The Araucaniad

…Araucanians in the epic poem La Araucana (1569–89). This work is known as the “Aeneid of the Chileans.”

…protagonist of the epic poem La Araucana (1569–89), written by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, one of Valdivia’s officers.

…known as the author of La Araucana (1569–89), the most celebrated Renaissance epic poem written in Castilian.

…y Zúñiga’s La Araucana (1569–89; The Araucaniad). The young soldier and courtier began the poem while engaged in campaigns against the Araucanian Indians of what is today Chile. While the poem has been praised for the authenticity lent by the fact that the poet was a participant in the wars…

…Zúñiga achieved epic distinction with Araucana (published 1569–90), chronicling native resistance to Spain’s conquest of Chile. A similar attempt at epic, Lope de Vega’s Dragontea (1598), retells Sir Francis Drake’s last voyage and death.