Warmatrix

Lautaro was a leader of the Mapuche Indians, who lived and still live in what would later become Chile. He led them in a war against the Spanish conquistadores, which was quite effective, though ultimately failed.
Lautaro is the Spanish name for "Lef-Taru", meaning 'swift hawk' in Mapudungun. He was born as the son of a lonko (a peacetime chief), probably in 1534 CE. At the age of 12, he was captured by the Spanish and became the personal servant of don Pedro de Valdivia. In captivity he learned much about the Spanish and witnessed their cruelty. From 1550 CE he tried to escape at least two times, succeeding after two years.
A year later, the Mapuche, who had held off the Inca before, worried about the growing Spanish might in their lands, decided to declare war on them. Lautaro was chosen as toqui (war chief), because of his experience with the enemy. He taught the Mapuche how Spanish infantry formations and cavalry worked and how to use terrain against them.
The new Mapuche army, 6,000 men strong, tricked Lautaro's former master out of Fort Tucapel and then burned it, so that when the conquistadores returned, they had to defend a smoking ruin. Then the Indians attacked the soldiers, overcoming them in three waves. De Valdivia was killed and a Spanish counterattack by a relief force was beaten off. Lautaro became famous among the Mapuche. But tradition prescribed lengthy victory celebrations, preventing him from following up with further offensives. The Spanish abandoned several settlements and strengthened others before they could be overrun too.
The next clash, at Marihueñu, was a full scale field battle. The Spanish managed to break the Mapuche center, then were stopped by the reserve, surrounded and cut down. The defeats forced the conquistadores to keep pulling back. They lost the town of Concepción, which they had founded only a few years before.
The achievements of Lautaro and the Mapuche are remarkable because at first they lacked the weaponry of the Spanish: horses, metal armor and guns. They defeated the enemy several times, not with guerrilla tactics, but in open battles, though they took care to use heavy terrain to stop the Spanish cavalry.
After their initial success the Mapuche were decimated by disease and famine, which paralyzed them for two years. In 1556 CE Lautaro led a small band of some 800 warriors north in an attempt to take Santiago and central Chile. For a while he outmaneuvered the Spanish, however his plundering alienated him from the locals, who accused him of acting like the enemy. In the end, Indians betrayed his position and it was the Spanish who surprised Lautaro, not the other way around. In the Battle of Mataquito of 1557 CE they killed him, defeated his army and stopped the Mapuche advance.
The struggle between the Spaniards and the Mapuche was not yet over. The Arauco war, which had effectively had started in 1536 CE, continued on and off until and even beyond the independence of Chile.