Indigenous peoples and the War of the Pacific
Indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Chile and Peru were deeply affected by the War of the Pacific (1879–1884). In Peru, most people lived in the Andes, where indigenous communities were the majority. Many soldiers from Bolivia and Peru were indigenous. Indigenous groups were also used in propaganda, with Chilean officers calling Peruvians and Bolivians by terms tied to Indigenous heritage, and some writers depicting the war as a civilizing mission against a backward regime that relied on Indigenous fighters.
A few Mapuche fought for Chile, including Juan Bravo, who stood out as a naval sniper. Despite racist language, the war itself was not treated as a racial conflict by the combatants. In Araucanía the Mapuche grew impatient as Chilean troops were sent north to fight Peru and Bolivia, and they began planning rebellion. After Chile captured Lima, it also moved to crush Mapuche resistance in the south, while Chilean newspapers published patriotic and expansionist content.
In Peru, Indigenous peasants’ bands helped resist the Chilean occupation of the central and northern highlands. Leaders like Andrés Avelino Cáceres used Quechua to rally Indigenous support. Historians note that anti-Indigenous attitudes influenced abuses against Mapuche during the Araucanía campaigns, and some Chilean officials later expressed remorse for those actions. After the war, some Peruvian elites blamed Indigenous Peruvians for the defeat, portraying them as inferior and lacking patriotism, a view that persisted for many years. Yet others pointed out that Indigenous resistance in the Andes helped keep Peru’s war effort alive after Lima fell. Chile’s newly incorporated Aymara population was viewed as a foreign element, while Mapuches were seen by some as the country’s original Chileans.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:14 (CET).