Polygamy in Mapuche culture

[5][6] Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century, the practice of polygamy by the Mapuche people of South America’s Southern Cone region was a firmly rooted tradition.

Father Luis de Valdivia believed that peace and understanding between the Mapuche and Spanish was possible and sought to accomplish this through his policy of Defensive War, which after lobbying superiors in Spain and Rome, he was permitted to implement in 1612.

[7] Nevertheless, at the Parliament of Paicaví, held between representatives of Spanish settlers and Mapuche tribes that same year, Valdivia ordered the detainment of the two wives and daughters of a toqui, Anganamón, on the basis of protecting them from polygamy.

[1][9] Later in 1612, on December 9, Valdivia dispatched a party led by Father Horacio Vechi, one of the first Italian proselytizers of Christianity in Chile, on a missionary journey inland, to be escorted along the way by local chieftains.

"[10] Polygamy occupied an important role in Mapuche society during their armed rebellion against the Spanish colonial government, then later during independent Chile's military pacification of Araucanía, where rules of marriage were influenced by these conflicts.

Depiction of the ambush of the Martyrs of Elicura , who were slain in an incident triggered by the conflict between the Mapuche and Spanish settlers on the matter of polygamy.