Mapuche en

Culture of the most numerous group of Indians in South America, inhabiting the Central Valley of Chile, south of the Biobío River. A smaller group lives in Neuquén provincia, west-central Argentina. Historically, the Mapuche were one of three groups of Araucanians as identified by Spanish ethnographers -- Picunche, Mapuche, Huillich. All Araucanians now identify themselves as Mapuche. In the pre-Spanish period, the Mapuche lived in scattered farming villages throughout the Central Valley. Each settlement had a cacique, or chief, whose authority did not generally extend beyond his own village. The Mapuche cultivated corn (maize), beans, squash, potatoes, chili peppers, and other vegetables and fished, hunted, and kept guinea pigs for meat.