By Ana María Zabala Gómez
The Arauco War: a century defending Wallmapu
Fresia and Guacolda were mapuche women from Wallmapu—the ancestral lands of the Mapuche people. There’s a debate around whether they really existed or if they are fictitious characters from “La Araucana,” the epic poem written in 1574 by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga narrating the Arauco War. This war was a conflict between the military of the Spanish Empire and the Mapuche people in alliance with other native peoples like the Cunco, Huilliche, Pehuenche and Picunche. The war started in 1550 with the Spanish invasion that advanced towards the south of Wallmapu. The intense military conflict was prolonged for a century. In the following two centuries, the fighting became sporadic and border agreements were established between the criollos (descendants of europeans) and the mapuches.1
In the Arauco War, the Mapuches defended themselves against domination by the Incas and later invasion by the Spaniards. Despite the Spanish Empire’s desire to advance south, the resistance of the Mapuche people achieved the recognition of their sovereignty over the territory south of the Biobío river, where present-day central Chile ends and southern Chile begins. However, this border continued to be disputed by a colonial power that kept cornering the sovereignty of the Mapuche people.
The later conformation of the Chilean state didn’t respect this border either and many descendants of europeans, and afterwards businessmen, seized Mapuche lands often through the militarization of these territories. In fact, in October 2021, the Chilean president announced the militarization of various Mapuche territories, aggravating the tensions that have intensified in the last decade between the government of Chile and the Mapuche people, who are not explicitly recognized in the current Constitution of the country even though they represent 12% of the population.2




Who are silenced by those who write history?
In general, the chroniclers of the Arauco War don’t give an account of the existence of Fresia and Guacolda in their narratives. This is why certain historians claim there’s no certainty about the existence of these two women and that these two characters are just literary figures created by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga to exemplify the characteristics of the Mapuche woman. But the absence of these women in the tales of the chroniclers can be attributed to the tendency of men who have written history to render women invisible.
Guacolda

Guacolda is known as Lautaro’s partner, with whom she took over the city of Concepción. Guacolda was also at the Mataquito Battle on April 1st of 1557, on the margins of that river, as well as the attack on Santiago. Guacolda and Lautaro were servants in houses of Spaniards. It is said that Lautaro served Pedro de Valdivia and Guacolda was raised in Francisco de Villagra’s house. They had lived with Spaniards and had seen them in everyday life as people of the earth, susceptible to defeat. They didn’t fear them. The couple died together in an ambush setup one night by Francisco de Villagra in the battle of Chilipirco. Alonso de Ercilla and Pedro Mariño de Lobera recount, in their respective works “La Araucana” and “Historia de Chile”, that Guacolda had foretold Lautaro of the disaster and their death on the evening before the battle. Isidora Aguirre , in her theater play “¡Lautaro! Epopeya del pueblo mapuche” (1982), includes Guacolda:
Lautaro es cantado por su amorosa mujer, Guacolda: “Lautaro, estás aquí Lautaro, estoy contigo Lautaro, estás conmigo. Estás en mí, Lautaro ¡estás presente! Hermano… Aquí estamos para defender tu tierra. Tu gente. El hijo dormido.
Lautaro is sung by his loving woman, Guacolda: “Lautaro, you are here Lautaro, I am with you Lautaro, you are with me. You are in me, Lautaro, you are present! Brother… We are here to defend your land. Your people. The asleep son (my trans.).
Fresia
Fresia appears in “La Araucana” when Caupolicán, her husband, is detained by the Spaniards after the combat in Antihuala on February 5th, 1558. When she saw him defeated, being taken to death, she threw their child at him. Fresia’s image has been represented in this act of throwing her baby.3

Take, take your child, which was the knot
with which licit love had linked me;
for sensitive pain and acute blows
have dried up these fertile breasts:
you raise him, for that membered body
has turned into female’s sex;
for I don’t want mother’s title
from the dreadful child of a dreadful father (my trans.).
Despite the uncertainty around the existence of these two women, their figure has become an important part of the Mpauche woman’s identity and her role in the resistance to Spanish colonialism. Literature can also be taken as an account of history. In the end, history is woven by tales.
References
- BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CHILE. (n.d.) La Guerra de Arauco (1550-1656). Memoria Chilena. Disponible en Retrieved on 11/17/2021.
- Cabrera, Natalia. (2021) El Wallmapu, el conflicto mapuche explicado. France 24. Disponible en Retrieved on 11/17/2021.
- Lira Ramírez, Valentina. (2020) Mujeres mapuche en la historia: ejemplos de lucha y resistencia. Copadas. Retrieved on 11/17/2021.