Mapuche
History
The Mapuche culture has been around since 600-500 B.C. They lived in fertile valleys in Southern Chile in smalls groups based on hunting and gathering. The Mapuche lived separated from other cultures which enabled them to keep their culture small and keep it away from being demolished. The Spanish tried very hard to put them down but the Mapuche fought strong and hard against the Spanish for 300 years in the Arauco War. Chile claimed independence from Spain causing more settlers to take over Mapuche land forcing Mapuche to sign an agreement to co-exist with Chilean people. The Mapuche were pushed around by the Spanish empire but they moved to a vast region which they built salt and cattle trade upon. Around 1861 the Republic of Chile stole independence from the Mapuche through fighting, starving, and disease.
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The Land
Mapuche lands were abundant with forest. Rich soils with lots of nutrients with the extreme capacity to hold water. These rich soils made the resources as lucrative as gold. Making gold and wheat a target. The Mapuche went from struggling against the elements to struggling to survive. The Mapuche land struggled the most the invaders robbed the land of the nutrients out of greed. Monoculture agriculture degraded thousands of hectares soil. The Mapuche tried adding another monoculture to recover the soil.
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What can they do? |
The Mapuche can bring animals to their degraded lands to help fertilized the land. Then find a way to make and underground pathway to let large amounts of water into the soil thus giving some of the life back. After trying this they could plant certain weeds that help with making rich soil and learn George Washington's Carvers method of crop rotation which also benefits soil.
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Works Cited
The English knowledge database, Mapuche History - Summary, Accessed April 03, 2018 https://science-train.com/w/Mapuche_history/Summary.html
South America CL Guide, Mapuche, Accessed April 03, 2018
http://www.southamerica.cl/Chile/Mapuche.htm
Global Justice Ecology Project, The Struggle of the Mapuche 'People of the Earth', December 04, 2017, Accessed April 03, 2018
https://globaljusticeecology.org/the-struggle-of-the-mapuche-people-of-the-earth/
South America CL Guide, Mapuche, Accessed April 03, 2018
http://www.southamerica.cl/Chile/Mapuche.htm
Global Justice Ecology Project, The Struggle of the Mapuche 'People of the Earth', December 04, 2017, Accessed April 03, 2018
https://globaljusticeecology.org/the-struggle-of-the-mapuche-people-of-the-earth/