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Michima Lonco
Born	c. 1500 Aconcagua valley
Died	c. 1550
Allegiance	Mapuche people
Rank	Lonko
Battles/wars	Arauco War

Michima Lonco ( c. 1500 – c. 1550) (lonco meaning "head" or "chief" in Mapudungun) was a Mapuche chief said to be a great warrior, born in the Aconcagua Valley and educated in Cusco by the Inca Empire.^{[ citation needed]} He freed the Picunche (northern mapuches) from Inca rule, ruled as an independent sovereign over the territory of the Aconcagua, Mapocho and Maipo valleys, and who later put up tenacious resistance to the conquest of their territories by the Spanish. He presented himself to the Spaniards, naked and covered by a black pigmentation. ^[1]

He was invested as curaca along with his brother Trangolonco. Both ruled over a good part of the Aconcagua valley as local chiefs, under the authority of the Inca governor Quilicanta. in 1533 it welcomed the first Spaniard to arrive in the central area of current Chilean territory, Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos, who had abandoned the viceroyalty of Peru insulted by Francisco Pizarro, who had him flogged and plucked as punishment for theft. After receiving confirmation of the fall of the Inca Empire from him, Michimalonco faces off against the governor Quilicanta and against the loncos who continued to serve the Inca empire, with the aim of becoming independent from Inca rule. He appointed Barrientos as general of his army and he taught them Spanish war tactics. Michimalonco manages to defeat Naglonco, thus taking over the entire Maipo valley. Later, after the arrival and departure of the Spanish Diego de Almagro, Michimalonco confronts and expels Quilicanta, who escapes, a fact that restores the Picunche independence with Michimalonco as their ruler.

In 1540, the Spaniards under the command of Pedro de Valdivia entered Picunche territory, Michimaloco goes out to meet him with his army and the battle of the Mapocho River takes place, which Michimalonco loses, allowing Pedro de Valdivia to found the settlement of Santiago, Chile. While Valdivia felt that its entrenchment was definitive in the region, Michimalonco thought that its previous defeat would be avenged with the expulsion of the Europeans. To carry out what he wanted, he gathered a large force in the hills of Chillox to attack Santiago. But their plan was discovered by the Spanish, who prepared to make a surprise attack on the Mapuche camp. Thus, in 1541 the battle of Aconcagua took place, which meant a new defeat for Michimalonco. After this action, the toqui Michimalonco and his forces retreated to the fortress of Paidahuén near the current city of Los Andes. Later in the Battle of Paidahuén Michimalonco is defeated and captured. To achieve his liberation, he offered the conquerors the location of the Marga Marga gold mines in exchange for his freedom and that of his men. The Spanish freed them and kept the gold mines. It was the first time they found gold in Chile.

On September 11, 1541, Michimalonco attacked the newly founded Santiago after seven caciques were taken hostage by Spaniards following an uprising. Michimalonco was said to lead 8,000 to 20,000 men. The defense of the outnumbered town was led by Inés de Suárez, a female conquistador, while commander Pedro de Valdivia was elsewhere. Much of the town was destroyed when Suárez decapitated one of the caciques herself and had the rest decapitated to surprise the natives. The natives were then driven off by the Spanish.

In 1544 Michimalonco headed to the Limarí River valley to cut off land communications between Chile and Peru for the Spanish. Michimalonco becomes strong in this sector with its Mapuche contingent added to the contingent of its Diaguita allies. After some victories against the Spanish advances, Pedro de Valdivia was forced to command his army himself and go to sustain the battle of Limarí, where the Mapuche-Diaguita hosts were defeated and Pedro de Valdivia sent Juan Bohón to found the City of La Serena at the mouth of the Elqui River.

After fighting the Spaniards, dejected by the continuous setbacks his cause was experiencing, he left the country and, crossing the Andes, sought refuge in Cuyo, still in the power of the Diaguitas. There he hid for a couple of years but feeling homesick he came back to the valley and allied his forces with the Spaniards and went to fight the Araucanian Mapuches on the south. He was reputedly raised in Cuzco and acquired a Quechua accent when speaking his native language, therefore he was named the "Foreigner Chief".

References

Sources

• Jerónimo de Vivar, Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile (Chronicle and abundant and true relation of the kingdoms of Chile) ARTEHISTORIA REVISTA DIGITAL; Crónicas de América (on line in Spanish)

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