Battle of Peteroa

Battle of Peteroa
Part of Arauco War
DateJune - July, 1556
Location
Peteroa
Result Spanish Victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire Mapuche
Commanders and leaders
Pedro de Villagra vice toqui Lautaro
Strength
40 Spanish soldiers, 400 yanakuna [1] 300 soldiers
Casualties and losses
Two Spaniards were killed 200 killed

Battle of Peteroa was a battle in the Arauco War in 1556, in a plain beside a river in the Mataquito River valley, called Peteroa.[2] The battle was between the Spanish forces of Pedro de Villagra, and Mapuche headed by their toqui Lautaro.

  1. ^ Vivar, Crónica, Capítulo CXXIX
  2. ^ The location of this battle is uncertain and sometimes confused with the place on the Mataquito River where Lautaro was killed in 1557. His fortress of Peteroa built in 1556 was located near Teno "twenty leagues from the city of Santiago" according to Jerónimo de Vivar, Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile, Capítulo CXXVIII. A soldier in this campaign under Juan Godíñez, Alonso Lopez de la Raigada, involved in the campaigns against Lautaro, refers to the 1556 fortress as "Peteroa" and the camp where Lautaro was killed as "Mataquito" and also refers to "Peteroa y Mataquito" as separate places (Medina, Colección de documentos inéditos, Información de senidos de Alonso López de la Eaigada). Lobera does not give a place name to the location of the 1556 fortress. He does call the place of the 1557 battle he took part in as being at the "lugar de Mataquito"; Capítulo LV. Marmolejo gives no place names to either location.