Caurakawin

The Cauracahuin were a Huilliche people of the plains around Osorno, south of the Bueno River. Their country lay among rivers and forests between the coastal ranges and the Andes. The Spanish founded Osorno in the sixteenth century, but the town was abandoned after the great Mapuche uprising at the end of that century, leaving its former site within Huilliche territory.

Late in the eighteenth century, renewed Spanish expansion brought conflict and negotiation. Following a Huilliche uprising in 1792 and its suppression, colonial officials and indigenous leaders met at the long abandoned stone ruins of Osorno in September 1793 for the Parliament of Las Canoas. The meeting marked a new stage in Spanish attempts to establish authority and communications through the southern lands.