Destruction of the Seven Cities

[1] The revolt was triggered by the news of the Battle of Curalaba on 23 December 1598, where the vice toqui Pelantaru and his lieutenants, Anganamón and Guaiquimilla, with three hundred men ambushed and killed the Spanish governor Martín García Óñez de Loyola and nearly all his companions.

[5] The collapse of the Spanish cities in the south following the battle of Curalaba (1598) meant, for the Spaniards, the loss of their main sources of gold and indigenous labor.

[8] On the contrary, open fields in southern Chile were overgrown as indigenous populations declined due to diseases introduced by the Spanish and intermittent warfare.

[9] The loss of the cities meant Spanish settlements in Chile became increasingly rural,[10] with the hacienda growing in economic and social importance.

[12] This informal role was given by the establishment of the Spanish Army of Arauco in the city which was financed by a payments of silver from Potosí called Real Situado.

[12] When Valdivia and Osorno were destroyed, Spanish settlers and loyal yanakuna marched south, evading hostile Cuncos and Huilliches.

[13] Yanakuna loyal to the Spanish in these difficult times were rewarded with exemption from encomienda labour, and formed into a militia with a salary from the Real Situado.

[19] Purén indómito, a contemporary literary chronicle (1598–1600) which describes the events surrounding the Destruction of the Seven Cities, is notable for its realistic and unvarnished commentary, and for its criticism of both Spanish and Mapuche actions.

Settlements of the Conquistadores before the Destruction of the Seven Cities
Anganamón a key Mapuche leader in the Destruction of the Seven Cities. Image from the book Relación del viaje de Fray Diego de Ocaña por el Nuevo Mundo (1599-1605) .
A 1646 illustration of La Imperial, one of the Spanish colonial cities destroyed by the Mapuches.