The Araucana
de Ercilla, Alonso
Spain's colonizing of the Americas inspired a number of verse histories, the finest of them Alonso de Ercilla's La Araucana. Having served as a page to Philip II from the age of 15 until sailing for Chile six years later to help subdue a rebellion among the indigenous Araucans, today's Mapuche, Ercilla returned home not only with admiration for the Indians, but with serious misgivings about their mistreatment by the Spanish. The resulting acco...