Pelantaru in the context of Santa Cruz de Oñez

⭐ Core Definition: Pelantaru

Pelantaro or Pelantarú (Spanish: [pelanˈtaɾo]; from Mapudungun: pelontraru, lit. 'Shining Caracara') was one of the vice toquis of Paillamachu, the toqui or military leader of the Mapuche people during the Mapuche uprising in 1598. Pelantaro and his lieutenants Anganamon and Guaiquimilla were credited with the death of the second Spanish Governor of Chile, Martín García Óñez de Loyola, during the Battle of Curalaba on December 21, 1598.

This provoked a general rising of the Mapuche and the other indigenous people associated with them. They succeeded in destroying all of the Spanish settlements south of the Bio-bio River and some to the north of it (Santa Cruz de Oñez and San Bartolomé de Chillán in 1599). After this actions, the following Governor, Alonso de Ribera, fixed a border and took the suggestions of the Jesuit Luis de Valdivia to fight a defensive war.

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Pelantaru in the context of Battle of Curalaba

The Battle of Curalaba (Spanish: Batalla de Curalaba pronounced [baˈtaʝa ðe kuɾaˈlaβa]) was a battle and an ambush in 1598 when Mapuche people led by Pelantaru defeated Spanish conquerors led by Martín García Óñez de Loyola at Curalaba, southern Chile. In Chilean historiography, where the event is often called the Disaster of Curalaba (Spanish: Desastre de Curalaba), the battle marks the end of the conquest (la conquista) period in Chile's history, although the fast Spanish expansion in the south had already been halted in the 1550s. The battle led to a general Mapuche uprising that resulted in Destruction of the Seven Cities. This severe crisis reshaped Colonial Chile and forced the Spanish to reassess their mode of warfare.

View the full Wikipedia page for Battle of Curalaba

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