Chile's Indigenous Cultures

       The Mapuche in Chile are the largest indigenous group who live there.  They have lived in the southern part of Chile and trace their ancestors back there.  The Spaniards and English and French eventually tried to colonize Chile and got into a super long territorial war with the Mapuche.  Mapuche means "people of the Earth" and they worship and honor the Earth for all that it has given them.  They understand that the Earth provides everything for them and they use everything in its natural form.  They have healers who use herbs for their medicine.  They respect other's religions and for their own, they have ceremonies to show their appreciation to God and the Earth.  Even thought they are the largest indigenous group in Chile, they are not respected.  People make fun of them and they are very poor because their land keeps getting taken by lumber corporations.  These corporations have cut down the native trees that the Mapuche used for lumber.  Chile does not recognize that land as belonging to the Mapuche so the Mapuche are continuing to fight to claim it.
       The Dakota Access pipeline is an oil pipeline that goes through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.  It was announced in 2014 and was very controversial because of its environmental impact.  Oil pipelines crack all of the time and spill oil which is horrible for the environment.  Native Americans who live in the Dakotas opposed the pipeline because it went through sacred burial grounds and would pollute the water quality in the area.  The Standing Rock tribe founded a center for opposition to the pipeline and thousands of people joined.  The pipeline was still completed although they bulldozed land that belonged to the Native American tribes and where their sacred burial grounds were located.
      These two issues are quite alike even though one is from Chile and the other is happening here in the United States.  It shows that governments do not respect indigenous people or their land.  Its all about making a profit and money.  It is horrible greed.  The Mapuche and Native Americans were the first people in their countries.  They are the natives.  They respect the land and the Earth yet they are given no rights and are struggling to survive.  The Mapuche are having to leave their land to find jobs to support themselves and their families because they don't have enough farm land to make a living.  The tribes impacted by the Dakota Access pipeline were not taken into consideration.  Their sacred burial grounds meant nothing to the companies trying to build the pipeline.  Oil is more important than the environment or traditions of Native American tribes.  We raped and took their land yet in 2014 we still don't respect them and do the same thing all over again for our own benefit.  It's disgusting.  The same thing is happening to the Mapuche in Chile.  I really hope that they continue to fight for their rights and make headway.  They deserve to be treated with respect and allowed to carry out their lives as they please even if it isn't the conventional way.