Curiñancu or Curignancu,

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 s ...

Toqui Toqui (or Toki) (Mapudungun for ''axe'' or ''axe-bearer'') is a title conferred by the Mapuche (an indigenous Chilean and Argentinian people) on those chosen as leaders during times of war. The toqui is chosen in an assembly or parliament ('' c ...

from 1766–1774 who led the

Mapuche uprising of 1766 The Mapuche uprising of 1766 was the last major Spanish–Mapuche conflict in Araucanía. Under the influence of a young generation of Jesuits, Governor of Chile Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga attempted to "pacify" Araucanía by settling the unru ...

Captain General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Comma ...

Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga (died August 24, 1768) was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as Royal Governor of Panama and Royal Governor of Chile. Arauco War Governor Guill y Gonzaga celebrated the " Parliament of Nacimiento" with the Ma ...

, undertook a fantastic scheme to gather the

Araucanian 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 sh ...

s into cities, despite their well-known loathing of city life. The outcome of this scheme was a renewal of the war with the Mapuche. They elected Curiñancu toqui and prepared for hostilities in case the Spaniards should persist in this course. Two or three cities were begun, but the Mapuche demanded tools with which to work, offered all manner of excuses for the purpose of delaying the enterprise, and finally, these efforts failing to dissuade the Spaniards from the undertaking, they slew their superintendents and besieged the quartermaster in his camp. Governor Guill y Gonzaga retaliated by forming an alliance with the Pehuenches. Curiñancu, ended this treasonous alliance with a sudden assault on the Pehuenches, routing them in battle. He captured their leader, Coliguna, Curiñancu executed him. Gonzaga soon died, following the failure to accomplish his scheme, and Juan de Balmaseda y Censano Beltrán governed for a short time until Francisco Javier de Morales y Castejón de Arrollo succeeded to the governorship. The war with the Araucanians continued. Curiñancu and his vice toqui, Leviantu, constantly raided in Spanish territory, defeating the Spaniards occasionally. By 1773, the war with the Mapuche had cost Spain over a million and a half dollars. Agustín de Jáuregui y Aldecoa finally agreed to a treaty in the Parliament of Tapihue (1774) which reaffirmed the old treaties of Quillin and Negrete, and Curiñancu exacted a further concession, that the Araucanians would be permitted to keep an

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, like any other independent nation. Anson Uriel Hancock, A History of Chile, Chicago, C. H. Sergel and Company, 1893, pp. 110–111
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References

{{mapuche 18th-century Mapuche people Indigenous leaders of the Americas Toquis