Polygamy in Mapuche culture

Among the indigenous

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century, the practice of polygamy by the Mapuche people of South America’s Southern Cone region was a firmly rooted tradition.^[7][8] This brought about increasing tensions in Colonial Chile as polygamy was considered a sin according to the Catholic doctrine of the settlers. Father Luis de Valdivia believed that peace and understanding between the Mapuche and Spanish was possible and sought to accomplish this through his policy of Defensive War, which after lobbying superiors in Spain and Rome, he was permitted to implement in 1612.^[7] Nevertheless, at the Parliament of Paicaví, held between representatives of Spanish settlers and Mapuche tribes that same year, Valdivia ordered the detainment of the two wives and daughters of a toqui, Anganamón, on the basis of protecting them from polygamy. Historian Jorge Pinto Rodríguez described this act as "suicidal";^[7] according to José Bengoa, the Mapuche were willing to negotiate with the Spanish on Christian proselytization and baptism, but that debate on polygamy was out of the question.^[1][9] Later in 1612, on December 9, Valdivia dispatched a party led by Father Horacio Vechi, one of the first Italian proselytizers of Christianity in Chile, on a missionary journey inland, to be escorted along the way by local chieftains. On the morning of December 14, Anganamón accompanied by Ynavilu, a Mapuche chieftain, ambushed and killed the traveling Jesuits and their five Mapuche escorts^[10] in retaliation for Valdivia taking his wives and daughters.^[7] The slain party came to be known as the "Martyrs of Elicura."^[10]

Polygamy occupied an important role in Mapuche society during their armed rebellion against the Spanish colonial government, then later during independent Chile's military pacification of Araucanía, where rules of marriage were influenced by these conflicts.

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