Lautaro – Biography of Lautaro

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Lautaro He was an Araucanian cacique from southern Chile, who led a rebellion against the Spanish conquerors and colonizers. Later it became a symbol of the Chilean people’s desire for independence.

Little is known of the origins of Lautaro beyond the fact that he was born in Araucanía in southern Chile and was taken prisoner by the Spanish when he was 15 years old, becoming the page of Pedro de Valdivia, the conqueror of Chile.

Lautaro (whom the Spanish called Alonso) carefully observed the Spanish tactics and forms of combat, highlighting their vulnerable points with such good results that, when the Araucanian warriors rose up against the Spanish in 1553, he was able to escape the Spanish and Despite his youth, he won the acceptance of the Indians as their leader.

He quickly revealed extraordinary gifts of military inventiveness and generalship. He neutralized the use of cavalry by the Spanish – which had thus far given them an overwhelming advantage – by building defensive palisades and hidden moats and taking down Spanish soldiers with wave after wave of attacks until they were completely exhausted.

Lautaro He proved to be a master of surprise attacks, ambushes, communication cuts, always choosing the most favorable terrain to lead the enemy into battle. After taking the Tucapel fort near Concepción, the main Spanish city in the border region, the Araucanians, under his command, ambushed and destroyed the force sent to retake the city. On Christmas Day 1553, the ancient patron of Lautaro, Valdivia, was captured and executed.

Two months later, Valdivia’s successor, Francisco de Villagra, was defeated by Lautaro in Marigüeñu. The Spanish evacuated Concepción and began the long retreat north, towards Santiago, the capital of the colony. The warriors of Lautaro they were prevented from achieving their goal due to lack of discipline and exhaustion caused by hunger and typhus.

In 1556 Lautaro he gathered a new force and set out again for Santiago. The less bellicose Indians they encountered along the way were given the option of joining them or dying. The Araucanians had captured a large number of horses from the Spanish and had learned to use them.

The Spaniards, with some loyal Indian auxiliaries, at last succeeded in pushing back the Lautaro on the Maule river, halfway between Concepción and Santiago. But, crossing that river again, Lautaro He advanced towards the capital to the Mataquito River, where he camped. There the Spaniards and their auxiliaries caught the Araucanians from their guard. Lautaro and the rest of his troops died after desperate resistance. The head of the young caudillo – who was about to turn 22 years old – was displayed triumphantly in Santiago, and the settlers were able to return to the southern border.

The heroism of Lautaro became legend and is celebrated mainly in the famous epic poem “The Araucana“by Alonso de Ercilla. When Chileans fought for emancipation from Spain in the early nineteenth century, his name regained brilliance as a symbol of the will for national independence.