Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingdom of
Araucania and Patagonia
Image:Flag of the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia.svg Flag	Image:Araucania coa.jpg Coat of arms
Motto: Independencia y Libertad (English: Independence and Liberty)
Anthem: None
Image:Araucania Patagonia.PNG
Type of entity:	Micronation
Location:	Southern Chile and Argentina
Area:	tba
Membership:	tba
Date of foundation:	1860
Leadership:	Prince Felipe (1952- )
Purported organisational structure:	Constitutional monarchy
Language:	Mapuche and French
Purported currency:	Peso

The Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia (also called New France) was a self-proclaimed independent state or micronation founded by a French lawyer and adventurer named Orelie-Antoine de Tounens in southern South America in the mid 19th century. At the time the local indigenous Mapuche population were engaged in a desperate armed struggle to retain their independence in the face of hostile military and economic encroachment by the governments of Chile and Argentina, who coveted the Mapuche lands for their agricultural potential.

[edit] History

Image:Orélie Antoine de Tounens.JPG

While visiting the region in 1860, Orelie-Antoine came to sympathise with the Mapuche cause, and a group of loncos (Mapuche tribal leaders) in turn elected him to the position of King — possibly in the belief that their cause might be better served with a European acting on their behalf. Orelie-Antoine then set about establishing a government, created a blue, white and green flag, and had coins minted for the nation under the name of Nouvelle France.

His efforts at securing international recognition for the Mapuche were thwarted by the Chilean and Argentinian governments, who captured, imprisoned and then deported him on several occasions. He did not receive further punishment because he was deemed to be insane by Chilean and Argentinian authorities. King Orelie-Antoine I eventually died penniless in France in 1878 after years of fruitless struggle to regain his perceived legitimate authority over his conquered kingdom.

The first Araucanian king's present-day successor, Prince Felipe, lives in France and has renounced his predecessor's claims to the Kingdom, but he has kept alive the memory of Orelie-Antoine, and lent continued support to the ongoing struggle for Mapuche self-determination by authorising the minting of forty or so coins in cupronickel, silver, gold and palladium since 1988.