Pehuenches
The Pehuenches (people of the Pehuén) are a mountain indigenous group that is part of the Mapuche people and lives on both sides of the Andes mountain range in south-central Chile and the south-west of Argentina. It is usually characterized by basing its diet on the collection of pine nuts, the seeds of the pehuén or araucaria, which grows mainly at more than 1000 meters above sea level. The current Pehuenches are identified as that population of Mapuche culture that lives exclusively on the banks of the upper Biobío River in the mountain range of the VIII Biobío Region and in the Lonquimay area in the IX Araucanía Region of Chile. In Argentina there are small groups of Pehuenches in the Malargüe department (of the Mendoza province) and in isolation in Arroyo Los Berros, Valcheta department (of the Río Negro province). The Pehuenche Zonal Council brings together the main Argentine group in Aluminé (in the province of Neuquén).
Their ancestral territory included in Chile from the Chillán snow-capped mountains in the north to the Llaima volcano in the south, being found sporadically in the north as far as the Maule river. In Argentina they extended from the Diamante river in the north to the Aluminé lake in the south. They moved to the valleys in winter and went up to higher places in summer, where they generally collected the pine nuts between March and May.
Their self-denomination and their original language have not been preserved, although it is known that they were part of the group of Huarpes before their complete Araucanization, and since they were tall, thin, and dark-skinned. By the middle of the XVIII century all the Pehuenches spoke the Mapudungun language, although their acculturation by the Araucanians was not complete until the middle of the century XIX. Around the 16th century, the Araucanians called them Pehuenches.
Features
With the pine nut they made flour and a fermented drink. The pine nuts were kept in underground cellars. The fruits of other trees, such as the molle and the carob, also entered their diet. They used bow and arrow, and two-ball boleadoras to hunt rheas, guanacos, and deer, made of guts and leather. They used the hides of these last two animals to make the awnings in which several families lived, propped up with sticks and branches, in the manner of the Tehuelches, although in a more solid and permanent way. They also used the hides to make clothing and rhea feathers as ornaments. The vessels were made of wood and leather. With the arrival of the Spanish, they adopted the horse that they obtained by bartering with neighboring tribes. They incorporated the long spear to hunt when they came into contact with the Araucanians. To navigate some lakes, they built reed canoes in the manner of their Huarpe neighbors. They knew silver and copper and used them to make ornamental rings in the manner of the Araucanians. In certain circumstances, they painted their faces, arms, and legs. Although almost unadorned black clay pottery has been found in their territory, they are not known to have known pottery techniques. From the Huarpes they learned basketry. The richest men practiced polygamy and the tribes were made up of small groups that elected a cacique. They buried their dead in caves or buried them in soft ground.
A group related to the original Pehuenches, which also belonged to the huárpido group, was the Puelches algarroberos or Puelches de Cuyo. This town was located to the north of the Pehuenche area in the current province of Mendoza, in the Andean foothills. Their main food was carob and as a substantial difference with the Pehuenches, who were basically collectors, was their accentuated hunting character. The first reference to the "puelches carob growers" was made in his reports of 1594 by the chronicler and field master Miguel de Olavarría.
History
In 1550 Jerónimo de Bibar wrote about the Pehuenches:
These go down to the plains to hire the people of them at a certain time of the year, because this time was pointed out, which is by February until the end of March that the snows are melted and can go out (...) every partiality goes out to the valley that falls where it has its acquaintances and friends and flee this time with them. And they bring from those blankets that call llunques and also bring ostrich feathers. And they're getting corn and food from the deals they have.
Pedro Mariño de Lobeira described the Pehuenches around 1563:
They are Indians of different stalks and aspects of the other Indians of Chile, because all without exception are thin and loose, although not less willing and beautiful, for having large and torn eyes, and the bodies very well made and high. The maintenance of these almost ordinary people is: pineapples taken from a few pineapples of different owls and quality as well as their trees.
Pedro de Angelis gave his opinion of them in 1836:
His hair is black, but the tips throw in blond, round face, confused eyes, the nose regularly chat, the best-made mouth and more girl than the Peruvians, white and durable teeth, muscled and well-formed legs, and small feet and hands.
War against the Spanish
The first confrontations between the Pehuenches and the Spanish occurred in 1575 south of the Toltén River. The Pehuenches later withdrew further south.
In the first parliament held by the governor of Chile Martín García Oñez de Loyola in 1593, the Pehuenches took part.
The city of Chillán was attacked on April 10, September 13 and October 9, 1599 by 2000 Pehuenche warriors of the chief Quilacán, the city was defended by Diego Serrano who had committed several cruelties and imprisoned the chief Millachinge in Coihueco resulting in the death of 5 soldiers and 3 civilians, the indigenous taking 33 priests, women and children. In January 1600, the Pehuenches tried again to attack Chillán with 3,000 warriors, but they were rejected by Luis de Jofré and his troops. However, that same year the Pehuenches launched new attacks under the command of the cacique Paillamaki.
At the end of 1627 and beginning of 1628, the governor of Chile attacked with 200 Spaniards the Pehueches and Puelches allies of the former Yanacona Lientur, defeating them.
In 1641, Father Rosales traveled through the passes of Paimún and Epulafquén, pointing out that to the north of them some Pehuenches had been located. In 1653 he also found them around Lake Nahuel Huapi.
In 1647 the Parliament of Quillin was held, between Spaniards and Pehuenches.
Between 1655 and 1660 the Pehuenches participated in the campaigns led by the mestizo Alejo in the Concepción area. In 1659 the governor of Chile tried to capture the mestizo Alejo without achieving his objective, since he had taken refuge in the high mountains with the Pehuenches under the command of chief Inaqueupu.
In 1657 Pehuenche groups attacked estancias in Maule and Cuyo, discovering that they could cross the Andes through the Pehuenche pass, which allowed them to access the south of Mendoza without going through Concepción.
Already around the 17th century, there was evidence of a progressive Araucanization of this people, so that in the 19th century they were already a group of Mapuche culture that lived in the Andean areas of the VIII and IX regions of Chile and in the Argentine provinces from Mendoza and Neuquen.
In 1712 the Pehuenches and Huiliches sacked the city of San Luis.
In 1738 the Pehuenches did not attend the Parliament of Tapihue, expressing themselves in the act "that they are populated in the headwaters of this Ysla de la Laxa and Biobio".
In November 1740 Pehuenche groups participated in the confederation organized by the pampa cacique Cangapol, made up of pampas, huilliches, aucas, pehuenches and tehuelches, who with some 4,000 warriors attacked Fontezuelas, the upper Luján river and the Pago de la Matanza. On November 26, 1740, this indigenous confederation carried out a raid on Magdalena that reached the Ensenada de Barragán. The conflict did not end with the peace treaty signed with Cangapol in 1742, because on July 28, 1744, 200 Chilean Pehuenches attacked Cañada de la Cruz and Luján. Field master Cristóbal Cabral, appointed by the Buenos Aires Cabildo, went out to pursue them, killing 70 indigenous people. In 1750 Cangapol had broken the peace treaty, but returned to understanding with the Spanish by notifying that the Chilean Pehuenche cacique Huelquín had arrived in the Tordillo area in July 1753, who attacked Arrecifes in early November. In November 1754 the Pehuenches attacked Salto and Arrecifes.
In December 1756, the Parliament of La Laja was held between the Pehuenches and the Chilean government, agreeing on mutual cooperation. In 1760 the Pehuenches participated in the Parliament of Santiago, but parleyed separately from the other butalmapus. In 1766 the Pehuenche caciques Colignir, Lebián and Peiqueipil lent support to the Spanish besieged in Angol by the Mapuches, their tolderías being attacked by the Huiliches.
In 1769 the caciques Lebián and Pilmigerenantu led a general Pehuenche uprising against the Spanish, the Pehuenche rebellion of 1769. As part of that rebellion, Pehuenches and Ranqueles carried out a raid on the city of Mendoza and in February 1770 the Pehuenches carried out other. Some of the Pehuenches who did not participate in the rebellion, or who laid down their arms, were relocated to territory controlled by the Spanish, some were sent as prisoners to Lima and later restored by the viceroy, others were assassinated, and others were expelled from their lands. In 1770 a group of the latter crossed the Andes mountain range and settled in the area of the Malargüe river (Malalhue), becoming the "Pehuenches de Malargüe". Once again at odds with the Spanish, these Pehuenches attacked the Fort in December de San Carlos, erected that year to consolidate the southern border of Mendoza.
To the north of the Agrio River in Neuquén there were other Pehuenche groups: those of Reñileuvú and Curi Leuvú, and those of Varvarco.
The new governor of Chile, Brigadier Francisco de Morales y Castejón, made peace with the Pehuenches in the Parliament of Negrete (1771). This parliament took place between February 24 and 28, 1771 on the banks of the Biobío River, in the vicinity of the Negrete border ford, with representation of the 4 butalmapus. The chief governor of the Pehuenches was Juan Lebián (or Lebiant).
In 1774 another parliament was held in Tapihue from which Lebián withdrew, but another Pehuenche group did parliament. In September 1776, Lebián, chief governor of the Pehuenches, was assassinated by a group of Spaniards when he was returning from meeting with Ambrosio O'Higgins in Los Angeles.
In 1777 there was a raid on Saladillo carried out by Pehuenches, Pampas and Aucas, under the command of the chief governor Pinalefi, together with the chiefs Curruibilu and Guenocal, and the support of the chief Yanquelemus.
In 1778, the viceroy of the Río de la Plata Pedro de Ceballos appointed José Francisco de Amigorena as field master of the militias of Mendoza and San Juan, adding the viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo to command the militias of San Luis and the title of Commander of Arms and Frontier of Mendoza. Amigorena carried out an offensive war against the natives, dispatching 15 times, 6 of them to La Pampa. In 1779 he expeditioned to the Atuel River. He offered peace, which some Pehuenches accepted after the Campanario campaign from February to March 1780 against the old Pehuenche cacique Guentenao (who died during it, along with a brother of Ancán Amún named Lliguenquén and the captain Longopay). On December 14, 1780, peace was signed in the city of Mendoza with the chief cacique Marcos Roco (or Troco, son-in-law and successor of Guentenao or Guantanao and son of the Puelche Juan Goico), represented by his wife Ignacia Guantanao, María Yanquipi (representing another cacique), and the chiefs Raigán, Raigapán, Antepán and Peñalife. As a guarantee, family members of the Pehuenche caciques were held hostage, and the defeated had to settle a few leagues south of the Fort of San Carlos.
When the main Pehuenche cacique of Malargüe, Ancán Amún (in office since 1780), invaded as far as Carrizal, Amigorena attacked the tolderías in the area between the Diamante and Atuel rivers, killing 140 and taking 120 indigenous prisoners. Later the peace was extended, also in Mendoza, on April 20 and August 16, 1781 to the caciques Piempán, Puñalef, Loncopán, Lincopí, Malgamain, Peileguén and others. Some indigenous people remained as hostages to guarantee compliance with the pacts and others were settled in the vicinity of the Fort of San Carlos (they remained there until 1806).
Alliance with the Spanish
On October 24, 1783, Ancán Mellipi (or Anca Namún) signed peace with Amigorena in the city of Mendoza, being recognized as "governor of the Pehuenche Nation". He also signed his subordinate Loncopán, who had already agreed to peace in December 1780 and was installed with his tribe a few leagues south of Fort San Carlos. The signed document states that "they would be treated as faithful and loyal vassals of her Majesty" provided they "declare themselves as enemies of the other enemy nations and not subject to obedience and as friends of the Spanish."
In 1784 Pichintur, brother of Ancán Amún, also traveled to Mendoza to sign peace on the same terms as his brother.
The Parliament of Lonquilmo in 1784 in Chile agreed to incorporate the Butalmapu Pehuenche into the Puel Mapu, stopping the attacks of the Aucas:
Article 3: That those of the borders of the city of Mendoza, Malalhue, Mamey Mapu, Pwelche, Wijiches Serranos and other inhabitants of the Pampas of Buenos Aires had to form a partiality with the Pewenches of Maule, Chillán, Antuco and Villucura.
These Pehuenche allies of the Spanish continued their war against the Huiliches south of the Agrio river and against the Ranqueles until 1794. In December 1784, the Ranquel pampa cacique Ignacio Creyo (son-in-law of the Huiliche Ranquel Paillatur), who was taking refuge among the Pehuenches from Ancán Amún, was assassinated by him and at the end of January 1785 his tribe was massacred.
Towards the 18th century, part of the Pehuenches ―already almost totally acculturated by the Mapuches― advanced from the Andean region towards the center of the Pampas region, especially towards the forested territory populated with caldenes and carob trees called Mamüll Mapu ('land de los leños'), territory that corresponds to the current southwest of the province of Córdoba, southeast of the province of San Luis and the northwestern center of the province of La Pampa, there they constituted one of the main lineages of the ranquel ethnic group.
In September 1787, the Pehuenches of Malargüe and Varvarco marched towards the tolderías of Llanquitur, who had already dismissed his Chilean allies, and defeated him, killing his brother Ñancucheo and the caciques Antemain, Carripil and Ancain. After returning from the expedition against the Huilliches, who had devastated their territories the previous winter, the Pehuenches of Varvarco and Malargüe asked to hold a parliament, which was held on October 17, 1787 near the Salado River, not far from the tolderías of the Pehuenches of Malargüe, to where Amigorena had advanced with 100 soldiers. The Pehuenche caciques Pichintur (Pinchintur), Cañihuán (both brothers of Ancán Amún, died of smallpox that same year), and 9 others from Malargüe participated; and Currilipi (chief of Varvarco or of the 'piñones' and cousin of Pichintur) and 13 others. Pichintur was elected in parliament as "governor of the Pehuenche Nation". Amigorena promised to send two well-armed soldiers to Neuquén to protect the tolderías of Currilipi for a month. The Ranquel Huiliche cacique Lanquetur (Llanquetur, Yanquetur or Yanquetruz, the "rebel" brother of Paillatur) continued to wage war attacking the tents of Currilipi, but was rejected by the Mendoza riflemen stationed there and later sued for peace. The war between the Pehuenches of Malargüe and the Huiliches installed in La Pampa had been unleashed for control of the Andean passes of Villacura, Antuco, Alico, Anegado, Cerro Colorado and Curicó, which were in Pehuenche power.
Because the Pehuenches were at peace with the government, they were harassed by the Huiliches, so Pichintur traveled to the city of Mendoza to request help to make an expedition. At the end of January 1788, the commander of the Fort of San Carlos, Francisco Esquivel y Aldao, left with 50 militiamen and the forces of Pichintur, carrying out the first campaign on the territory of Neuquén. They traveled 2,000 km reaching Peña Haichel (Las Lajas) and Picún Leufú. They attacked 7 Huiliche tolderías (including those of Llanquitur, Pablo Levenopán and Arceabel), completely defeating them and killing a hundred, including 10 caciques and captains. They took 350 prisoners, ransomed 7 captives, and seized 20,000 head of cattle.
In March Levenopán and the rebel Pehuenche Calbuyllán appeared in San Carlos, separating from Llanquitur. He returned to war at the end of winter trying to attack Varvarco's Pehuenches, but they were helped by 40 Chilean militiamen under the command of Sergeant Francisco Vivanco and on December 16, 1788 he was killed by the Pehuenche Currilipy (Currilipi). Currilipy was then assassinated with his tribe, in the middle of winter, in revenge for the huiliches of Comepayu (Caneu Payun), Llanquitur's successor.
In 1792 the Huiliches had managed to recover enough to threaten the Pehuenches again, so they requested new aid from Mendoza. Amigorena sent Aldao with a division that had the support of Pichintur and 7 other Pehuenche caciques, which advanced to near the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers. On June 3, 1792, they attacked 6 Huiliche tribes in the Nuyegalei hamlet, killing 5 caciques with some 50 families and taking 160 prisoners, 1,500 horses and cattle.
To put an end to the ancestral wars between Huiliches and Ranqueles, on the one hand, and Pehuenches on the other, in March 1794 the chief caciques of the former, Canapayún and Carripilún, asked the Pehuenches of Roco for peace. Between May 19 and 21, 1794, the caciques met at the Fort of San Carlos: Carilef (of the Pehuenches who had lived in San Carlos since 1781), Pichintur, Caniguán, Buenocal, Roco, Antepán, Nancutripai, Guayquinao, Antipán, Carenao and Bartolo Güelecal, to discuss peace, which they approved. In 1796 Vértiz also approved it, notifying Carripilún so that he could sign it.
Between the end of 1795 and the middle of 1798, a war broke out between the Pehuenches of Malargüe and those of Varvarco, located on both sides of the Andes, resulting in the death of Pichintur at the hands of Rayguán. On May 16, Amigorena brought them together by signing peace, but shortly after the main chief Rayguán of the Pehuenches of Varvarco was assassinated by Millanguir and the peace was broken. Millanguir, son of Ancán Amún, was elected cacique governor of the Pehuenches. On August 12, 1796, Amigorena gathered the Pehuenches in parliament in San Carlos, with the participation of: Millanguir, Antipán, Pichicolemilla, Raquillant, Guaiquilao, Leviant, Guanimaín, Carilef, Pañichiñe, Millatur and others, together with the Puelche Bartolo Güelecal. At the request of the Captain General of Chile, a general peace meeting was held in Chillán on March 3, 1798. As Millanguir and Roco (the oldest and most respected cacique of the Pehuenches) failed to attend the meeting, Amigorena gathered them in San Carlos together with other Pehuenches between May 31 and June 1, 1798 to read them the agreement and dismissed Millanguir, naming Pichicolemilla the new governor of the Pehuenches of Malargüe and dependencies and chief Paiñichiñé as his lieutenant.
A document from 1796 indicates that the Butalmapu Pehuenche was made up of ten ayllarehues, totaling 10,188 inhabitants.
- In the valleys and skirts of the mountain range south of the river Biobio, there were 5,097 people in the Ayllarehues de Degmo, Chanco, Cura and Guanbalí.
- In the vicinity of Santa Barbara there were 1,667 pehuenches in the Ayllarehues of Villucura and Rucalgüe.
- To the east of the Andes there were 3,424 inhabitants in the Ayllarehues of Caibuyaunal, Neuquén, Dagüegue and Pino. While another 1000 were reduced in Cuyo.
In 1798 the Chilean explorer Justo Molina, together with the chief Butacolimilla, recognized the road that led to Mendoza from the mountain passes of Neuquén. In 1799 he explored the Neuquén River in the company of 105 indigenous people for 17 days. In 1804 he left Chillán, accompanied among others by two of his sons and Captain Jara, crossing the Paso de Alico (current Paso de lagunas de Epulafquen) in the company of a group of Pehuenches, heading for Buenos Aires through Mamüll. Mapu. His trip was frustrated by the flooding of the Chadileuvú river and he headed to Mendoza and from there to Buenos Aires.
On July 6, 1799, Amigorena signed the peace treaty between the Ranqueles and Mendoza at Fort San Carlos, with the presence of the Pehuenches of the cacique governor Pichicolemilla, who also signed peace with the Ranqueles. The cacica María Josefa Goico and José Goico, representing the Oscoyanes (a faction of the puelches carob growers), numerous caciques and captains and 344 spear Indians. He recognized himself as chief governor of the Ranqueles in Carripilún. The Huiliches continued to be at war with the Spanish, and Carripilún undertook to report on their hostile movements.
In April 1805, a parliament met on the Diamante River, in which 23 caciques and 11 captains participated, agreeing on April 2 the foundation of Fort San Rafael.
In 1806 Colonel Luis de la Cruz with 20 soldiers traveled in 47 days from Fortín Ballenar to Melincué to draw up a map, without being bothered by the Pehuenches or the Ranqueles, with whom he fraternized. He crossed the Andes mountain range through the Antuco Pass.
During the English invasions, the indigenous envoy Felipe traveled to Buenos Aires on August 17, 1806 to offer on behalf of 16 Pampas, Tehuelche and Pehuenche chiefs the help they needed to expel the British.
(...) that they were soon to open up people, diggers and quantos of help depended on their arbitrium so that that Ilustre Cabildo would put his hand on them against the coloured, what name he gave to the English (...) that they would gladly take care of men as bad as the coloured (...)
War against Argentina and Chile
After the May Revolution, in 1812 the government of Buenos Aires invited the Pehuenches to hold a parliament at the Fort of San Carlos. In parliament the Pehuenches were invited to participate in the war against the royalists. In 1814 another parliament was held with the Pehuenches, due to the defeat of Rancagua, commercial relations with Chile were prohibited.
The royalist brigadier Gabino Gaínza celebrated the Parliament of Quilín on February 3, 1814 with the Mapuches, including the Pehuenches, renewing the Spanish alliance with them and presenting himself as governor appointed by the viceroy of Peru.
On September 15, 1815, José de San Martín met with the Pehuenche caciques, commanded by cacique Ñacuñán (Neyku'ñan, Neycuñar or Ñeicún) at the Fort of San Carlos (known as La Consulta) requesting them permission for forces of the Army of the Andes to cross the mountain range through their territory (passes of El Potrillo and El Planchón), except for three caciques, the others granted permission. The Pehuenches remained as suppliers of cattle and horses for the army.
Since 1822, part of the Pehuenches entered into an alliance with the royalist bandits, the Pincheira brothers. The chiefs Neculmán, El Mulato, Canumilla and Martín Toriano were allies of the Pincheiras, while Luis Melipán and Venancio Coñoepán were their enemies.
In 1825 there was an internal conflict between the Pehuenches of Malargüe that resulted in the death of the chief governor Ñeicún, who was replaced by Antical, one of the victors. The defeated requested the help of Chilean caciques, who sent the Huiliche cacique Anteñir together with 200 royalist soldiers under the command of the Pincheirino officer Julián Hermosilla, managing to defeat Antical. The Pehuenches of Malargüe were massacred, being virtually exterminated.
In 1825 the Chilean government commissioned Captain Barnechea to try to convince the Pincheiras to join the Chilean Army, in addition to offering a peace treaty to the Pehuenche caciques. These caciques met in Cayanta and decided to accept the proposal, but only the caciques Manquel (from Reñi Leuvú) and Lancamilla (from Malargüe) complied, Caripil (from Nahueve) remained neutral and Neculmán continued to be allied with the Pincheiras. Shortly after they assaulted Parral, beginning the so-called war to the death. In February 1826, Captain Barnechea tried to attack the Senosian pincheirista commander located north of Neuquén with two columns, but he had to retreat; then in November he started another expedition that crossed the Epulafquen pass defeating Pablo Pincheira's troops in Malal Caballo, later managing to capture the chief Neculmán.
At the end of 1828 Pehuenche groups accompanied by Pincheira's men attacked the estancias of San Carlos, Tunuyán and Tupungato. Between the years 1828 and 1832, four military campaigns were carried out against the groups of royalist bandits of the Pincheira brothers who took refuge in inaccessible areas of Chile and in the south of Mendoza and north of Neuquén, who acted in alliance with Pehuenche caciques on both sides. of the Andes mountain range maintaining the cause of the King of Spain after the end of the war of independence. In 1829 José Antonio Pincheira signed the Treaty of San Juan (or del Carrizal) with the governor of Mendoza Juan Reje Corvalán, by means of which in exchange for peace he had to receive clothes, supplies, money and the rank of colonel and &# 34;General Commander of the Southern Border". Pincheira had to leave the province of Mendoza, guard the border and comply with the governor's orders, also reporting his whereabouts. Because the Unitary League had become strong in Córdoba in 1829, the following year José Antonio Pincheira meddled in the internal struggles of Mendoza taking sides with Governor Juan Reje Corvalán (federal) who had taken refuge in his territory. Breaking the treaty of San Juan, the indigenous allies of Pincheira under the command of the caciques Coleto and Mulato, carried out the massacre of El Chacay (known as the Tragedy of El Chacay) on June 11, 1830, assassinating Juan Reje Corvalán and his entourage of 30 members, including Juan Agustín Maza, approached only 8 leagues from the city of Mendoza.
In 1828 the first campaign of the border commander Colonel José Félix Aldao was carried out. The division was made up of 2 infantry companies from a National Guards battalion, 2 line cavalry squadrons, 2 cavalry squadrons from Valle de Uco militias, and 2 artillery pieces from Fort San Carlos. On October 20, 1828, Aldao was victorious in the battle of the Aucas (Passage of the Diamante River) against Pehuenche and Pincheirina forces that tripled their number, killing the chief Goyco. In the same campaign Aldao won Las Aguaditas. In 1830 the campaign of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Virto was carried out, in 1831 the campaign of General José Albino Gutiérrez and in 1832 the second campaign of General José Félix Aldao. These four campaigns achieved the objective of dismantling the bands of outlaws and defeating their Pehuenche allies.
During the government of Juan José Viamonte in the province of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas was the general commander of the campaign and in mid-1829 he sent emissaries to the borogas in order to separate them from the alliance with the Pincheiras, while who also sent the Pehuenche cacique Martín Toriano (former ally of the Pincheiras) to form an Araucanian force that would attack the Boroans from Chile, a force that began to act in September 1830. However, that same month a Boroan delegation traveled to Buenos Aires and he signed peace with Rosas and then confronted Toriano's group (in which the Huiliches Calfucurá and Antonio Namuncurá participated) who were unaware of the Boroans' agreements with Rosas, defeating him. Rosas sent in 1832 from the garrison of the Argentine Protective Fortress 164 men under the command of Martiniano Rodríguez, who marched 30 leagues with only 11 horses and defeated and captured Toriano, who was shot in Tandil.
The expedition in 1832 of the Chilean general Manuel Bulnes, who entered Neuquén territory and on January 14, 1832, was victorious in the Battle of the Epulafquen lagoons where the camp of the Pincheira brothers was located, defeating them definitively, being considered this as the last battle against the Spanish royalists in South America. Among Bulnes's forces were 80 Pehuenches from Antuco under the command of graduate captain Domingo Salvo. The Alamito camp, of José Antonio Pincheira, was located at the point called Coyamuelo to the east of the lagoons, where there were about 150 Pehuenches armed with spears. The horse grenadiers charged the Pehuenches who tried to resist on the banks of the river that rises in the lagoons, but they were defeated and fled. A large number of dead indigenous people remained in a stretch of 3 leagues, among them the chiefs Neculmán, Coleto and Trenquemán (or Triquemán), the main Pehuenche leaders allied with the Pincheiras. Remains of the Pehuenche palisade can still be seen today. A group of pincheiristas and indigenous people took refuge on a hill where some of their families were, from which they dropped rocks rolling down on the forces of the Carampangue Battalion, finally surrendering. The Chilean forces had no deaths or injuries in the battle and took 196 royalist and Pehuenche prisoners. Then Bulnes returned to Chile with 20,000 head of cattle and all the prisoners from the Copulhue gap, with the idea of beating the Pehuenches who could still resist and then heading to Antuco, but the Pehuenches he found submitted to the Chilean government and they surrendered captives without offering resistance.
During the Roses to the Desert Campaign, the cavalry division of Major General Ángel Pacheco went up the Negro River on both banks. On May 26, 1833, the vanguard under the command of Francisco Sosa and Cayetano Ferrat attacked the toldería of the Pehuenche cacique allied with Chocorí named Payllerén (or Pillarén), who was killed along with 24 indigenous people. A sergeant and several soldiers drowned during the attack.
In 1851 a peace treaty was signed between the Pehuenches and Mendoza. Another treaty was signed in 1862. The Pehuenches of Mendoza signed a peace treaty with Chile in 1870 and another in 1872. In 1873 the Argentine national government and the Pehuenches also signed a peace treaty.
In 1880 the Pehuenche cacique Purrán was captured during the Desert Campaign, but in 1888 he fled to Chile. The advance of the Argentine Army caused many indigenous people, including Pehuenches, to take refuge in the mountains and valleys of Alto Biobío, Antuco and Quinquen. Part of those refugees remained under Chilean control, but those who took refuge in Alto Biobío maintained their hostility against Argentines and Chileans. In 1881, 300 Pehuenches participated in the attack on Fort Antuco on the Cautín River. During the Andes Campaign of the Argentine Army in Neuquén, between November 1882 and March 1883, a group of Pehuenches took refuge in the Chilean valleys of Trapa Trapa, Queuco, Guayaly and Lonquimay.
At the end of 1882, the Chilean Army carried out the expedition to the Cordillera, advancing on the valleys of Queuco and Callaqui in order to dominate the Pehuenches, establishing the forts of Nitrito, Lonquimay, Liucura, Llaima and Maitchú. In 1883 a new Chilean incursion was made in Alto Biobío, which meant the definitive Chilean domination over the Pehuenches of the area. Commander Pascual Cid assigned land to the Pehuenche immigrants who fled from Neuquén, recognizing them as Chileans.
Pehuenche mountain passes
The cattle obtained in the raids of the Pampa were bartered in Chile, generally for weapons and alcoholic beverages, by the Pehuenches who controlled the mountain passes of Neuquén. The Boquete de Antuco (Antuco mountain pass) or "path of the Pehuenches" was the main road that crossed the Andes mountain range that linked the Puel Mapu with the Araucanía. The trails of the Camino de los Chilenos arrived through the valley of the Neuquén river until they reached the Pichachén Pass in the Andes, from where they reached the Laja lake and descended to the Trubunleo river through a small pass that separates the Antuco volcano and the Sierra Velluda. The path then continued through the valley of the Laja river, passing the island of La Laja at the point where in 1770 Ambrosio O'Higgins had Fortín Ballenar or Antuco built to close the pass.
Current communities
After the Conquest of the Desert, the Pehuenches virtually disappeared as a people in Argentine territory, many of them crossed the Andes towards Chile. In the province of Mendoza, groups called Mapuche Pehuenche began to organize in 2007, electing a werkén (spokesperson) and forming two lof (communities) in the Malargüe department, which received legal status in 2009:
- Malal Pincheira (in the castles of Pincheira and Buta Mallín creek)
- Kupan Kupalme (or Juan Cupalme, in the eastern part of the Payunia).
On March 18, 2014, a third community was recognized, the lof Laguna Iberá in El Morro.
In the province of Río Negro there is a Pehuenche community in Arroyo Los Berros.
In the province of Neuquén, the Pehuenche are organized in the Pehuenche Zonal Council, which brings together 9 communities in the Aluminé department.
- Currumil (Killen patch).
- Aigo
- Peñi Huán
- Ñorquincó
- Tayiñ Raquizuán
- Lefiman
- Plácido Puel
- Catalan
- Salazar
In the area of Ralco and surrounding sectors of the valleys of the Queuco and Bío Bío rivers is the commune of Alto Biobío, province of Biobío, which today groups 12 Pehuenche communities, many of which maintain the way of life summer/wintering and the celebration of the nguillatun.
- Shut up.
- Quepuca Ralco
- Ralco Lepoy
- Pitril
- Cauñico
- Malla Malla
- Trap
- Butalelbun
- Butalelbun
- The Avellano
- The Boat
- Guayali
- The Guindos
In the commune of Lonquimay in the province of Malleco, Araucanía. The commune of Lonquimay has an area of 3,953.79 km², with a population of 10,237 inhabitants. Of these, 63.5% (6,500) are of Pehuenche origin. There are the communities:
- Atay Pehuen
- Mapu Choique
- Pedro Currilem
- Paulino Huaiquillan
- Pehuen-ko
- Manuel and Samuel Queupu
- Queupu Marimenuco
- Sunday Calluqueo
In 1997, the Endesa company began construction of a second hydroelectric plant in the Alto Bío Bío area. Some Pehuenches who inhabited the area refused to abandon their lands, protected by the new legislation that required the authorization of the National Corporation for Indigenous Development (CONADI) to be able to exchange indigenous lands. Faced with the refusal of this government body to approve said exchange, President Eduardo Frei dismissed the director of CONADI and the environmental authority that also opposed the megaproject. In this way, thousands of hectares of land and sacred sites for the Pehuenches were flooded.
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