Araucanian War: Battle of Curarrehue and Destruction of the Seven Cities

Timeline

1. 1598Curarrehue · AraucoChile's governor Martín García Óñez de Loyola led fifty Spanish soldiers south to the Bío Bío to negotiate with the Mapuche, and was surrounded at Curarrehue by forces under Mapuche leader Pedro de Oso. In the fighting the Spanish were annihilated; Loyola was speared to death and his head cut off and displayed, instantly shattering Spain's military advantage in Arauco.
2. 1599–1604southern Chile colony · ChileLoyola's death inspired a joint uprising of the Mapuche peoples. From 1599 Mapuche forces successively captured seven Spanish towns—Osorno, Valdivia, Imperial, Castro, Ancud, Santa Cruz, and others—killing or driving out colonists and burning churches and forts. By 1604 Spain had lost almost all its settlements south of the Bío Bío.
3. 1600–1604Bío Bío River · ChileUnable to recover the lost south, the Spanish colonial authorities pulled their defensive line back to Concepción and Chillán north of the Bío Bío. Arauco maintained de facto independence for more than two centuries thereafter, a rare case of indigenous successful resistance to European conquest in the Americas, and the Araucanian War entered a long stalemate.