The 1651 wreckage of San José and the subsequent killings and looting carried out by indigenous Cuncos was a defining event in Colonial Chile that contributed to Spanish–Cunco tensions that led to the Battle of Río Bueno and the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
[1] By 1651, the Spanish settlement of Valdivia had grown into a military garrison and was tasked with constructing the Valdivian Fort System to defend against the Dutch or any other naval power that might attempt to retake the city.
[2] The Spanish ship San José, sailing to Valdivia, was pushed by storms on March 26[3] onto coasts inhabited by the Cuncos, a southern Mapuche tribe.
[6] While González Montero was away, coastal Huilliches killed twelve Spanish and sent their heads to other Mapuche groups in southern Chile "as if they wanted to create a grand uprising" according to historian Diego Barros Arana.
[6] The expedition from Carelmapu led by Captain Ignacio Carrera Yturgoyen penetrated north to the vicinity of the ruins of Osorno, where they were approached by Huilliches who handed over three "caciques" that were allegedly responsible for the murders.