View source for Battle of Curalaba

{{Short description|1598 Mapuche uprising against Spanish colonists in Chile}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = March 2019}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2017}}
{{Warbox
| conflict          = Battle of Curalaba
| partof            = [[Arauco War]]
| date              = December 23, 1598
| place             = Curalaba, on the banks of the [[Lumaco River]], 25 kilometers from [[Angol]]
| coordinates       = {{Coord|37|55|S|72|53|W|type:event|display=inline,title}}
| result            = Decisive Mapuche victory
| combatant1        = [[Image:Flag of New Spain.svg|border|22px]] [[Spanish Empire]]
| combatant2        = [[Mapuche]]
| commander1        = [[Image:Flag of New Spain.svg|border|22px]] [[Martín García Oñez de Loyola]]{{KIA}}
| commander2        = Vice [[toqui]] [[Pelantaru]]
| strength1         = 50 Spanish and 300 [[Indian auxiliaries]]
| strength2         = 600 warriors<ref>Diego de Ocaña (1987). ''A través de la América del Sur''. Madrid: Historia 16, pp. 105. Edición de Arturo Álvarez.</ref>
| casualties1       = All but two Spaniards were killed,<ref>The Spanish survivors were a priest, Bartolomé Pérez, who was captured, and Bernardo de Pereda, a soldier left for dead with 23 wounds who made his way to La Imperial after 70 days.</ref> as were most of the Indian auxiliaries.
| casualties2       = ?
}}
{{Campaignbox Arauco War}}
The '''Battle of Curalaba''' ({{langx|es|Batalla de Curalaba|links=no}} {{IPA|es|baˈtaʝa ðe kuɾaˈlaβa|pron}}) was a battle and an ambush in 1598 when [[Mapuche]] people led by [[Pelantaru]] defeated Spanish conquerors led by [[Martín García Óñez de Loyola]] at Curalaba, southern [[Chile]]. In Chilean [[historiography]], where the event is often called the '''Disaster of Curalaba''' ({{langx|es|Desastre de Curalaba|links=no}}), the battle marks the end of the [[Conquest of Chile|conquest]] (''la conquista'') period in Chile's history, although the fast Spanish expansion in the south had already been halted in the 1550s. The battle led to a general Mapuche uprising that resulted in [[Destruction of the Seven Cities]]. This severe crisis reshaped [[Colonial Chile]] and forced the Spanish to reassess their mode of warfare.

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2014}}
On December 21, 1598, Governor Martín García Oñez de Loyola traveled to [[Purén]] at the head of 50 soldiers and companions. At the end of the second day, they camped overnight in Curalaba, failing to take protective measures. The Mapuche were aware of their presence and [[Pelantaru]] and his lieutenants [[Anganamón]] and Guaiquimilla, leading three hundred men on horseback, shadowed the group's movements and mounted a surprise night raid. Taken by surprise, the governor and almost all of his party were killed.

This event was called the Disaster of Curalaba by the Spaniards. It not only involved the death of the Spanish governor, but the news rapidly spread among the Mapuche and triggered a general revolt, long-prepared by the [[toqui]] [[Paillamachu]], that destroyed Spanish camps and towns south of the [[Bío-Bío River]] over the next few years.

==See also==
* [[List of battles won by Indigenous peoples of the Americas]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* [[Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche]], [http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/index.asp?id_ut=descripcionhistorico-geograficadelreinodechile '''Descripcion Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile''' (Description Historical Geography of the Kingdom of Chile), PDF E Libros from Memoria Chilena] (History of Chile 1542–1788)
* [http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0008928 Tomo I History 1542–1626, Tomo 8 de Colección de historiadores de Chile y de documentos relativos a la historia nacional. Santiago : Impr. del Ferrocarril, 1861.] '''Primera parte. Tomo I; Capítulo LXXIX.''' Llega a Chile un refuerzo de tropa del Perú – Levanta el Gobernador una ciudad en la provincia de Cuyo – Visita el país meridional de su gobernacion, i los indios le quitan la vida.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curalaba, Battle of}}
[[Category:Conflicts in 1598]]
[[Category:Battles involving Spain]]
[[Category:Battles of the Arauco War]]
[[Category:1598 in the Captaincy General of Chile]]
[[Category:History of Araucanía Region]]


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