Janequeo or Yanequén, (fl. 1587-1590) was a lonco (chief) and heroine of the Mapuche-Pehuenche people.[1] She was the wife of the lonco Huepotaén, chief of Llifén, who was killed after being tortured by order of Governor Alonso de Sotomayor. She succeeded him as lonco, in command of the struggle against the Spanish.[2][3] At the head of troops of warriors, she killed many Spanish troops in various battles.[4] Infamously, she eventually speared a Spanish commander, Aranda, through the head.[1][5]
Tradition states that she died of typhus.[1]
Figures such as Juan Egaña viewed her as "the most accomplished military leader of her region's history".[6]
References edit
- ^ a b c Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2023-12-20). Women Warriors in History: 1,622 Biographies Worldwide from the Bronze Age to the Present. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-5032-6.
- ^ Alonso de Ovalle, Histórica relación del Reyno de Chile y de las missiones y ministerios que exercita en él la Compañía de Jesus, lib VI cap 6 i 7
- ^ Diego de Rosales, Historia General del Reino de Chile, lib IV, cap 56
- ^ Kerr, Robert (2022-11-13). The History of Voyages and Travels: Volume 1-18. DigiCat.
- ^ Molina, Giovanni Ignazio (1808). The Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chili: The civil history of Chili. I. Riley.
- ^ Bowen, Martín (April 2023). The Age of Dissent: Revolution and the Power of Communication in Chile, 1780–1833. University of New Mexico Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8263-6480-7.