alternatehistory.com

which leads as to another question: why where the Mapuche so succesfull? They not only resisted very serious Spanish attemps to conquer them, but they adopted many of their tecniques, such as horse riding, and eventually expanded their culture and language way farther than they home territory in Southern chile (to the point their language was spoken less than a hundred miles from Buenos aires in the late XVIII century.

Was it their terrain? Their organization? The lack of a centraliserd capital? Their previous experience in fighting the Incas? Or was t just having the right leader in the right time? I'm talking about Lautaro, and Indian chief who was talking captive, and put in charge of the Spanish captain´s horses, learning thus no to fear them and to employ them usefully?

EDIT: of course, eventually, the Mapuche were beaten, both in Chile and argentina, in the late XIX century, through the use of Remingtons and other weapons. But the idea is, could other amerindians have done what they did, and resist as long as they did?
Top