Under the influence of a young generation of Jesuits, Governor of Chile Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga attempted to "pacify" Araucanía by settling the unruly Mapuche into series of towns to be founded in their territory.

In the parliament Mapuches did not accept, but avoided to decline explicitly, the governor's proposal to establish towns in lands.

[2] The Mapuche consciously sought to delay works pretending to be in good terms with the Spanish while a grand uprising was prepared in secrecy.

[3] Then on December 25, 1766, conspiring Mapuches launched a series of surprise attacks against Spanish settlements and property in general.

As the Mapuche appeared to have been content with reversing the Spanish penetration of the previous years the uprising evolved into an inter-indigenous conflict.