Some of the topics that have interested me the most are that of the Spanish thirds and the history of the conquest and colonization of Latin America, which is why the existence of an official Spanish army during the conquest caught my attention. This is because conquest expeditions used to be carried out through a contract between the king and the conquerors . The conquerors provided all the material and human resources, and the king undertook to guarantee them privileges based on the encomienda. In Chile, the conquest began in the same way, but the resistance of the Mapuche people forced the Spanish crown to intervene directly in the conquest, sending Alonso de Ribera, a veteran field master of the Tercios in Flanders, to Chile, and then granting the creation of a Third.
What is written in Chile on this subject is very much in line with the official story, in which national values stand out, and this story is the most widespread among the people. These nationalist currents were important during the dictatorships, and although old, these ideas are still maintained. On the other hand, the Mapuche conflict is also becoming very important today, both in Chile and Argentina, which can also add nationalist values to the history of this people. All this has caused a large number of myths about the history of Chile, distorting reality by reducing everything to two opposing points of view, that of the Spanish-Creole-Chilean and that of the Mapuche.
I must emphasize that the Tercio de Arauco has been a fundamental element in the construction of Chile as a society, since it helped the social, institutional, economic organization and ethnic wealth. It is not just military history, as some have taken it, but it is total history , due to the importance of the development of the war in the life of society, both Spanish and Mapuche.
After these general considerations, I will try to focus on what has really caught my attention, the key question:why was the presence of a third in such a distant territory necessary? ? The easy answer:by the Mapuche. But who were these? And were they the only factor?
Indian Flanders
To understand this story you have to handle some key dates. The first stage of conquest with Pedro de Valdivia (1540-1553). The second stage takes place between 1553 and the general rebellion of 1598. Then a third between 1603 and the general rebellion of 1655. And finally between 1667 and 1700. This division is based around the axes of the general rebellions and the following peaces. It can be summarized that each period includes a Spanish advance to the south, stabilizing near the city of Concepción, and then a Mapuche reverse, in which they threaten Santiago.
In the first stage, it should be noted that the Spanish arrive in Santiago and find a territory in dispute between the Incas and the Picunches (one of the branches of the Mapuche people). After subduing these groups, the picunches will be the main allies of the Spanish . So we see once again that the Spanish were not the only protagonists of the Conquest, although they have been the leading factor, which destroys the myth of a racist war, in which the Spanish would carry out a genocide.
The Incas had managed to dominate Picunche territory, but this empire failed when fighting with the Mapuches from the center , which the Spaniards called Araucanians (later they will apply this name to any Mapuche tribe that is brave). The Araucanians stand out as a warrior people, but perhaps their combat value has been exaggerated by Alonso de Ercilla. This attributes the value of epic to the conquest of Chile, due to the bellicosity of the Araucanians. Perhaps these stand out more for knowing how to use the terrain, than for their personal combat skills.
Another curious thing can be highlighted about the Araucanian way of fighting:they learn to fight from the Spanish. Lautaro, who was a page of Pedro de Valdivia, escaped andtaught the Araucanians to ride a horse In this way Lautaro was named cacique and almost destroyed Santiago.
In this first period it is also worth highlighting the intentions of the conquest. Pedro de Valdivia was looking for fame and not wealth, since it was believed that he did not have it, after the previous failure of Diego de Almagro. Valdivia seeks to create a network of ports to ensure the sea route to Europe, so his other objective was to ensure a territory with high logistical and strategic value . Then some gold mines are discovered and it is valued a little more as a source of wealth, and with the wars the sale of slaves will predominate.
In the second period, the Spanish gradually recovered the territories south of the Biobío River, until they cultivated land and settled. The wars were directed by the governor and his troops were the few adventurers who still arrived, the encomenderos, villains and Mapuche allies. Everything slows down and calms down, it seems that calm reigns, but in the shadows the Araucanian tribes are preparing for a general rebellion , to definitively expel the invaders.
In this period the Araucanians learn and copy military tactics of the Spanish. They are capable of moving in squares, in an orderly manner, transmitting orders with sounds, and they stand out in the use of pikes and arquebuses, like the thirds. Perhaps this is the main factor that has made the Mapuche the most seasoned Indians on the battlefield.
In warfare in general, what really stands out to understand the resistance of the Araucanians is their social organization and their warrior worldview . Their society is tribal, more egalitarian and individualistic than the Indians of the high cultures (Mixtecs, Mayans and Incas) divided into towns commanded by a lonco, as a paterfamilias . But in times of war, their society becomes strictly hierarchical, the loncos elect a cacique who directs the war, and a warrior society predominates, in which the weichafes stand out. or sacred warriors, and the conas , or professional warriors. This high social mobility allowed the Araucanians to adapt to any battle scenario, in which if a chief died, there was always another to take his place. In this way, the Spanish could not use the indigenous nobles to dominate the rebels, because other loncos were simply chosen. The only way to maintain some periods of peace was in the parliaments where the largest number of loncos met.
The Third of Arauco
The year 1598 was dramatic for the Spanish, since their governor died in ambush in Curalaba. Immediately all the forts were besieged and burned, resisting Concepción and Valdivia. The Mapuche advance again threatened Santiago. Faced with this situation, out of around a thousand Spaniards besieged, the viceroy of Peru sent a new governor with a thousand more Spaniards, and in 1601 the king sent a new governor, Alonso de Ribera , who was a third field master trained in the wars of Flanders.
Alonso de Ribera manages to calm the situation, but understands how risky the situation is, since the men he has are not soldiers, and the fortifications are mere stockades. So he sends a letter to the king asking for money to create a third . This arrives in 1603 with a Royal Certificate, and a thousand volunteers from the peninsula. Since then, the third is paid with the Real Situated, coming from the coffers of the Viceroyalty of Peru. This army was created on a temporary basis, but later the need for more money and a permanent army will be seen.
Alonso de Ribera trains his soldiers as thirds, organizes the ranks, but above all, creates a strategy that will defeat the Araucanians. He organizes the territory around a line of fortresses in Biobío, and a complex network of supplies. But the Mapuches, already tired, will change their strategy, they will opt for fleeting attacks , the malocas, which will enter Spanish territory until they reach Santiago on their cavalcades. In this way they abandon battles in the open field, although they hold sieges from time to time.
This model of war will be predominant, and will condition Spanish society, which will see in this war a way to maintain the economy and climb the social ladder. So the Spaniards themselves will be the most interested in maintaining the war. The Mapuches do not resist as a nation, they resist some specific tribes that are affected. Only on a few occasions will they rise up in general rebellions, and even then there were Mapuche tribes who fought alongside the Spanish. In this way we break with the myth of the Mapuche as a people in constant rebellion.
Although many issues remain up in the air, we must conclude that the existence of the Tercio de Arauco is due to many reasons, protection against the Mapuche being just one of them. The Tercio de Arauco served as the economic base of Chile , as a means of social advancement, as a way of controlling the territory against pirate attacks. The relationship with the Mapuches was not necessarily warlike, and this is proven by the parliaments, in which one of its clauses allowed free passage for Jesuit missionaries. We see, then, that the Tercio de Arauco is the axis of relations between the "Republic of Indians" and the "Republic of Spaniards", which will later become the Republic of Chile.
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Webgraphy :
- Arauco Chihuailaf, «The prolonged War of Arauco:a centuries-old myth?», Amérique Latine Histoire et Mémoire. Les Cahiers ALHIM [Online], 19 | 2010, Published on January 06, 2011, consulted on February 21, 2019. URL:http://journals.openedition.org/alhim/3421 :(*This journal stands out for its complete bibliography.)