 | The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended between the Aconcagua River and Chilo? Archipelago and later eastward to the Argentine pampa. The Mapuche make up about 4% of the Chilean population,[3] and are particularly concentrated in Araucan?a Region due to emigration into Santiago. The term Mapuche can refer to the whole group of Picunches (people of the north), Huilliches (people of the South) and Moluche or Nguluche from Araucan?a, or exclusively to the Moluche or Nguluche from Araucan?a. The Mapuche traditional economy is based on agriculture; their traditional social organisation consists of extended families, under the direction of a "lonko" or chief, although in times of war they would unite in larger groupings and elect a toqui (from Mapudungun toki "axe, axe-bearer") to lead them. The Araucanian Mapuche inhabited at the time of Spanish arrival the valleys between the Itata and Tolt?n rivers, south of it as did the Huilliche and the Cuncos lived as far south as the Chilo? Archipelago. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Mapuche groups migrated eastward into the Andes and pampas, fusing and establishing relationships with the Poyas and Pehuenche. At about the same time, ethnic groups of the pampa regions, the ... |