La Araucana
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La Araucana is an epic poem in Spanish about the Spanish conquest of Chile, by Alonso de Ercilla; it is also known in English as The Araucaniad. It is considered the national epic of the Kingdom of Chile.
The author was a participant in the conquest and the story is based on his experiences there. Published in three parts—in 1569, 1578, and 1589—the story is considered to be the first or one of the first works of literature in the New World (cf. Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios—"Shipwrecked" or "Castaways") for its fantastical/religious elements, it is arguable whether that is a "traveler's account" or actual literature; and Bernal Díaz del Castillo's Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (The Conquest of New Spain). It is considered to be an important work of the Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro).
The work is deliberately literary and includes fantastical elements reminiscent of medieval stories of chivalry. The narrator is a participant in the story, at the time a new development for Spanish literature. Influences include Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. Also features extended description of the natural landscape.
The author was born into a noble family from the Basque country. He occupied several positions in the household of Prince Philip (later King Philip II of Spain), before requesting and receiving appointment to a military expedition to Peru to subdue rebellion by Spanish troops there. On arrival they found the rebellion already extinguished, so with Pedro de Valdivia they proceeded further south to continue the conquest and settlement of the territory: this is where the poem begins. Ercilla served two to three years in Chile before returning to Spain.
Valdivia was captured and killed by Mapuche (also known as Araucanian) Indians. Ercilla blames Valdivia for his own death, having mistreated the natives who had previously acquiesced to Spanish rule and provoking them into rebellion. However, having (allegedly) previously accepted the rule of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, they were now in revolt against their legitimate sovereign lord. This is the ethical position of Ercilla: sympathy for the Indians' suffering, admiration for the courage of their resistance, criticism of Spanish cruelty, but loyalty to and acceptance of the legitimacy of the Spanish cause (the legitimate rule of a duly-constituted prince and the extension of Christianity).
Key events include the capture and execution of Pedro de Valdivia; of Caupolicán and Lautaro, two chieftains of the Mapuche/Araucanians (thanks to betrayal by one of their own); the encounter with a sorcerer who takes the narrator for a flight above the earth to see events happening in Europe and the Middle East; and the encounter with an Indian woman (Glaura) searching for her husband amongst the dead after a battlefield. This last is an indicator of the humanist side of Ercilla, and a human sympathy which he shows towards the indigenous people. The narrator claims that he attempted to have the lives of the Indian chieftains spared.
There is an episode in the novel Don Quixote when a priest and barber inspect Don Quixote's personal library, to burn the books responsible for driving him to madness. La Araucana is one of the works which the men spare from the flames, as "one of the best examples of its genre", entirely Christian and honorable.
There is a municipality in the Araucania Region of Chile named after Ercilla.
