Quiñolef was a

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

from Villarrica, southern Chile, written before “Villa Rica”. He was the founder of the Lef family, which was the Mapuche nobility. In

, ''Quiñe'' means ''one'' and ''Lef'' means crown. The caudillos Calalef, Pallalef, Huenchulef, and Epulef came from this same line.

References

Chilean military personnel Captaincy General of Chile Mapuche people {{Chile-bio-stub