Malón

Malón is the name given to the raids of Mapuche bands into Spanish, Chilean and Argentine territory from the 17th to the 19th centuries, as well as to attacks to rival Mapuche factions. The malón among the Mapuche is described as a means of obtaining justice by Juan Ignacio Molina:

As a tactic against the Spanish, the malón, pioneered by leaders such as Lientur, consisted of a fast surprise attack by a number of mounted Mapuche warriors against the white (huinca) populations, haciendas, settlements and fortifications in Chile and Argentina, with the aim of obtaining horses, cattle, provisions and captives, often young women. The effectiveness of the tactic was that a rapid attack without formal order did not give sufficient time to organize a defense, and that it left behind a devastated population unable to retaliate or pursue.

In Chile, the Spaniards responded with a system of fortifications, La Frontera, garrisoned by a standing army that patrolled the border along the Bio Bio River. In Argentina, where Mapuches in the 19th century ravaged the southern frontier, the government responded by building wooden outposts and occasionally fortresses, e.g. Fortaleza Protectora Argentina and the Zanja de Alsina, a trench that covered hundred of kilometers across the Pampas to make incursions more difficult. Ultimately, the Argentine government invaded and succeeded in conquering Mapuche territory in the Conquest of the Desert of the late 1870s.

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