El primer canto de La Araucana: una cartografía épica de Chile

Abstract

Don Alonso de Ercilla is usually considered as one of the first historians of Chile. But it has to be remembered that he is also one of its first geographers: the first Canto of the Araucana initiates with an authentic literary map of the remote province where the action of the poem is taking place. Such cartography of Chilean territory inscribes itself in a colonial perspective, but it also reveals the ambiguous posture of the poet conquistador: whereas the Spanish domination is a purpose still to be reached, the Chile he is going to talk about is a free and ferocious land, just like its untamed population. That's why it deserves the epic poet's total admiration, and he can only make it one of the heroes of his book, as an ultimate confirmation of the identification of the Chilean space with the struggle of its people that Spanish discourse about Chile had been constructing.

Keywords

• araucanos
• cartografia
• Chile
• Ercilla Alonso de
• Estrecho de Magallanes
• indomito