Wallmapu is the word in the

Mapuche language 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 sm ...

to say "Universe" or "set of surrounding lands", currently used by some historians to describe the historical territory inhabited by the

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 ...

people of southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The term was coined in the early 1990s by Indigenist groups but gained traction in the 2000s as the

Mapuche conflict The Mapuche conflict () involves indigenous Mapuche communities, known by the foreigners as the Araucanians, located in Araucanía and nearby regions of Chile and Argentina. The first attack, marking the beginning of the period of violence i ...

in Araucanía intensified. Some view the Wallmapu as being composed of two main parts Ngulumapu in the west and Puelmapu in the east, with the southern part of Ngulumapu being known as Futahuillimapu.The brighter side of the indigenous renaissance (Part 1)
2006. On May 19, 2022 a conference on the topic "The threat of Wallmapu" () was held in the city of

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

, Argentina.

Etymology

''Wall'' means "around," "surrounding," or "encompassing" in Mapudungun, while ''Mapu'' means "land" or "territory." Therefore, ''Wallmapu'' translates to "land of around" or "surrounding territory." The concept of ''wall'' as encompassing, spherical, or the edges of ''mapu'' is reconfigured in relation to the ''winka'' (non-Mapuche). This notion, expressed in discourse, involves measures that challenge and transform epistemic systems, altering territorial conceptions. The term began to gain widespread use outside Mapudungun-speaking communities after the Council of All Lands adopted its Mapudungun name, ''Aukiñ Wallmapu Ngulam,'' upon the organization’s founding in 1990. It arose in response to what indigenist movements describe as "repression" and the perceived disregard of land deeds (''Títulos de Merced''). This was accompanied by a wave of Mapuche migration from the south-central region to major Chilean cities during the Chilean military dictatorship and before. The Council was notable for engaging in

historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) scholarly views or narratives regarding a historical event, timespa ...

and adopting political stances opposing the Chilean state's interests in the region, particularly regarding demands for "ancestral land recovery" and "political territorial autonomy for the Mapuche people." This movement also included the creation of the Wenufoye national Mapuche flag in 1992, along with five additional flags representing key Mapuche territories in southern Chile. Since 2005, the term has also been promoted by the Mapuche nationalist party Wallmapuwen. The Chilean historian Cristóbal García Huidobro states that: "the terminology ‘Wallmapu’ is not a relatively old one, but rather a newer one. It arises, as far as it has been understood, from a revisionist movement, at the beginning of the 1990s (...) they make a re-study and a revisionism of the identity, of the language, as well as of the symbols that would represent the Mapuche people (...) it is not a historical question as such, it does not come from the ancestral culture of the Mapuche people who never perceived their territory as a particularly defined place". The Council reinforced the concept of self-determination through a long ideological process led by various intellectuals. In parallel, in late 1989, several groups began land occupations in Lumaco and other areas. In the 1990s, autonomist ideas also permeated some regional prisons. As Chile transitioned to democracy in urban areas, a political project aimed at the "reconstruction of Wallmapu" emerged in indigenous southern territories. This initiative was ignored by Chilean political elites. The construction of the Ralco Hydroelectric Plant, which displaced indigenous burial sites, was a breaking point in state-Mapuche relations, contributing to the formation of the Coordinadora Arauco-Malleco (CAM) in 1997 following the burning of three trucks belonging to Forestal Arauco. This event marked the beginning of the Araucanía conflict and a turning point in the development of the Mapuche autonomist political movement. The CAM, which defines itself as anti-capitalist and "in resistance against

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

," uses violence to reclaim lands it considers usurped during the

Occupation of Araucanía The Occupation of Araucanía or Pacification of Araucanía (1861–1883) was a series of military campaigns, agreements and penetrations by the Chilean military and settlers into Mapuche territory which led to the incorporation of Araucanía i ...

and now held by large landowners and extractive industries. These areas serve as the foundation for territorial control, which the CAM views as essential for self-determination and the holistic development of Indigenist activists. CAM leaders, such as Héctor Llaitul, represent a newer, more separatist generation compared to figures like Aucán Huilcamán, founder of the Council of All Lands. Currently, a conflict persists between the states of

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 ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and various Indigenist groups. The central demands include territorial autonomy and restitution of lands claimed as ancestral under the ''Títulos de Merced,'' granted to some communities after the

and

Conquest of the Desert The Conquest of the Desert () was an Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, Argentine military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca during the 1870s and 1880s with the intention of establishing dominance over Patagonia, inh ...

References

{{Mapuche Geography of Argentina Geography of Chile Mapuche regions Historical revisionism Irredentism Huilliche 1990s neologisms

Etymology

See also

References