El "estado de arauco" frente a la conquista española: Estructuración sociopolítica y ritual de los araucano-mapuches en los valles nahuelbutanos durante los siglos XVI Y XVII

Abstract

This article discusses the archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence for the socio-political organization of the indigenous populations of the interconnected valleys of the Nahuelbuta mountain range in south-central Chile. The argument is that the sociopolitical structure, the demographic density, and the cultural and economic characteristics of these populations were much more advanced and complex than previously discussed in the archaeological, historical, and anthropological literature. The form of the socio-political organization and the settlement pattern of the Araucanian-Mapuche populations in the study area from the 16th to 17th centuries are hypothesized in terms of complex models of the Andean world.