their land to creditors. In the early 1980s, the Chilean government transferred ownership of reservation land to individual Mapuche, who now stand to lose their property and their means of livelihood if they are unable to repay debts. Since the Mapuche have never practiced a highly intensive or productive form of agriculture, they are often forced to go into debt for agricultural supplies and crop seeds.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mapuche — Mapuche …   Wikipedia

  • mapuche — adj. 2 g. s. 2 g. s. m. O mesmo que araucano.   ‣ Etimologia: espanhol mapuche …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • mapuche — (Del mapuche mapu, tierra, país, y che, gente). 1. adj. Se dice del individuo de un pueblo amerindio que, en la época de la conquista española, habitaba en la región central y centro sur de Chile. U. t. c. s.) 2. Perteneciente o relativo a los… …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • mapuche — adjetivo,sustantivo masculino y femenino 1. Uso/registro: restringido. Araucano, de una provincia de Chile …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • Mapuche — Araukanerinnen (Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mapuche — Mapuches Localisation des Mapuches Drapeau mapuche …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mapuche — ► adjetivo 1 De un pueblo amerindio del grupo araucano que habita en el Cono sur americano. ► sustantivo masculino femenino 2 Persona originaria de este pueblo. ► adjetivo/ sustantivo masculino femenino 3 De Arauca, región de Chile. * * * mapuche …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • mapuche — {{#}}{{LM M24869}}{{〓}} {{[}}mapuche{{]}} ‹ma·pu·che› {{《}}▍ adj.inv./s.com.{{》}} {{<}}1{{>}} De Arauco (región chilena) o relacionado con él: • La economía mapuche se basa principalmente en productos agropecuarios.{{○}} {{<}}2{{>}} De un pueblo… …   Diccionario de uso del español actual con sinónimos y antónimos

  • Mapuche — noun (plural Mapuche or Mapuches) Etymology: Mapuche mapuče, a self designation, from mapu land + če people Date: 1855 1. an American Indian people of southern Chile; also a member of this people 2. the Araucanian language of the Mapuche …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Mapuche — 1. noun a) An indigenous group of inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. b) The language of the Mapuche people. Syn: Mapudungun 2. adjective …   Wiktionary

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