Lautaro was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would continue to be employed by the Mapuche during the long-running Arauco War.
19 Facts About Lautaro
2.
Lautaro was the son of a Mapuche lonko called, Curinancu and was born in 1533.
3.
Lautaro lived a normal life until, at the age of 11, he was captured by the Spanish and forced into servitude by Don Pedro de Valdivia and became his personal servant.
4.
Lautaro learned the military ways and skills of the Spaniards' army by observation.
5.
Lautaro was witness to atrocities committed by the Spanish on captive Mapuche warriors.
6.
Lautaro remained a prisoner of the Spanish for three years.
7.
Lautaro introduced use of horses to the Mapuche and designed better combat tactics.
8.
Lautaro seized the fort, sure that the Spaniards would attempt to retake it.
9.
However, Mapuche tradition dictated a lengthy victory celebration, which kept Lautaro from realizing his desire to pursue the military advantage he had just gained.
10.
Lautaro chose the hill of Marihuenu to fight the Spanish.
11.
Lautaro organized his forces in four divisions: two charged with containing and wearing down the enemy, a third held in reserve to launch a fresh attack as the Spanish were about to crumble, and the last charged with cutting off their retreat.
12.
Lautaro burned it, but his remaining forces were insufficient to continue the offensive, so the campaign came to an end.
13.
Lautaro found scant support for this plan from his troops, who soon dwindled to only 600, but he carried on.
14.
Lautaro had chosen to give Villagra's force the slip and head for the city to attack it.
15.
Lautaro is acclaimed in Chile as its first general, for uniting the dispersed Mapuche people and leading them in battle.
16.
Lautaro inflicted crushing defeats on Spanish armies which had armored horsemen wielding swords, metal war clubs and steel-tipped lances, armored footmen as well, with their own swords and clubs, crossbows and arquebuses, even though his own Mapuche were armed only with slings, bows and arrows, wooden spears, clubs and axes.
17.
Lautaro's name was used by Francisco de Miranda when he founded the Lautaro Lodge, a secret Latin American independence society of the end of 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.
18.
Lautaro appears in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, an expansion of Civilization VI as the leader of the Mapuche civilization.
19.
The Argentine football player Lautaro Martinez was named after the Mapuche hero.