The Mapuche community is the largest indigenous group in Chile. Approximately, 1.5 million Mapuches live in the country with an additional 200,000 living in Argentina. Until the 19th century the Mapuche community managed to remain autonomous, controlling a significant part of the Southern Cone. But since the Pacification of Araucanía, a series of military campaigns that eventually led to the incorporation of the Mapuche region of Araucanía into Chilean national territory, the Mapuche have been regarded as citizens of the state. The Mapuche people no longer had their own sovereignty, economy or identity. The occupation was the beginning of a volatile, and often violent, relationship between the country and the indigenous group. More recently, when democracy made a return to Chile in the 1990s, conflict resurfaced with increased hostility as large national and international forestry corporations began purchasing vast amounts of land across the Araucanía Region. This, in turn, caused the Mapuche’s traditional economy to collapse. Today, many groups within the Mapuche community are still actively fighting for the return of their ancestral lands as well as jurisdictional independance and cultural recognition. Since the late 90s, there have been continuous clashes between the group and Chilean authorities. However the latest government tactic of militarising the Mapuche region in an attempt to bring peace has seen a significant spike in protests and casualties. 2020 has seen a continuation of that trend, with demonstrations regularly escalating into violence. . . . . . #mapuche #mapuches #mapuchelivesmatter #culturamapuche #resistenciamapuche #nativeamerican #araucania #chile #argentina #freedom #justice #libertad #justicia #mapuchecommunity (presso Santiago, Chile) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEYpEFQlcuW/?igshid=wvv73z4wwuq
