Peteroa is a small town west southwest of the town of

Sagrada Familia, Chile Sagrada Familia (Spanish meaning "Holy Family") is a Chilean town and commune in Curicó Province, Maule Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Sagrada Familia spans an area of and has 17,519 in ...

. Peteroa is also the name of the location of the fortress built by

Lautaro Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') ( " swift hawk") (; 1534 – April 29, 1557) was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would continue to be empl ...

and the site of the Battle of Peteroa. This location is uncertain and sometimes confused with the place on the

Mataquito River Mataquito is a river located in the Province of Curicó, Maule Region of Chile and formed by the union of rivers Teno and Lontué about 10 kilometers west of Curicó near the locality of Sagrada Familia and empties into the Pacific Ocean ...

where Lautaro was killed during the

Battle of Mataquito The Battle of Mataquito was fought in the Arauco War on April 30, 1557, between the forces of the Spanish governor, Francisco de Villagra, and Mapuche headed by their toqui Lautaro. It was a surprise attack, carried out at dawn, on Lautaro's ...

in 1557. His fortress of Peteroa built in 1556 was located near

Teno Teno is a Chilean city and commune in the Curicó Province, Maule Region. A large percentage of inhabitants are of mestizo and Mapuche Indian origin. The main economy is agricultural farming and livestock raising, often by huasos or Chilean c ...

"twenty leagues from the city of Santiago". A soldier in this campaign under Juan Godíñez, Alonso Lopez de la Raigada refers to the 1556 fortress as "Peteroa" and the camp where Lautaro was killed as "Mataquito" and also refers to "Peteroa y Mataquito" as separate places.

Pedro Mariño de Lobera Pedro Mariño de Lobera (1528–1594) was a Galician soldier, conquistador, and chronicler of the Arauco War in the Captaincy General of Chile. Biography Pedro was a professional soldier who served in the war between Spain and France, and ended ...

does not give a place name to the location of the 1556 fortress. He does call the place of the 1557 battle he took part in as being at the "lugar de Mataquito". The contemporary chronicler

Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo (1523–1575) was a Spanish conquistador and chronicler of the early conquest and settlement of the Captaincy General of Chile, and the start of the Arauco War. Biography Marmolejo was born in the town of Carmona, ...

gives no place names to either location in his account. Peteroa is named as the location of the confluence of the rivers

, Pumaiten, and Lontué to form the Mataquito River in the eighteenth century description of the province of Maule. The current town of Peteroa may be the vicinity where this fortress was located on the south bank of the Mataquito river and his second camp was located across the Mataquito river on its north bank.Guevara, Tomás,Historia de Curicó Chapter II

References

Sources

Jerónimo de Vivar Jerónimo de Vivar was a Spanish historian of the early conquest and settlement of the Kingdom of Chile, and author of ''Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile''. Little is known about his life except that according to his ...

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) *

SCID%253D10200%2526ISID%253D404%2526JNID%253D12,00.html Historia de Todas las Cosas que han Acaecido en el Reino de Chile y de los que lo han gobernado (1536-1575) (History of All the Things that Have happened in the Kingdom of Chile and of those that have governed it (1536-1575))
University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Cronicles (on line in Spanish) *

Crónica del Reino de Chile, escrita por el capitán Pedro Mariño de Lobera....reducido a nuevo método y estilo por el Padre Bartolomé de Escobar. Edición digital a partir de Crónicas del Reino de Chile Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 227-562, (Biblioteca de Autores Españoles; 569-575).
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (on line in Spanish) *

Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche (1742–1816) was a Chilean soldier, author and historian of Basque descent, born in Valdivia. Author of the ''Descripcion Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile'', covering the history and geography of the Captaincy G ...

Descripcion Histórico Geografía del Reino de Chile (Description Historical Geography of the Kingdom of Chile)
University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Cronicles (on line in Spanish) *

José Toribio Medina José Toribio Medina Zavala (; October 21, 1852 - December 11, 1930) was a Chilean bibliographer, prolific writer, and historian. He is renowned for his study of colonial literature in Chile, printing in Spanish America and large bibliographies s ...

, Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de Chile, Vols. 6-7, IV.— Información de senidos de Alonso López de la Eaigada, vecino de la ciudad de Santiago de Chile. (Archivo de Indias, Patronato, 1-5-34/18), Vols. 6-7 published by Impr. y Encuadernacido Barcelona; v.8-30 by Impr. Elzeviriana., 1901.
Guevara, Tomás, Historia de Curicó, Alicante : Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2000

External links

Google Satellite Map: Peteroa, Chile
{{coord, 35.017, S, 71.433, W, type:landmark_source:enwiki, display=title Populated places in Curicó Province