‘Santa Fe mo (inche ñi mapu mo cay)’ family life within the frontier settlement of Santa Fe, Chile (18th Century)

Abstract

This article explores some characteristic aspects in shaping and articulation of the
Mapuche families settled within the frontier town of Santa Fe (Chile) during the
eighteenth century. Santa Fe, like the rest of the reducciones situated on the banks of
the Biobio River, represented a negotiated space where indigenous families deployed
strategies hybrid nature to preserve and enhance their agency within the Spanish
colonial system. Among these strategies we do find the peculiar settlement systems,
marriage practices, the role played by the caciques governors and notions concerning
ownership and occupation of space.