Pascual Coña (late 1840s – October 28, 1927) was a

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

man from the region of

Budi Lake Budi Lake (, ) from the Mapudungun word ''Füzi'' which means salt, is a tidal brackish water lake located near the coast of La Araucanía Region, southern Chile. The lake is part of the boundaries between Saavedra and Teodoro Schmidt commune ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, who narrated in

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

the story of his life and the Mapuche customs of the time to the Capuchin missionary . Moesbach and Coña's conversations stretched over the course of four years. In the long Chilean winters, Moesbach would go to Coña's house and write down dictation from Coña, or document the conversations the two had. The final product was the bilingual book ' ("Life and Customs of the Indigenous Araucanians in the Second Half of the 19th Century"), a text that relates not only Coña's life but also the customs of the Mapuche, for which it is considered a very important source for the study of the Mapuche people and their language in the 19th century.

Biography

What is known of Pascual Coña's life comes almost entirely from his own telling and Moesbach's notes that accompany it. His father was named Tomás Coña, he was the son of Ayllapang, and he had been born in Rauquenhue (now Piedra Alta, west of

), while his mother, Juana, was the daughter of Payllaw and Wenter and was born in Huapi (an island in Budi Lake). Their home region was in the area of present-day Puerto Saavedra, in the northern coastal area of Araucanía. Tomás Coña and Juana were not

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, and they were married in the Mapuche tradition; they had several children, the first of which was Pascual. Others of his siblings were named Felipe, María, Carmelita, Fidel, and Juana. Pascual Coña was educated at the Budi Catholic mission and later studied carpentry in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, but he had to leave and return to his home because his father believed him to be dead after receiving a photograph of him in the mail. During the occupation of Araucanía, Coña collaborated with the Chilean troops, on the orders of his ''

lonko A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often Ulmen (Mapuche), ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehu ...

'', Pascual Painemilla. He later traveled to Argentina and attended an interview with President

Julio Roca Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz (July 17, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was an Argentine army general and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 1880 to 1886 and from 1898 to 1904. Roca is the most important representative of the ...

. Coña was married twice. His first wife died, and his second wife left him. After losing his lands to a Chilean settler, he was sent elsewhere and given the title "chief of reduction." That is why some authors have considered him a ''

cacique A cacique, sometimes spelled as cazique (; ; feminine form: ), was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, who were the Indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles at the time of European cont ...

'', and he has been referred to as such in the title of his memoirs since the 1970s: ''Lonco Pascual Cona ñi tuculpazungun - testimonio de un cacique mapuche.''

References

External links

PDF of ''Vida y costumbres de los indígenas araucanos en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cona, Pascual 1840s births 1927 deaths Year of birth uncertain Mapuche writers Chilean non-fiction writers 19th-century Chilean male writers