Caupolican

Caupolicán 

Date of birth unknown; died 1558 in Cañete. A military leader of the Araucanians.

In 1552, Caupolicán united separate groups of Indians in southern Chile in the struggle against the Spanish colonizers. The Araucanians, under the leadership of their chiefs, Caupolicán and Lautaro, staunchly resisted the colonialists. In 1558, Caupolicán was taken captive in the battle of Cañete and brutally killed. The Spanish poet Alonso de Ercilla y Zuñiga (1533–94), a participant in the subjugation of Chile, immortalized the heroic exploits and courage of Caupolicán in the epic poem La Araucana.

REFERENCE

Ercilla y Zuñiga, Alonso de. La Araucana. New York, 1902.