Lautaro

Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') (Mapudungun: Lef-Traru "swift hawk") (Spanish pronunciation: [lawˈtaɾo]; c. 1534 – April 29, 1557) 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. He is revered among Mapuche and non-Mapuche Chileans and Argentinians for his resistance against foreign conquest, servitude and cruelty. Captured by Spanish forces in his early youth, Lautaro spent his teenage years as a personal servant of chief conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. He graduated from servant to stableman; in this job he saw that their horses were not godlike creatures like his people thought (the biggest animal they knew was the llama). He escaped in 1551 and told his people that the conquistadores and their horses were just mortals and they could defeat them. Back among his people he was declared Toqui and led Mapuche warriors into a series of victories against the Spaniards, culminating in the Battle of Tucapel in December 1553, where Valdivia was killed. The outbreak of a typhus plague, a drought and a famine prevented the Mapuche from taking further actions to expel the Spaniards in 1554 and 1555. Between 1556 and 1557, a small group of Mapuche commanded by Lautaro attempted to reach Santiago to liberate the whole of Central Chile from Spanish rule. Lautaro's attempts ended in 1557 when he was killed in an ambush by the Spaniards.