Origin of the Mapuche

Contact and conflict with the Spanish Empire are thought by scholars such as Tom Dillehay and José Bengoa to have had a profound impact on the shaping of the Mapuche ethnicity.

A hypothesis put forward by Ricardo E. Latcham, and later expanded by Francisco Antonio Encina, theorizes that the Mapuche migrated to present-day Chile from the Pampas east of the Andes.

[1][2] Although the Latcham hypothesis is consistent with linguistic features[2] it is rejected by modern scholars due to the lack of conclusive evidence, and the possibility of alternative hypotheses.

[1] Tomás Guevara postulated another hypothesis claiming that early Mapuches dwelled on the coast exploiting the abundant marine resources and only later moved inland following large rivers.

[5][6] Scholar Alberto Trivera considers that there is no continuity between the human culture seen in the Late Pleistocene archaeological site of Monte Verde and any historical group.

[9][10] Tembetás, lower lip piercings usually associated with indigenous cultures in Brazil, findings have been reported in Central Chile with scholars differing if these elements the result of migrations or some other type of ancient contact with the Argentine Northwest.

[11][A] Mapuche communities in southern Norte Chico –that is Petorca, La Ligua, Combarbalá and Choapa – may be rooted in Pre-Hispanic times at least several centuries before the Spanish arrival.

[19] This is in line with notions of ethnologist Ricardo E. Latcham who consider the Chono along other sea-faring nomads may be remnants from more widespread indigenous groups that were pushed south by "successive invasions" from more northern tribes.

[23] Based on mDNA analysis of various indigenous groups of South America it is thought that Mapuche are at least in part descendant of peoples from the Amazon Basin that migrated to Chile through two routes; one through the Central Andean highlands and another through the eastern Gran Chaco and the Argentine Northwest.

[27][18] Jolkesky (2016) considers that Mapuche's lexical similarities with the Kunza, Mochika, Uru-Chipaya, Arawak, Pano, Cholon-Hibito, and Kechua language families are due to contact.