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Cunco people

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For the municipality in Chile, see Cunco, Chile.

Cuncos or Juncos[A] was a category of indigenous people in southern Chile used by the Spanish in colonial times.[2] The Spanish referred to them as indios cuncos.[2] Like other denominations for indigenous groups the Cuncos were defined on the basis of the territory they inhabited, thus it may not correspond to an ethnic group.[3]

The Cuncos cultivated maize, potatoes and quinoa. Their economy was complemented by travels during spring and summer to the coast where they gathered shellfish and hunted sea lions. They were said to live in large rukas.[4]

The Cuncos were organized in small local chiefdoms forming a complex system intermarried families or clans with local allegiance.[5]

Territory

SRTM map of the topography of Chile between the 40th and 41st parallel south. The Cunco inhabited the western (left) territory shown in the map. But not necessarily the northwest (top left).

Jesuit Andrés Fabres mention the Cuncos as inhabiting the area between Valdivia and Chiloé.[6][B] Tapping on Fabres work Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro writes that Cuncos inhabit the mainland north of Chiloé Archipelago as far north as to limit with "Araucanian barbarians" (Mapuche from Araucanía).[1] Hervás y Panduro list them as one of three "Chilean barbarians" groups inhabiting the territory between latitudes 36° S and 41° S, the other being the Araucanians and Huilliche.[7] The Cuncos lived in the Chilean Coast Range and its foothills.[4] Proper Huilliches lived east of them in the flatlands of the Central Valley.[8] There are differing views on the southern extent of the Cunco lands, some accounts mention the Maullín River as the limit while other say the Cuncos inhabited the land all the way to the middle of Chiloé Island.[4][8] A theory postulated by chronicler José Pérez García holds the Cuncos settled in Chiloé Island in Pre-Hispanic times as consequence of a push from more northern Huilliches who in turn were being displaced by Mapuches.[4][8] The indigenous inhabitants of the northern half of Chiloé Island, of Mapuche culture, are variously referred as Cunco, Huilliche or Veliche.[9]

The lands of the Cunco were described as rainy and rich in swamps, rivers, streams with thick forests with stout and tall trees. Flat and cleared terrain was scarce and local roads very narrow and of poor quality.[8]

The Cuncos should not be confused with Cuncos from the locality of Cunco further north.[2]

Sprache

Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro mention the language of cuncos as an accent or dialect similar to "Chiloense", the language of the indigenous people of Chiloé,[1] asserting the languages of Huilliches, Cuncos, Pehuenches and Araucanians (Mapuche) were mutually intelligible.[7]

Conflict with the Spanish

SRTM map of the topography of Chile between the 41st and 42nd parallel south. Much the mainland seen here north of Carelmapu and Calbuco was depopulated as concequence of a long running conflict between the Spanish and loyalist Indians on one side and Cuncos and Huilliches on the other side.

Ever since the Destruction of Osorno the Cuncos had bad relations with the Spanish settlements of Calbuco and Carelmapu formed by exiles from Osorno and loyalist Indians.[10] Indeed, the area between Reloncaví Sound and Maipué River was depopulated as consequence of this conflict that did not only included warfare but slave raiding too.[10]

On March 21, 1651, a ship aimed to the newly re-established Spanish city of Valdivia was pushed by storms into coasts inhabited by the Cuncos south of Valdivia.[11] There the ship ran aground and while most of the crew managed to survive the wreck nearby Cuncos killed them and took possession of the valuable cargo.[11][12] The Spanish made fruitless efforts to recover anything left in wreck.[12][13] Two punitive expeditions were assembled one started in Valdivia advancing south and the other in Carelmapu advancing north.[13] The expedition from Valdivia turned into a failure as Mapuches who were expected to aid the Spanish as Indian auxiliaries according to the Parliament of Boroa did not support the Spanish expedition. While away from Valdivia hostile local Mapuches killed twelve Spanish. The expedition from Valdivia soon ran out of supplies and decided to return to Valdivia without having confronted the Cuncos.[13] The expedition from Carelmapu was more successful reaching the site of abandoned city of Osorno. Here the Spanish were approached by Huilliches who gave them three caciques who were allegedly involving in the looting and murder of the wrecked Spanish.[13] Governor of Chile Antonio de Acuña Cabrera planned a new Spanish punitive expedition against the Cuncos but was dissuaded by Jesuits who warned him that any large military assault would endanger the accords of the Parliament of Boroa.[14]

The indios cuncos were the subject of Juan de Salazar's failed slave raid in 1654 that ended in a Spanish defeat at the Battle of Río Bueno.[15][16] This battle served as catalyst for the devastating Mapuche uprising of 1655.

Albeit the Cuncos had occasional conflicts with the Spanish from Valdivia as in the 1650s[13][17] and 1750s, over-all relations towards the Spanish of Calbuco, Carelmapu and Chiloé were more hostile.[18] Indeed, the Spanish in Valdivia were able to slowly advance their positions by trade and land purchases in the second half of the 18th century.[19] Eventually Spanish domains reached all the way from Valdivia to Bueno River.[18]

Distribution of the pre-Hispanic people of Chile.[dubious – discuss]

Notes

  1. ^ A misspelling according to Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro.[1]
  2. ^ About this region Fabres adds: "which we hope to subdue soon".

References

  1. ^ a b c Hervás y Panduro 1800, p. 127.
  2. ^ a b c Bengoa 2000, p. 122.
  3. ^ Alcamán 1997, p. 29.
  4. ^ a b c d Alcamán 1997, p. 32.
  5. ^ Alcamán 1997, p. 47.
  6. ^ Fabres 1765, p. 465.
  7. ^ a b Hervás y Panduro 1800, p. 128.
  8. ^ a b c d Alcamán 1997, p. 33.
  9. ^ "Poblaciones costeras de Chile: marcadores genéticos en cuatro localidades". Revista médica de Chile. 1998. doi:10.4067/S0034-98871998000700002.
  10. ^ a b Alcamán 1997, p. 30.
  11. ^ a b Barros Arana 2000, p. 340.
  12. ^ a b Barros Arana 2000, p. 341.
  13. ^ a b c d e Barros Arana 2000, p. 342.
  14. ^ Barros Arana 2000, p. 343.
  15. ^ Barros Arana 2000, p. 346.
  16. ^ Barros Arana 2000, p. 347.
  17. ^ Barros Arana 2000, p. 359.
  18. ^ a b Couyoumdjian, Juan Ricardo (2009). "Reseña de "La frontera de arriba en Chile colonial. Interacción hispano-indígena en el territorio entre Valdivia y Chiloé e imaginario de sus bordes geográficos, 1600-1800" de MARÍA XIMENA URBINA CARRASCO" (PDF). Historia. I (42): 281–283. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  19. ^ Illanes Oliva, M. Angélica (2014). "La cuarta frontera. El caso del territorio valdiviano (Chile, XVII–XIX)". Atenea. 509: 227–243. Retrieved 30 January 2016.

Bibliography

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