Juan Lorenzo Colipí ( arn, Kolüpi) was a

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

lonco A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather ...

active in the politics and warfare in Araucanía in the first half of the 19th century. He participated in the

Guerra a muerte Guerra a muerte (lit. English: ''War to the death'') is a term coined by Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna and used in Chilean historiography to describe the irregular, no-quarter warfare that broke out from 1819 to 1821 during the Chilean War of Indep ...

(1819–1821) phase of the Chilean Independence War. The influence of Colipí stemmed from his role as an intermediary between various Mapuche tribes and Chilean authorities. In 1834–35 he launched a large

malón ''Malón'' (from the Mapudungun ''maleu,'' to inflict damage to the enemy) is the name given to plunder raids carried out by Mapuche warriors, who rode horses into Spanish, Chilean and Argentine territories from the 17th to the 19th centuries, as ...

against Juan Mañil, that temporarily weakened Mañil's faction. Colipí's use of Chilean soldiers in his raids against rival Mapuches created much resentment. His role as broker between Mapuche and Chilean authorities declined as

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

and Capuchin missionaries began to assume that role in the 1840s. At the time of his death, he was said to have lost much of the influence he once held among Mapuches. His death in 1850 was said to have been by poisoning ordered by rival chief Juan Mañil. He was succeeded as lonco by his son Pedro Colipí, who was killed by the men of Mañil in 1852.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colipi, Juan Lorenzo 19th-century Mapuche people 19th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas People from Araucanía Region Lonkos 1850 deaths People of the Chilean War of Independence

See also

References