Since the sixteenth century onwards, many letters and travel diaries of Spanish colonists have been found, which have described how the Native American people lived. This paper is dedicated to analyzing the perception of the indigenous people within these chronicles. The analysis focuses on two manuscripts - the writings of a Franciscan priest and those of a Jesuit priest - combined with other documents. It is believed that this analysis provides crucial means for understanding the time of Arauco war -that lasted for over three centuries- and the perception of the indigenous people by the colonizing society.

Keywords: communities, political-military, documents, frontier, spanish empire

Since the twentieth century, our country`s historiography has endeavored to study our territory`s the native societies and how they were disposing of or resisting the arrival of the "others" from Europe. It analyzes indigenous-Spanish contact, understanding it as a long and complex process of domination. In many ways historians, anthropologists, sociologists, ethnohistorians, among other social science scholars have attempted to respond to this problem, in doing so, they have resorted to using a wide selection of newly rediscovered documents, ranging from individual files to whole libraries; however, all this becomes extremely interesting when viewed using the system of cultural symbolic forms.¹ According to this, the cultural differences between any two societies, are mainly represented by their differences of origin, in other words, their cultural roots (or place of birth), the different events in history that shaped each society and their social organization, created under unique parameters, views and completely different worldview. While they do look at the problem from the "origin;" however, it is a long and complex process that does not intend to settle in these few pages, but we can outline some of the issues that we believe essential to understanding Chilean frontier life during the seventeenth and eighteen centuries respectively.

If we have to suggest some components for understanding the tactics and strategies of the Arauco War of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, we must keep in mind beforehand the historiography of the “frontier life," which has demystified this bloody war making it more plausible. Furthermore relevant factors were developed, showing more of a frontier life, than a political-military one,¹ where it is understood that the fighting was piecemeal, isolated and sporadic, not permanent, linear and continuous. That is, no group of people could withstand a long continuous war without becoming quickly extinct, something that did not happen even with plagues brought by Europeans, which certainly were more aggressive and intense than this “war of Arauco". Without lessening the intensity of the fighting, we see them as isolated skirmishes, bloody and strong, but we cannot say that they were a generalized condition across the border, much less use the term "war" extensively and continually during the nearly three centuries of Spanish colonial domain.

Even so, we understand the importance of looking at the political-religious elements to show the changes that occurred in both centuries. First we must understand that in the seventeenth century, the frontier life was molded by a strong presence of the Jesuits, who were deported in 1764 from the Araucanian territory.² By the end of the eighteenth century, the strong Jesuit presence was practically in the hands of the Franciscans, whose vision of the border conflict and their solutions greatly differed from the Jesuits. However, both were dependent on their Christian heritage and their at times questionable support from the Spanish crown. Therefore, from the religious point of view, the frontier life, with its missionary conquerors undergoes a large paradigm shift. We can´t forget the many processes that occurred in the Spanish empire in Europe, that led to significant changes during both centuries. In the early eighteenth Carlos II, the last Habsburg king died changing the ruling family of the Spanish empire. After a transitional period (which is irrelevant to present on this occasion), the Bourbons took power leading to land and government reforms that strengthened the power of the crown. These reforms culminated with the final expulsion of the Jesuits. On the other hand, we cannot forget the presence of the Council of the Indies (1524) and the House of the Indies (1503), among other institutional frameworks that gave order and control in the colonies of the Iberian empire, independent to whether or not they were effective. They represented the new order and the new methodology-from ideological to practical- in the way the crown ruled and communicated with its far-flung colonies.

Now, looking at this situation from the organizational point of view, it becomes a little bit more complex. On the one hand we see the native or native rooting and their sense of attachment to the land from their worldview in order to live there in lineages or tribal societies,² an example of which are the Mapuche, who have this organization still today. These descent groups had to their community [lineage] responsibilities, rights and obligations as any society of primitive technology as defined Lucy Mair.³ We can still witness this commitment and reciprocity in some Mapuche communities where such expressions are manifested in solidarity “mingacos”.³ One of the most important elements among these obligations is sworn defense of the tribe to protect all the rights that belong to them. In the case of Mapuche, the land plays a key role in their symbolic system, as well as the rituals and the freedom to perform them. All of which becomes part of the complex resistance effort used against the Spanish who wanted to dominate them, including their symbolic body. The commitment and importance of this is reflected in their strategies of war that were used (or improvised) by the Mapuche, after the arrival of the Spanish soldiers.

The “minga” is an a ritual where the Mapuche move their houses by oxen. When the house is in its new site. The owner of the house delivers meal to the community that helped with their workforce, support or supplemented accompanied along the way.

On the other hand, the Europeans came with the specific objectives of conquest and domination. They were looking for riches intangible assets and in turn to "evangelize" the lost souls of this far corner of the earth; a world whose even existence was a real mystery to them. No doubt, a true "cruzada indiana"-using the metaphor of Diego de Rosales. In fact, we believe that this crusade was one of the reasons used to expropriate the American wealth, coveted by the Western world. The American wealth I refer to consists of precious metals, varied minerals, servitude (Indian slaves), plus the rarely mentioned potatoes and corn. The Spanish brought with them a long established imperial organization, the subordinates of the crown in America, were strongly organized principally into two main hierarchal groups divided by rank: the military and the priesthood, both also achieved specific political goals within their own groups, that evolved with the times. In European writings, travel diaries and chronicles, it is not unusual to see confusion within both groups, priests serving as war consultants, creating war strategies and requesting royal certificates calling for Indian domination, somehow serving a much more political role than a religious one. The truth is that both groups included those who accumulated wealth and sought the total domination of the territory. This in turn led to an increased number of new subjects for the Crown and more faithful believers for the church, without naming the various material riches they acquired. All of which was a power struggle where deaths and settlements were made to generate tax revenue and where military force was fully validated and population rates began to rise.

Returning to the initial point, the historiography of the "frontier," reveals one of difficulties that has occurred in our history, perhaps the most dramatic of all is that the history that we profess as our own, is told by the Spanish people, a determining element in understanding the conditioning of the history, conditioning such that it can often leave invalid by their lack to the fidelity of both figures and conclusions, understanding in advance the Euro-centrist construction, whose goals were handled by the objectives of each author. In short, we must discover the writer's intention, before reaching any result on its content.

A difficult point to decode or interpret from the European writings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is the real ethnography of frontier life and how it really developed in the drawn-out war of Arauco. Contradictions, epic novels, myths and legends come after stories that seek to please the crown, to obtain resources, or present military strategies to defend one ideological position or another, especially when everyone says they are saying the truth. However, their claims often do not match. This is an evidence to the extreme care that we have used when analyzing these types of documents, provided the researcher has to have the criterion and the know how to contrast each other to get there. Somehow they need to approximate the real historical reality [if we can talk about reality]. We must recognize that the European documentary records have penetrated deep into the registers and national archives, giving us valuable and fundamental tools for understanding the beginnings of our national history [realizing that this is since the arrival of the Spanish], but we know almost nothing of our pre-Hispanic history, where the confusions, perceptions and hasty conclusions, only serve to even more tarnish the darkness where are succumb the ethnic data, data that archaeologists have attempted to elucidate. On the other hand we have no documents or written testimony from the indigenous population of that age who only kept an oral tradition. An oral history, which at best was, fragmented, nearly forgotten and partially erased by the Spanish, who tried their best to erase it. If we had that history today we would be studying other problems. Therefore, we can say that only since the arrival of the Spanish in our territory, do we have an written news that tell and describe facts, perceptions and parts of Chile.

However, the Spanish empire met an American in the north of our territory, whose technology and organization was much more displayed than they could imagine. However, these great civilizations succumbed to Spanish rule when they quickly perceived the organizational analogy of the "kingdom". A great dignitary with millions of subjects, with regional, local facilities such as land irrigation, highways, temples, royal buildings, including numerous items and a "different" worldview, but similar in social organization nuclear issue which was to substitute the king (or his equivalent) and the people would obey them. Contrast that against the southern Incan Empire, below the Virreinato del Perú, especially south of the Bíobío River, which was populated by military partnerships based on sporadic alliances of convenience, which no doubt disoriented the foreign militia. Items that will be discussed hereinafter. Studying this geographical area of ​​the border in the specific time period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is fascinating, dangerous and challenging, but to be honest, it is likely that we will find more questions than answers in this elucidating problematic inquiry. Certainly we will try to answer them, but that is near impossible to do so in the short period of time and space that has been allotted for this paper. In doing so, some will only be answered with approximations from a dismembered cultural landscape of two centuries, relatively hidden in our complex colonial history.

With the humility that deserves an essay on these great national issues, presented here is an in-depth, limited in scope, analysis that will undertake the task to explain and analyze three major themes that are believed to be essential for the understanding of the border situation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thematic that is contained within many of the transversal tactics and strategies used in the Araucania by both the Spanish and Mapuche, providing an overall vision of a conflict that even the social sciences have failed to fully elucidate. One of the major issues we will discuss, is our understanding of the cultural differences between dominators and dominated, just continuing the discussion above, where the objectives and strategies are analyzed from various symbolic systems that somehow condition the actions of each group. These systems also form a rhetorical cultural image that represents the perception of others. Interesting analyzes can be generated when the said image is incorporated into the strategy of war. The second big issue to be looked at is the role of evangelists, approaching just the management of Jesuits and Franciscans, who were an essential part, not only for their attempts to impose Christianity as the only way to understand the spiritual symbolic system [without questioning their success or failure], but also in changing the natives ways of living, seeing and thinking, which were even more ambitious strategies than the military ones themselves (if they are allowed to differentiate).

And finally, to analyze the instances of dialogue that were generated in parleys and how they were formed after a lifetime of frontier living that had spent years cultivating dialogue and economic relations. Thus parleys were proposed as a first approach (1641) to the institutionalization of both sides, creating a milestone in the socio-cultural organization, independent if the parleys achieved their stated objectives or not. As a hypothesis, we believe fiercely that the understanding of border conflict is much more a cultural conflict that a war, properly called, where the land and its minerals were the focus of the Spanish-dominator while the native`s defense was to conserve the symbolic Body´s order of the dominated-Indian. The conflict was transferred from Spanish to Creole and Creole in Chilean; pressure that generally remains today.

¹Contributing indistinctly shall mention only some of the authors who have tried to fragmenting the issues of the war of Arauco, C. Aldunate, H. Zapater, L. Mendez, M. Gongora, A. Jara, S.Villalobos, O. Silva, J. Pinto, J. Bengoa, H. Casanova, L. Faron, H. Foerster, L. Leon, L. Parenting, just to name the most cited.

²About that, Schwember Herman makes an analysis to expulsion of the Jesuits, he called: "The expulsion of the Jesuits or the failures of success." One look quite optimistic and positive to the ideas and achievements of the Jesuit church, gives us interesting data and analysis relevant to consider when dealing with the issue of indigenous-Spanish border.

³About the organizational concept mingaco as we use it as understood by Faron.⁴

Before entering the first of our three subjects, we must make clear a couple of concepts to prevent speculation or ambiguities, concepts that I personally perceive as fundamental. Given this, we understand the term culture as a "system of meanings, attitudes and values ​​shared and symbolic forms through which [a nation] is expressed or embodied".⁵ Just keep in mind that every culture always holds on to their own system or symbolic body, it is this which sets and determines their birth and development, it is joint and reciprocal.

In this context, the system of symbolic forms is understood as a dimension of reality created by a specific human group.¹ This implies a kind of cohesion of productive cultural traits which are originated from the same company or sometimes as the result of cultural imbrications, which deliver specific behavior patterns, resulting from this identity and particular rootedness. With this in mind, we can clearly see at first glance along the frontier of the seventeenth century that we are dealing with two distinct cultures with two different symbolic bodies both with different notions, such as their organizational structure. Indeed, the problem of this lies in mutual understanding in both interpretations agree; each culture brings preconceived images of the other, from which were born interpretations that were not necessarily close to the reality of that "other". We have also the Spanish and indigenous contact that regularly occurred, leading to a dynamic relationship, either by the racial or economic mixing along its edges, due in part to these human relations and new types of organization.⁴

But we must remember that each culture sees the other in a particular way which is created from its own experience. This "image" is usually a kind of adjective that encompasses the full understanding of the existence of this "other" and in turn a qualifier that will estimate one or more qualities, which are often: superiority, inferiority or equality. All this relates to the concept of "image", understood as the cultural image identity⁵ that has one of the other, leaving as evidence the representation of native peoples, in writings and documents of that period, written as we noted above, which are constructed and based on their interpretation of reality, created from their own experience which project the image of the author`s cultura,⁶ in this case European. In doing so, if we follow the descriptions of that time we can see in more than one occasion, that the Indigenous were called under the pejorative term "bárbaros" reminding the reader of the nomadic peoples who regularly attacked the Roman Empire. They destroyed cities, had no laws in the eyes of imperialism and in turn had no manners. They only knew how to attack in the cruelest and bloodiest forms. Under this view, it should not be strange that this term was used to describe the native Chileans, thereby creating two symbolic analogies;

Mapucheà barbarian people, Spanish Empire à Roman Empire

If we find the meaning of barbarism in the Royal Spanish Academy, we note two meanings: (Del lat. barbarĭes).1. f. Rusticated, W. 2. f. Fiereza, without cultura.⁷Is not a coincidence that Padre Diego de Rosales uses the metaphor "Flandes Indiano" to speak of the kingdom of Chile, meaning in it a sort of forced analogy. In our eyes, this was only part of the excellent Spanish was "propaganda"⁸ Specially created in this new territory, to made them see the dangers and difficulties that they suffered in America, as well as enhance the bravery of the soldiers, gave them status, ensured the credibility and trust of the crown in the militia of her colonies. Its main goal was to increase the status of the soldiers who lived this daily drama. The idea of seeing this "other culture" as inferior soon became the “propaganda image” that European residents or visitors to America espoused to the European courts. These generally represented the Mapuche as the "other," an intellectually inferior, fierce savages who do not hesitate to consider the cruelty of his act, this propaganda was promulgated by both the Jesuits and Franciscans, to name only a few of its primary sources. We believe it was a double strategy: on the one hand to see this indigenous group as culturally inferior called to Christianity to save them from hell and to receive the gift of God and goodness. And secondly, it was the perfect bait for requesting resources, material assets such as more soldiers from the crown and in turn increases their status within the Spanish socio-cultural. A common person or soldier, could come to have great wealth, like land and subjects, that in turn generated an increase in his status within his social organization to the title of hacendado or landowner. Therefore he became culturally valuable and showed that ones status could de increased this his efforts, courage, or willpower and the status generated was respected by his peers, to say it other words "Hacerse la America"⁹ or the American dream.

Certainly, the Spanish were very careful in giving the propaganda of "barbarism" to the Iberian Peninsula, thus portraying the Indians residing in and beyond the border region; propaganda which hid a desperate cry for help, they were "indomitable Indians" and their domestication was the great goal of conquest. Domestication that for many years resulted in encomiendas and exploitation in mines, a situation that on one hand accelerated and reorganized the natives’ human relations and their socio-cultural framework; secondly, it reorganized new inter-ethnic alliances in order to resume resistance in various occasions thus changing organizational forms of the ancestral Mapuche. Like it or not, the seventeenth century was more a century of mutual accommodation, a mutual propaganda of "terror" reciprocity one side or the other. While the Spanish used their guns and swords, psychological warfare and resistance, used by the Mapuche, created new strategies and features in the native culture, an example is the dismemberment, torture, massacres, robberies, even cannibalism in rites of war that empowered this image and caused terror in the enemy`s camp. Well, perhaps we can confirm the stories from the chronicles and diaries of the time, again this was not a permanent condition and even continuous. It is there perhaps where we need to emphasize in order to demystify their words. The thing we need to clarify is that these "wars" were sporadic and not continuous; most of the time they lived relatively peaceful quiet.⁷

Now if we refer to Mapudungun,¹⁰ Mapuche means "Man of the Earth"; elucidating the essence of the Mapuche culture: attachment to the land where he was born, which gave birth to their ancestry and then to his descendants the land that fed him and feeds the whole family. It opens us to the understanding of the importance of living in lineages within the same territory with a labor organization based on economic solidarity relations between its members.⁴ Given this, it appears that the earth functions as the main axle or motor for both groups: we can say that for the Mapuche land is everything, they live in it, she feeds them, they perform their rituals for her, for her they are organized, we can say that their culture and symbolic body revolves mainly around her. The land for the Spanish is a commodity, goods delivery status and wealth gained, the empire expands and empowers through the conquered lands, it is gold, mineral wealth, slaves and vassals. That is, for the Mapuche - unlike the Spanish-earth rather than being a source of property value and wealth has in it the symbolic foundations of world understanding. Therefore, we can say that the wealth and status for Spanish are given by the material wealth that he can acquire; elucidate then, two elements that we believe fundamental monetary systems and status. The Mapuche living with a non-monetary system, where reciprocity and / or bartering were crucial; By contrast, the Spanish had a money economy, whose support was the gold material assets that delivered sociocultural status and prestige (the higher the wealth, higher status among their peers), something similar to what happens today in Western capitalist systems.

In the Mapuche society that status is given by the patrilineage⁴ and patrilineal descent, the older the lineage is the greater importance it has in the land and the greater possibility it has to chose the head family (lonko) and / or the head (chief), both of which were chosen by the number of wives they possessed, as this ensured their lineage. Food for the Mapuche was certainly the sustenance of survival. Remembering the particular harsh climatic conditions and effects -depending on the ecological zone in which they lived- the scarcity or abundance of food they gave more plausible conditioning of survival. The household should seek to store the food in summer that it needed for winter, on it depended the survival of the lineage. Therefore, one society accumulated food in the summer to maintain and / or increase its lineage, the other accumulated assents [meaning by this also the land] to increase their status of his family. There are also key elements in these events. Luis Faron⁴ has generated a keen study of the evolutionary interpretation of Mapuche organization, starting from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, guided by studies of kinship. This study is interesting as he states that, “Entre los siglos XVI y XVIII la sociedad mapuche habría vivido cambios importantes en las reglas de residencia. Las agrupaciones agrícolas multi-linajes endógamas patri o bi-locales del siglo XVI se habría fragmentado en pequeñas unidades patrilocales exógamas debido principalmente a la guerra”^8,11

Even though we can doubt all these theories, since apparently fragmented communities patrilocal was a previous condition and not a consequence of war, what we can assert is that after the arrival of the Spanish kinship relations "inter -ethnic "accelerated and even more pronounced, that is“(…) creó nuevas condiciones dentro de los linajes mapuche, empujándolos a institucionalizar liderazgos y alianzas, aun que estas no fueran siempre perdurables; a crear “solidaridades orgánicas”, según definiera Durkheim, que sin duda alteraron sus estructuras ancestrales”^9,12 The truth is that the indigenous organization becomes more complex in the frontier life of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and for stability we see in this new social network. The tribes unite or create sporadic alliances of convenience and forgiven a common goal. That they succeeded under the leadership of a boss, who owes his reputation to his family, property and personal conditions (to name a few), bearing in mind the autonomy of each tribe. This type of organization caused major problems to the company of Spanish conquest, they assumed that the elimination or capture of a War boss (toki, is a boss-leader) would end the fighting; however it had no significant impact on the war, as another took his place or the tribes created new alliances according to the resolution obtained in loncos assemblies belonging to the allied tribes or communities.

The Mapuche were polygamous, wives gave their husbands his status, probably because of the increased offspring and important marriage alliances with the wife`s family, however, such partnerships created for the Mapuche his prestige, position and influence, given the size of their descent, his home and proximity of this with a ritual site. “En tiempos de guerra, […] asumía el mando un jefe militar, el toqui, quien detenta el poder solo mientras duraba el conflicto, reconocimiento su autoridad tanto los miembros del linaje paterno como los de aquellos que, por razones de debilidad demográfica masculina, buscaban amparo en una unión que les asegure el triunfo”.^9,13 It was therefore established that the toqui formulated specific strategies for battles, wars, or isolated conflicts between individual families or lineages. That is, we believe that he also formed a type of institutional organization by the indigenous Mapuche. Is -in this case- the most important factor in the history of the indigenous people of our country, given the resistance of the Mapuche communities to the arrival of the Spanish was certainly strong and complex to the thinking of the important people from Europe. The Mapuche, meanwhile, had no equivalent to a ruling King, like an Inca, or a high priest, or a great officer, they were more like a headless organization, where the military was regulated under the mandate of a toki that would last in office as long as the battle lasted. Therefore, the Spanish had to defeat the "sporadic" unions of a people seeking one goal, to defend their homelands against the threat, not the defense of land titles, but their enjoyment and survival given by the land, not only from the standpoint of organic and biological, but also from the origin and the reasons for symbolic body.

These sporadic "alliances of convenience" -it stretched only for the given war- became the great problem for the Spanish authorities; who to overthrow, how to do it and how many there were, were all uncertainties and varied rumors. Thus became fundamental the work of the Jesuits who achieved accurate descriptions of how the Indians acted and thought. However, the dynamics of frontier life put in place those spontaneous happenings that served to further the Jesuit proposals, to maintain good peaceful relations and to generate consumer assents and services In doing so indigenous knowledge was a weapon of fire that gave the church, especially the Jesuits, an advantage. The Jesuits and their knowledge of indigenous languages ​​and dialects were, in our view, key to maintaining information over long distances. They were those who sent the written reports about the border situation to the crown. Messages were modified according to the intention and representation of its author, now religion was used not only to raise funds for financing and moral support, but also to create propaganda publicity and the image of “barbarism” representative of South American`s indigenous peoples.

We must remember that the Mapuche were not the only native residents of the border region, but we believe that by the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the cultures residing behind the border had constant interchanged not only economic but also cultural. The Mapuche played a major role in these interethnic relations where coercions produced a kind of cultural importance.⁸ Perhaps this was produced as a result of their natural identity, since it reinforced their Mapuche identity and culture from the beginning of the Spanish era. Over time, the situation changed, due to many factors, some of which we have already stated, but what do they have for the Mapuche in the Arauco War? We can say that the situation for the Mapuche was favored by the following; his integrated vision – even though it is sporadic, which managed indigenous affiliations with other sectors (for example Pehuenche of the mountains) to maintain a cultural coherence, that is, usually kept their rituals, independent living ecological level as well as on the banks of the sea or the mountains to find the place to express their rituals and lifestyle. Perhaps the key element is that they have a "inter-ethnic" language, because although there is evidence that describe different dialects, among all the tribes and families a common language is understood. And finally, they have a geopolitical structure of geographic dispersion, which tends to follow a centrifugal motion.⁸ Finally we can say that for the Mapuches, their laws, rules or organizations are more moral and ritualistic than formal legislative like in our society or the Spanish colonial society, reaching a point that may encompass all of the above: beliefs.

⁴In this, emerges a "class" that the Spanish called "friendly Indians" to see an analysis we suggest Andrea Ruiz-Esquide⁶ Los indios Amigos en la frontera araucana; where the regular and systematic form of this new group of indigenous people, who fought for the Spanish and are an important part in the economy of time were analyzed.

⁵We understand that identity by symbolic body that manages all characterize a particular group of people and that turn a different from other.

⁶In the particular case of this study, when we talk of writings we refer specifically to European writings, as in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we don´t written [or documented evidence] direct by the Mapuche people, we have only descriptions.

⁷Translation: (from Lat. Barbarities) .1. f. Rusticity lack of culture. 2. f. Fiercely, cruelty

⁸We refer to the term "propaganda" any (written or graphic) description, Native American, which was introduced from conquerors to the Spanish crown, in an effort to present a clear intention in search of efficient and effective response. It also is, leaving part of the reality hidden, or make-up to meet specific objectives.

⁹“hacerse la America” is a famous American phrase it means to grow materially and economically thanks to a wonderful opportunity

¹⁰>Mapudungun is the language of the Mapuche people

¹¹Translation: "Between the sixteenth and eighteenthcnturies Mapuche society have lived significant changes in the rules of residence. The agricultural groups inbred lineages multi-or bi-local heritage of the sixteenth century would have been fragmented into small units exogamous patrilocal mainly due to the war”

¹²Translation: “(...) created new conditions within the Mapuche lineages, pushing them to institutionalize leadership and partnerships, although these were not long lasting, to create "organic solidarity" as defined Durkheim (1893), which certainly altered their ancestral structures "

¹³Traslation: "In times of war, [...] assumed command a military commander, the toki, who holds power only for the duration of the conflict, recognize their authority as members of the paternal line as those who, for reasons of male demographic weakness , sought refuge in a union that will secure the victory "

The supposed complexity and contact event between two cultures are a result of substantial socio-cultural transformations. Their way of life, exchange systems, socio-cultural framework, worldview and the entire environment becomes more complex. Even if the cultural transformations were occurring in ancient times, with the arrival of the Spanish, the panorama changed abruptly. In this case, for the "dominant" group, the Spanish, their interest was basically given, in the knowledge of their social organization and spiritual beliefs. The belief systems of a people are a so complex that we should dedicate to it an exclusive essay to theorize and analyze the specific case of the "Mapuche" and another cultures -there are many- in this specific case of the theology of the church. Broadly speaking we can say that religion is a belief system followed by actions that are an essential part of a cultural symbol system. We know that beliefs are toward something or someone, plural (polytheists) or single (monotheistic) and that in turn belong to another dimension of reality, but that they themselves have high participation in earthly actions.¹⁴

The Spanish brought with them companies known as "missions" that belonged on the Church,¹⁵ companies which depended for all their support and guidance from the church and crown. They came to America to save souls from eternal damnation and from the pagan world, understanding paganism as all belief outside the canons of the church. It is known that religions are human creations, they combine fundamental elements in societies; conditioning everything from the daily intake to the human behavior one with the other. In the case of the church and according to professing the gospel and the catechism, we can say first, that it is a monotheistic religion that does not accept other gods or other beliefs and second it is founded and articulated on the basis of the gospels, assumed divine books from which it bases its morals and enters the laws of its behavior of its flock of which the acceptance relates only monogamous the marriage alliances; element that certainly affected the family unit and social organization. Their best-known domain strategy in the West was imposition of fear.

For its part, the Mapuche beliefs do not follow the Christian analogy, they believe in spirits, they are constantly changing, each one follows an ongoing struggle between the good and evil real dualities directly related to the earth who gives origin to all. These gods are formulated into a new dimension of reality, somehow justifying hostility or kindness in the world around them. No doubt it is a complex symbolic system, which organizes its understanding, world conditioning and social behavior. An example of this is the motive behind the territorial dispersion of their communities, each family has its own spirit or spirits who must live spaced out from other spirits so not to provoke conflicts. Many writings of the period described Mapuche rituals and customs as not the "usual Spanish rituals" calling them pagan and demonic, thereby condemning any act, agreement or ritual celebrated by the Mapuche;

It was Geronimo de Vivar, who wrote about this tradition when he said; “Tienen con el demonio su pacto y éstos son señalados entre ellos y aun tenidos.”^10,16 Also, the Spanish strongly criticized the ways that the Mapuche celebrated their parties; “Estando en fiestas, éstos se levantan y, apartados un poco de la otra gente, habla entre sí como si tuviesen el demonio”^10,17 certainly referring to species of wizards.

Moreover, partnerships between men and the Mapuche women are polygamous, a condemnable act by church standards. As announced in the introduction, the Spanish came to profess the goodness of God as the only "holy" truth, all that did not come from the Bible was pagan and punished by deity. By doing so they hoped to domesticate the "savage Indians of America."

The religious policy was perhaps the most effective and penetrating (in a culture term) because imposing religious thought through teaching, gave way, accidentally -or intentionally- to commerce and to border relations, independent from whether it was possible or not an effective indigenous conversion to Christianity. For the Spanish their religious and political-military factions were extremely close and united, in fact both Jesuits and Franciscans priests served as war counselors, they also accompanied the militia, both in expeditions and in putting down revolts, they also served as directors and translators in the many colonial parliaments or peace conferences that were held between the Spanish authorities and the local chiefs. We must recognize that the Jesuits made a huge contribution in the creation of working relationships within the border region, relationships that may not fall fully within their original mission statement. According to Pinto¹¹ in 1593 the first Jesuits arrived in Chile and moved almost immediately to Concepcion to start evangelizing the Mapuches with their leader the priest Luis de Valdivia. If we go by Pinto`s study of Italian missions, we see that the objectives of the Jesuits worked in the seventeenth century, “Lo hicieron al amparo de su proyecto evangelizador que se sostuvo en tres pilares fundamentales, la propuesta misional elaborada por Perú por el padre José de Acosta; la corriente mística llamada <<devolución moderna>>, que se cultiva con la fuerza de Europa, y la particular disposición de luchar contra Satanás, según ellos <<el enemigo mortal del hombre>>”^11,18

Of course, the Jesuits, from their perspective understood the problems of war. Father Joseph Acosta did not underestimate the Indians and suggested that they had no problems in understanding the gospel and that it should be taught in times of peace no war. Father Luis de Valdivia was his disciple and would be followed by Father Diego de Rosales, who we will refer to later. The pioneer in instilling the teaching method¹⁹as a form of conquest was the Father Luis de Valdivia.²⁰ This of course required a prior knowledge of the Mapuche, the Jesuits were sent to live among the Mapuche, to learn their language and lifestyle and from there to start to change their symbolic body. Clearly the Jesuits achieved very little with their "teaching the gospel" method before their expulsion. However, their work paved the way for the Franciscans who were much more decisive in their "methods" and were concerned not only to teach the word of God before baptism, but that their missions were much more permanent. They wanted to regulate every part of the indigenous lifestyle. Jorge Pinto, in an interesting study of the early Italian missionaries who arrived in the conflict zone [Arauco] clarifies, “(…) la llamada conquista espiritual de América refleja la escasa disposición de misioneros e indígenas para mirar al otro desde una perspectiva que no sea distinta a la propia. El misionero solo aspira a cambiar las costumbres del indígena, reemplazando su cosmovisión por la que ellos proponen, mientras estos resisten, afirmándose en sus propias tradiciones.”^11,21 we can´t only respond to this assertion, because it shows clear evidence of ethnocentrism and "not a mutual understanding" of each other.

All this is evident in the writings of the period, such as the epic discourse "Historia general del Reyno de Chile, Flandes indiano"¹³ by the Franciscan Diego de Rosales²²Who presented the Compañía de Jesus as people who were looking for the good in everyone and as a friend of the indigenous border peoples. Very contrasting and far, more critical of the work of the Jesuits in Chile are the writings of Fray Antonio Sors,¹⁴ who called in a very ambitious title;“Historia del Reyno de Chile situado en America Meridional”.²³ The latter is devoted to criticizing the military strategy and the Jesuit`s spiritual and territorial conquests. Understanding that Rosales`s book is from the middle of the seventeenth century while Sors`s paper is from the latter half of the eighteenth century, the two show gradual shifts and dramatic changes in the needs and interests of both groups. Sors similarly proposes solutions to the border conflict, but they are somewhat drastic to those suggested by the Jesuit military advisors. The cultural phenomenon that is perceived after the many attempts to impose the Christian religion on the Mapuche is more than just conversions; it resulted in an "acceleration" of the social framework where benefits were given based on their conversion to Christianity, the use of indigenous for manual labor, trade relations in its broadest sense and intermixing of peoples; factors we were becoming more and more fluid, strengthening the relationships between indigenous and the Spanish people in the borderline, which in turn secured peace along this complex boundary. That quickly became a problem for the Spanish militia, because without war there were no soldiers and they got no money for their maintenance and therefore it was, for the Spanish military, a necessity to maintain the condition of war.

Like Villalobos⁷ says, “No se ha captado que por debajo se tejía una historia prosaica, diaria y sin eventos espectaculares, que ponía en contacto a protagonistas de un lado y otro. Acercamiento y asimilación a merced de la curiosidad y las necesidades mutuas, que al fin resultaron más poderosas que el ejercicio de las armas”^7,24 And here we have an exciting issue, the relationship that is formed through trade and labor as a means of contact, which quickly results in mixed blood acculturation and assimilation by both parts, favoring the dominant culture. The key is work, forced or not,¹⁵ what we care about it is, that arising from such dealings new social classes (if we can call this way); slaves, mestizos,²⁵ mulattos, among others, were formed, being very peculiar and unusual in their operation, especially the group of "friendly Indians," the Indians who helped the Spanish,⁶ in any way here shows the beginning or the formation of the Chilean cultural training. In this border region had existed, beyond the fighting, between the two societies a meeting of emerging cultural interchange, trade and even an early mix.⁷ Therefore, we know that war was not continuous and that there were rebellions that resulted in battles.

From the Crown, the Indians were subjects of the king, so they had to pay tribute (tax collected in precious metals or work). They were also considered "relative incapacity" it means, they needed the protection of Spanish. As there ended up having no abundance of precious metals such as gold and silver; the collection of tribute was institutionalized it through the encomienda²⁶An indigenous labor system in favor of a conqueror (encomendero) defined by the governor, in exchange for protection and evangelization. In summary, there were relations of servitude among the conquerors and indigenous. The growing mix of Spanish and indigenous and the expansion of paid work in exchange for the encomienda let its disuse abolishment in 1791.²⁷ There were also other forms of work such as the distribution: collective public works projects or working on Spanish farms, such action was imposed by the authority of the city (council) on neighboring indigenous villages and slavery applied to indigenous captured in war (considered rebels). Whether it the construction of forts, cities and future reductions, the fact is that this represents an unparalleled connection of their living spaces, where the dominant culture is imposed against the other and intentionally or spontaneously generate relationships or social networks, what we call acculturation; a provision of cultural elements.

¹⁸Translation: “"They did it under his evangelical project that was sustained on three fundamental pillars, the proposal made ​​by Peru by the missionary Father Jose de Acosta, the mystical called" devolution modern ", grown with the power of Europe and the particular disposition to fight against Satan, they say "the mortal enemy of man"” (Pinto, 1993, p. 110)

¹⁹In truth, the pedagogical method was more an anthropological than other, raided in the daily lives of the indigenous, learning their methods, movements and survival strategies.

²⁰About; “La rebelión araucana fue constante y las batallas de Tucapel, Marigüeñu y Curalaba, significaron la pérdida de la mitad del territorio ocupado, desplazándose del eje de la colonización hacia el centro agrícola que fue la cuna de la nacionalidad. Este proceso bélico de exterminio metódico produjo la pérdida de un subido contingente español y de la mitad, por lo menos, de la población mapuche. Los continuos desastres obligaron al Rey a mantener ejércitos permanentes, fijando al gobernador Alonso de Ribera, la frontera de Chile en la línea del Bío Bío y del Laja. Los monarcas españoles escucharon entonces las incesantes prédicas de los misioneros, en especial del jesuita Padre Luis de Valdivia, que preconizó un tipo nuevo de sumisión, conocido con el nombre de «guerra defensiva» (1598-1612), basada en la abolición del servicio personal y en la incorporación del indio por métodos misionales pedagógicos.”¹²

²¹Translation: "(...) the so-called spiritual conquest of America reflects the unwillingness of missionaries and indigenous to look at another perspective that is different from their own. The only missionary aims to change the habits of the natives, replacing their worldview by which they propose, as they resist, asserting in their traditions."¹¹

¹⁴Those who have dedicated part of their time in elucidating the complexity of primitive religions are: Tylor in Primitive Culture, Frazer in The Golden Bough, Durkheim Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, Levi-Strauss in Totemism To-Day and Evans-pritchard, Eduards Theories of Primitive Religion.

¹⁵It use the term church to refer to Christianity in general, however we have clarified in the introduction that on, we turn our attention only on the Jesuit and Franciscan congregation on.

¹⁶Translation: "They have their pact with the devil and these are identified with each other and even taken."¹⁰

¹⁷Translation: "Being at parties, they stand and separated a bit from other people, speaks itself as having the devil"¹⁰

²²We refer the first edition by Benjamín Vicuña Mackena, in 3 part. The original manuscript it from 1671, Vicuña Mackena gets it from Salvá 200 year’s later, doing the publication in 1877. Print in el Mercurio, Stgo. de Chile.

²³We used the document that it was published in Revista Chilena de Historia y Geografía, Año XI. Tomo XXXVIII. 2° Semestre de 1921. N°42, by José Toribio Medina. Edición facsimile, including some other documentation from the Consejo de Indias Archive.

²⁴Translation: “It has not grasped that below it was a prosaic history, daily and without spectacular events, which would contact the protagonists of either side. Approach and assimilation at the mercy of curiosity and mutual needs, which finally proved more powerful than the profession of arms. "

²⁵Mixture between Spanish people and Indigenous.

²⁶It was a forced labor system that did in the past made ​​the natives in favor of encomendero.

²⁷By way of background: "en 1774, for Real Orden de doña Mariana de Austria, se abolió el derecho de esclavizar a los aborígenes, que permanecieron hasta el siglo XVIII en calidad de <<depósito>> de los encomenderos “ (CORFO (1950) Geografía Económica de Chile, Fundación Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Santiago de Chile. P. 92)

Assimilation involves dialogue, even parentage transactions, this frontier "life" and social framework that was developed in the "war of Arauco" resulted in the development of Parlamentos[1] as the first sign of institutionalization and a "sociopolitical" dialogue, between Spanish and Mapuche

²⁸It was a communication instance to talk with the opponent to try set the peace, surrender, contract, or to arrange any difference.

The politics of parliaments, are indeed one of the first instances of institutionalization between the Mapuche and Spanish societies; of course its significance was approached in different ways according to whose "side" you were on, for the Mapuche, for example, it was a gathering among equals, without hierarchies, while for the Spanish was a tried method used to install the Spanish hegemony throughout the world.¹⁶ The Mapuche leaders already had comprehended the notion of institutionalization and the propaganda war; we can perceive this first in the election of caciques toquis and power to command concerning the psychological war [or propaganda] by Mapuche leaders. We also see the rites of war, severed heads and cannibalism, among other elements that show this new way of acting. The Mapuches also explained how their strategies and tactics were modified according to their objectives, which were changed according to the strategy of another side that primarily maintained and preserved, its system of symbolic forms in its broadest sense. Now, we must understand that “Los parlamentos que se celebraban entre las autoridades coloniales y el liderazgo tribal de la Araucanía eran un verdadero congreso en el que se reunían los sujetos que detentaban el poder y quienes lo legitimaban. Caciques gobernadores, lonkos, ulmenes y capitanejos establecían un diálogo directo con el gobernador del reino en presencia de los representantes de la audiencia, del cabildo, de la iglesia y del ejército, además de cientos de conas y milicianos que en esos momentos actuaban como el “pueblo” que sancionaba con su presencia los acuerdos. A partir de este diálogo y de las discusiones que allí tomaban lugar se establecían las reglas del juego fronterizo y se renovaba públicamente el consenso que regulaba el intercambio entre ambas sociedades”^17,29

We have to stop ourselves at the phrase that, in our opinion, symbolized the real situation of the Arauco war from mid-seventeenth century onwards. The author says "the rules of the game," and it is not a game of interchange, whose rules are set more by commercial movements, than evangelism. The war as such, to tell the truth, was more of a game than a war, a game that even lent itself to maintain an adorned militia in times of peace, who at times took pains to destroy to justify their existence. Now, we interpret that the parliaments work within some colonial agreement where both sides recognized their respective authorities (and status); understanding as the ultimate authority the Spanish monarch, who was represented by his leaders in the colonial lands. If we analyze these instances in their generality, we could clarify the Spanish and Mapuche`s fundamental goals. For this exercise we will examine the formation of one of the first Parlamento, also called the Parlamento of Quillin³⁰ In the seventeenth century and will continue with one of the later parliaments celebrated in the eighteenth century, called the Parlamento of Tapihue. For this, we are guided by two publications that we find interesting. They not only contain vivid descriptions and historical data, but they also make a comparative analysis of political-military functions that the Jesuits, on the one hand and the Franciscans on the other, performed in the parliament, understanding beforehand that both congregations had a common goal to evangelize the "Indians", but differed in methods, in our opinion, fundamental subtleties of frontier life.

Being able to establish a dialogue and even better to reach agreements, regardless of whether these were or were not later met, leads us to two important considerations. First, we are dealing with two bands at war, which after nearly a century and a half were coming into close contact for the first time. After achieving mutual knowledge and recognition, they instituted these dialogues. Second and understanding the above, we can assume that by the middle of the seventeenth century there was a recognizable frontier society, with movements of trade, racial mixing and mutual cultural understandings, interchange not only in food but also in cultural and spiritual knowledge, a true acculturation that led to celebration of this first parliament. Independent of this, it is very likely that there were various interpretations of this episode by the Spanish and other varied interpretations by the Mapuche, the fact is that there was a dialogue formulated according to their great leaders or chiefs. The difference is clear: the Mapuche organizational system was facing the European regulatory system for the first time. Did it work? We will see what happens.

The Parliament of Quillin, also known as "las pace de Baydes" was held in 1640, in a valley near the Mapuche settlement of Quillin. This is the first glimpse of a new deal for indigenous Spanish. It also showed that the "bloody and interminable" war of Arauco, not only produced death and despair but caused permanent change. We understand these parliaments as being meetings with slogans of peace, in this respect; “Los tratados de paz fon tranfacciones que terminan las guerras, y diferencias que unos estados tienen con otros (…)”³¹ (Coleccion de los tratados de paz, 1746). Is peace achieved in Quillin? Let us be clear, we analyze the parliament of Quillin because of how transcendent it was; “Las paces de Quillín merecieron un honor que no han alcanzado los otros pactos análogos celebrados con los indios de Chile (…)”^18,32

This, apart from being the first significant parliament celebrated, was the first that proposed the canons of formulation, which were presented as a new form of social ritual, that without judging their effectiveness, even managed to give us the first indications of the social institutions, institutions that formalized the dialectic between the indigenous and Spanish ruling class. At the same time, there began to appear letters and other official documents³³That used these dialogues, where the signature of the parties and the royal seals gave credence to the celebration, making it valid in the Western official documentary tradition.³⁴ However, parliaments were mostly written obligations that the indigenous peoples had to comply but were not presented as an act of submission, because they were looking to generate dependency. A dependence, [mutual Indigenous and Spanish] that had already been seen for some time. To get an idea of the Parlamento of Quillin, we going to transcribe the capitulations that Rosales a Jesuit priest, who was an eyewitness and adviser of the Marquis of Baydes left expressed in Chapter VIII of the third volume of his manuscript;

Primera, que todos los caciques e indios retirados lian de salir de los niontes donde se liazian fuertes y poblar los llanos y los valles donde vivan en vida política y no como salvages en las selvas. La segunda, que todos los caciques han de obligar a todos los indios retirados la tierra adentro a que se vuelvan a sus tierras antiguas de sus padres antepasados con sus familias y ganados, sin que los pueda detener pariente ni otra comodidad, y los que de sus tierras se quisieren venir a poblar a las de los espaiioles o indios amigos, se les ha de clesar a su voluntad, con sus mugeres, hiso u y liaziendas. La tercera, que todos lian de toniar las armas contra los rebeldes a las armas de su Magestad, siendo enemigos de sus enemigos, sin reparar en sangre ni en parientes. La cuarta, que los retirados de nuestras tierras alas de el eneiiiigo, se han de reduzir este año 41 luego que ubieren cogido sus sementeras. La quinta, que han de ser obligados a entregar todos los captivos, hombres y mujeres, niños y viexos, assi españoles como indios christianos, de los quales, aunque injusto, se obliga el Marques a pagar el rescate de su hazienda. La sesta, que han de admitir predicadores y ministros del Evangelio pars que los prediquen y industrieen en el conocimiento de el verdadero Dios. Todo lo qual se ha de cumplir y executar con apercevimiento de que los toquis, caciques e indios nobles ni plebeyos han de reiterar los alzamientos ni retirar los alzamientos ni retirarse a los enemigos, pena que serán declarados por traidores y tratados como tales¹³.

If we can see, the first and second chapter highlights, the need by Spanish to take control of the territory; they closed the operating area of indigenous people by controlling a radius of action whose visual function, in the back of their mind, maybe the idea of ​​the Spanish city. The third capitulation mentions the quartering of Spanish soldiers; showing that the Spanish were in a constant, permanent search for subjects to serve them. The fourth capitulation traced again the need and importance of land and the radius of action, making it very clear that there existed (in Spanish thought) a "dark" area that is to say an unknown region.

The fifth mention the presence of Spanish captives in the hands of indigenous warriors, without mentioning the captive`s gender or age. The sixth capitulation to our knowledge is dedicated to formal evangelization, understanding that in the parliament the church not only made its presence known through its counselors, but it also brought to the forefront their religious themes. Rosales, in his discourse, showed the mutual distrust that was felt between the two groups, who when they realized that no one was more powerful than the king of Spain and God accepted the agreement. The problem was when the Marquis distrusted a cacique and he broke the approval of the parliament, causing a new uprising. For the Jesuits and their "defensive" project, the parliament was perhaps its most significant achievement. Rosales even sent a letter to Father Luis de Valdivia and told him what had happened.

Highlights include:

Letter from the Marquis of Baydes that tells what happened with the Dutch, the city of Valdivia and the Indians after Quillin. Memorial Histórico de España Volume 18 p, 10, 11 and 12. Biblioteca Nacional de España. Inv. Mem 08:946 18, dated January 16, 1645.

Now then, as a symbolic image emerges a new unique elements to be considered: the institutionalization of parliaments is the fusing of two figurative bodies in a ritual act, at respect: “hicieron después de esto un hoyo y enterraron en él sus flechas, sus toquis y otros instrumentos de guerra, y lo mismo hicieron los españoles por conformarse con sus ceremonias, que echaron en aquel mismo hoyo, balas, hierros de lanza, dagas y cuerda, símbolo de paz […] y sobre ellos ha de florecer aquel canelo y la paz dar frutos sazonados”^13,35, undoubtedly from this would emerge exciting images to be analyzed. The parliament were perhaps the most significant pride of the Jesuits because they made peace through dialogue, on the other hand, the Franciscans sought more effective and efficient, as already noted in the previous chapter. In this respect it is interesting to read the historia del Reino de Chile situado en America Meridional by Sors, it gives an intense criticism of the Jesuit and military actions before the eighteenth century, denouncing all the irregular things in the frontier life to His Majesty (to the royalty); it has undoubtedly a clear intention in writing and that is the grace of the text. It bluntly raises the problems and solutions to the conflict between Spanish and indigenous peoples. He is emphatically clear that he believed that the dialogue was not the means of resolving the battle, but rather that “reductions" (man-made villages) and general repression through forts and a real defense system. He outlined the difficulties that his project presented and also demonstrated the effectiveness of this method employed in other areas.

According to Sors, the biggest problem facing the evangelization of the indigenous peoples was their ignorance of God and the Christian faith that is, that the indigenous people did not recognize the Christian spiritual order of things and would not approve or recognize it, because they had no fear.¹⁴ In his paper proposes a background problem: the indigenous peoples did not live by the same moral code as the Spanish; they much less had the same intentions. In general, we can see in his document the victimization of Spanish people to give them, somehow the moral and spiritual license to create reductions and repression the indigenous people. The reductions would change the indigenous lifestyle by restricting their range of action and domesticating them under the direct and indirect control of the Spanish authorities. Efficient and effective as perceived to this day. According to the discourse of Sors we perceive his apparent disagreement with the treaties and parliaments, which he considered as naive and subtle “(…) Quien con la debida reflexión considerase estos hechos [parlamentos] conocerá sin duda, lo difícil de la empresa que intenta reducir a los indios chilenos.”³⁶ We could expand on our analysis of the details of this document, but that would generate another essay, what is most important is that we consider and understand the differences in the actions of the missionaries and how these were an essential part in the war of Arauco, as it were the missionaries who lived, described, perceived and tried to modify the general symbolic body the indigenous people of Chile, including the more "obstinate" ones those south of the Bíobío. Why did they do it? To root out the attachment and identity of the Mapuche hidden for years in its history, a history that cannot yet fully be elucidated, which reaffirms its attachment after the arrival of the "other."

²⁹Translation: “The parliaments were celebrated between the colonial authorities and the tribal leadership of Araucania was a royal conference which met subjects in power and those who legitimized. Caciques governors, lonkos, ulmenes and war leaders established a direct dialogue with the governor of the kingdom in the presence of representatives of the hearing, of the cabildo, church and army and hundreds of conas and militiamen who at that time acted as the "people" sanctioning agreements with their presence. From this dialogue and the discussions that took place, there were established rules of the game border and renewed public consensus regulating the sharing between the two societies ".¹⁷

³⁰It was not the first, neither the last.

³¹Translation: "Peace treaties are transactions that end wars and differences witch some states have with others (...)" (Collection of the Treaties of Peace, 1746)

³²"The peace of Quillin merited an honor that no other agreements have reached the similar agreements with the Indians of Chile (...)"

³³Interesting manuscripts were found in Sala Medina, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, Ms. BA4, p. 101-140 López de Zúñiga, Francisco, in relation with the “Paces de Baydes”

³⁴In this respect, José Bengoa makes a very interesting work, which published in 2007, independently of their perception and opinion about the indigenous history of our country and his judgments, we welcome the publication of documents does not exist in the Chilean National Archives. In this paper, we find letters, reports and official documents of the crown, mostly found in the Biblioteca Nacional de España and Archivo Nacional de Chile.

³⁵Translation: "We made after that a hole and buried in it their arrows, their toquis and other instruments of war, as did the Spanish come to terms with their ceremonies, they threw in this in the same hole, bullets, iron spears, daggers and rope symbol of peace [...] and they must flourish and peace that cinnamon flavored bear fruit "

³⁶Translation: "(...) Who with due reflection consider these facts [parliament] will know without a doubt how difficult of the company tries to reduce the Indians of Chile."¹⁴

The historical importance of an event is not the documentation of the event itself; it is what that event produced in the thought process of that society and the excisions it can generate within in this group. It also is seen changes in their learning and acting after the fact. In short, the social significance lies in deciding to particular group the occurred event; there is a considerable change in the system of symbolic forms, incrementing some, eliminating or merging others, all within the framework of the acculturation concept. Understanding beforehand, this occurs gradually over time. In analyze of Arauco War on seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we find that the war, as such, will suffer an undisputed decline, there is far more peace than war, reaffirmed through the idea of "frontier life" understanding that this is the product of acculturation, dialogue and relationships, which began to form the social framework which resulted in the "Chilean-criollo" society. Therefore, we are no longer subject to the myth of three centuries of continuous war. It was cruel and bloody war, but the fighting was sporadic and that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it gradually became weaker, so much so that we can assume that the Spanish soldiers who served in the small uprisings were more pawns used to collect more money and resources from the crown; a border militia is meaningless if there is no "border" or "war" and even less if there are no enemies.

In this respect, we have proposed the creation and management of a "discursive cultural image" of the war, to somehow keep the attributions of both power and economy, through the social status of Spanish residents in the national territory. This cultural image is presented to the crown according to the created intentions of the author of the document and, in general, raises the necessity of sending resources to them, given the "barbarism" of the people of southern Chile. In short, "barbarians" becomes a concept that relates to a cultural image of intellectual inferiority and savagery. At the same time, the Spanish managed to favor descriptive elements such as: demographic numbers of Indians in war, in sectors, descriptions of conflicts, peace, among others, that call us to read these texts with care and understanding, in advance its context. In short, the image of the Indian used by the Spanish residents in Latin America was an image that is consistent with a specific intention of conquest. The picture presented by the Indians to the Spanish in the war, was rather instinctive trying to intimidate the Spanish by showing the courage and fury against the invasion, in order to spread fear and be finally left alone.

Moreover, we believe that is important understand the war of Arauco as isolated events, discontinuous and sporadic. That is the only way to understand the historical reality of this time, where there was a "frontier life", with tensions and cultural and commercial transactions. If we work on this basis, there appear many more factors of analysis none of which support the idea of ​​continual warfare. So, the first anthropologists to present this situation (understood in advance the problem of speech) were undoubtedly the Jesuits, whose merit lies not in its evangelization, or indigenous domestication, but rather in their ethnographic descriptions including trade relations and understanding its broad spectrum, from the workforce to transactions. The Franciscans (who come with greater force after the eighteenth century Jesuit expulsion) were those who supported radical policies of domination; thus its contribution was instead moralizing and ethics back the war of Arauco.

On the other hand, legislatures functioned as instances of dialogue and organizational recognition of the "other," which recognizes the hierarchization by a rank of both societies and therefore we are facing a new ritual. That represents the first approach to institutions, a likely double-edged sword. Since, if it considers that if they break the agreement, it becomes morally acceptable to go to war. Indeed, these instances are not 100% effective in achieving their goal; however, they are the result of the so-called frontier life. The latter is commonly seen more in commercial transactions and institutional policies than in military triumphs, where strategies for "political-military propaganda" or "psychological warfare" are far more important than actual armed fighting all the while trying to intimidate the "other." Now if we consider the end of the war of Arauco, as the end of the armed conflict between indigenous and Spanish, we fall into a simple battle or error, because in my opinion, the battle is still maintained today. The end of the war can be understood not as the triumph of the Spanish Army, or less by the crown, but rather as the victory of a symbolic system institutionalized, where the Spanish managed to introduce their language and some of their symbolic nature. However, this was only a partial triumph, then perhaps the project wins even more in a traditionald authoritarian and repressive way, that real change is a symbolic reality itself. No wonder today we have some of the same conflicts, somehow still in a dynamic dialogue deaf people where we do not understand the forms and modes of behavior that occur infusion to a system of symbolic ways that we have created. But cultural conflicts and confrontation are only part of the continuous fluid movement and the dynamics of human societies, where the breaks and thresholds give us analytical challenges as indistinct reactions occur in communities or groups. The border conflict is articulated in this way, which is why we continue learning and theorizing about it according to new situations, ideas and knowledge as they arise.¹⁹

This paper reports on background research conducted in preparation for my Doctoral thesis. Project 15510545 CONICY, Chile. Sponsored by Department of Historical Sciences, Universidad de Chile.

Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

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