The Spanish Empire’s Southernmost Frontiers

After the 1598 Araucanian rebellion, the Bío Bío River remained as the imperial southernmost frontier during Spanish rule. However, the territory between Bío Bío River and Tierra del Fuego comprised three differentiated groups: the Araucanos, in northern Toltén River; the Huilliches, in the south; and the Austral Canoeros in the insular region, or mobile of Aysén. Although the Araucanía was traditionally considered the frontier with the Spanish Empire, the “frontera de arriba,” or Huilliche, and the mobile of Aysén, constituted the last frontier in the continent and the theater of interaction between local indigenous peoples and European privateers. This chapter examines the complexities of this region, including its condition of triple frontier as well as the attempts of privateers to forge alliances with local populations to establish colonies in the region. It argues that the interaction of these internal and external “enemies” of Spain shaped this borderland.