The Indigenous Peoples of Chile (and Argentina) who call themselves MAPUCHE

need some recognition from a Greek Organization. We have to acknowledge their

efforts to find or re-establish relationships with the Greek peoples.
They recently established a relationship with the CREE peoples of Cross lake,
Manitoba, Canada. That was in the form of exchange of delegations, with lots of
publicity in local newspapers and magazines. The Mapuche are crying out for
attention,  but  we  pretend  we  don’t  hear  them!

We have the parallel situation with the KALASH Peoples of Pakistan who are at the
moment assisted by a group of Greek volunteers. They raise most of their funds
themselves (I am one of their supporters), but are also receiving a Greek
government grant to accomplish their work projects.

Eventually, the Greeks have to establish relationships with numerous indigenous

groups around the world as we realize that they descended from the global
expansion and migration carried out by the ancient Greeks and immortalized in
such epics as the Odyssey, the Argonauts and the Dionysos expeditions.

DID THE MAPUCHE OF CHILE TRAVEL FROM HOMERIC AGE GREECE?

The similarity between the Greek people and the indigenous Mapuche of southern Chile
and Argentina has been the subject of many authors and language investigators.

Lonko Kilapan, an indigenous Mapuche historian and president of the Araucanian

Language  Academy  wrote  a  book  on  “The Greek Origin of the Araucanians of Chile”,  
which was translated into Greek and is now (2003) in its third Greek edition. He gives an
exhaustive evidence of the similarity of the two languages, names and customs.
The Nobel winning Chilean poet, Pablo Nerouda used  to  say  that  he  has  “Greek  blood  in  
his  veins”.

The similarities in the language, religion & customs between the Greeks and the
Mapuche are indeed spectacular, but the best match on the subject of the language, I
think, can be made between the Mapuche language (called Mapudungun) and very
archaic Greek language, such as from the age of Homer.

Ancient Greeks HAD to travel

This is only part of a worldwide phenomenon linking the spread of ancient Greeks to all
parts of the world in pre-historic times. We know that because, remarkably, ancient
Greek  names  have  survived  in  many  of  the  world’s  so-called indigenous peoples.
It was during the so-called Age of Exploration of the Ancient Greeks that the explorers
traveled to find new places for migration. The poor soil condition and limited cultivating
land in Greece could not support an expanding population. They had to travel in those
ancient times to find suitable places for colonization. They also needed new supplies of
resources for their metal industries, copper, tin, gold and iron.

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Other ancient peoples, such as the Chinese and the Indians, did not need to travel and
explore, since they had plenty of arable land to support them and no enemies to threaten
them most of the time.

In this way the Age of Exploration of the ancient Greeks took place some 3,000 years or
more before the Age of Exploration of western Europeans. The evidence is plenty and
comes with the epic poems by Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, the legends of the Argonauts
and those of Dionysos, Pytheas and others. Their travel documents have survived in these
legends, but no certain dates or exact locations have survived. What about other travelers
whose  diaries  and  stories  did  not  survive?  We  certainly  know  that  most  of  the  “Minoans”  
left Santorini and Crete shortly before and even after the cataclysmic eruption of the
Thera volcano around 1,600 BC. But where did they go? No one has speculated on that.
Conveniently, however, we know that the Olmecs,  the  first  “North  Americans”  (if  we  
exclude those who traveled from Asia through the Beringian peninsula), arrived in
today’s  Mexico  around  1,200 BC by sea. Since all archeologists and historians agree that
they arrived, they must have come from somewhere. In those years only the Greeks were
traveling  far  and  wide  and  were  referred  to  as  the  “Sea Peoples”  by  the  ancient  
Egyptians. It was true that the Phoenicians also traveled, but they were always a step
behind the Greeks. The Greeks were the first to go, or the first to arrive.

Therefore, the most obvious candidate of the origin of the Olmecs was the Greeks, in
particular  the  “Minoans”  who  abandoned the Aegean en mass to go away from such a
threatening  volcano.  Even  the  word  “Olmec”  is  Greek  and  is  mentioned  by  Homer.
The presence of descendants of Crete in North America does not end there. The biggest
tribe of indigenous North Americans is called the  “Crees”  and  is  found  right  across  
Canada today. The similarities have been documented (Issigonis, 2005).

The above deal with the relatively well-known history of the early peoples of Northern
America. As regards Southern America however, the earliest human remains discovered
so far have been dated at about 20,000 before present. Therefore, humans were moving
around much earlier, but again they had to come from somewhere.

The evidence of ancient Greek location names in South America is impressive and
extends basically from the Guyanas, through the Amazon basin into the Andes and all the
way through Peru into Chile (Mertz in Passas, paper in preparation).

The  name  “Chile”  pronounced  “Hele”  by  the  Mapuche

In  ancient  Greek,  “Hele”  means  a  ‘tongue’  of  land protruding into the sea, a peninsula. In
fact, there is an old Greek town with the same name in northern Asia Minor because it is
located  on  such  a  promontory  of  land.  Thus,  Greeks  usually  “name”  locations  and  towns  
with something that describes them. In  this  case,  it  is  a  promontory,  called  “Hele”  in  
Greek, so that became the name of the human settlement on this promontory. Asia
Minor,  however,  is  now  part  of  Turkey  and  the  town’s  name  has  changed.

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Where is the peninsula in Chile?

According to their own legends, the Mapuche (also called Araucanians by the Spanish)
arrived in southern Chile 12,000 years ago, or 10,000 B.C. They also have the proof that
this approximate date can be factual and not a myth: An astounding observation that they
have recorded and it has survived all these years: they mention that after they arrived the
sea level rose and the peninsula now called Chiloe became an island!
Geography teaches us that the rise in sea level took place at the end of the last Ice Age
some 8,000 years BC when the sea level rose by about 100 metres. Therefore, it is
possible that the early settlers arrived before 8,000 BC.

The rise in sea level is also recorded in ancient Greek writings and has been proven by
underwater beach deposits in several parts of the world.

If  we  look  at  the  map  of  Chile  today,  we  don’t  find  any  peninsula.  Instead  we  find  an  
island  called  “Chiloe”.  This  name  means  a  peninsula  only  in  Greek  and  the  name  has  
survived since before the rise in the sea level when it was indeed a peninsula. This is
remarkable! Chiloe is the heartland of the Mapuche peoples in the past and it is today as
well.
Chiloe is the southernmost habitable part of Chile. Further south the land is inaccessible
to humans due to treacherous mountains and violent volcanoes. Therefore, Chiloe is the
“Hele”  of  the  country,  its  most  notable  landmark.  No  wonder  it  has  survived  as  the  name  
of the country.

Here  is  the  map  of  Chile  with  the  island  of  “Chiloe”  arrowed  in.

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 Chiloe island

If the Mapuche arrived into their country, they must have traveled from somewhere.
Their place of origin is not mentioned in their legends. Anyway, it is impossible to have
survived.

The lack of expertise in the smelting of metals by the early Mapuche – the metal working
art was passed on to South America much later by the invading Spanish – suggests they

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left Europe (if their origin was in Europe) prior to the Bronze Age, in other words about
3,000 years B.C or earlier.

They possess, however, the art of ceramics, also characteristic of very ancient Greek life.

Ancient Greek legends

Ancient  Greek  writers  (  Diodorus  Siculos)  have  mentioned  that  South  America  (“the  
land  across  the  ocean”)  was  called  after  Saturn  (Cronus),  so  there  must  have  been  some  
communication between ancient Greece and South America. That name survives today in
the  name  “Greenland”  which  is  pronounced  “Gronland”  -“Cronus-land”- by the Danish.

The Similarities

Similarities between very archaic Greek of the age of Homer and the Mapuche exist in
many aspects and are indeed spectacular.

They are in the following areas:

- language
- religion
- customs
- love for freedom, and fierce resistance to an occupation
- love of nature and the environment

The Mapuche describe their language as derived from the sounds of nature including
animals, birds, trees, wind, rain, etc
Moreover, many words are similar to very ancient Greek words. But how old are they, no
precise dates are known as there was no writing back then. It is assumed that the poems
of Homer were written down eventually around 800 B.C after they were passed by word
of mouth for generations. But such legends can survive for long periods of time. The
Cree  legends  of  Canada’s  indigenous  peoples  have  only  been  written  in  the  last  two  
hundred years, after being preserved unwritten for centuries.

Therefore,  Homeric  language  could  have  ‘started’  thousands  of  years  ago.  Officially,  
writing was established around 776 B.C. with the first Olympic Games and then we had
the Age of the Classical Greek of the philosophers, orators, poets, and scientists of the
third century B.C. That language, however, was slightly modified from the earlier
Homeric age Greek.

Migrations of early Greeks could have carried the early forms of the Homeric language
with them into far away places. However, languages evolve with time, so in the end they
may only preserve some Greek roots. This is exactly what is found in the Mapuche
language today. Moreover, some words are identical in both languages and this is indeed
extraordinary.

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Ancient Greek pronunciation

It should be noted that the pronunciation of Homeric Greek words is not known,
therefore, its spelling is only approximate. It has been observed that no spelling mistakes
have been seen anywhere in ancient Greek writings. This is because, no spelling mistakes
were possible, each letter had a specific sound. This is not so in modern Greek, where
many vowels and diphthongs have the same sound today, yet different vowels are given
to specific words. The only reason for their spelling today, is that they were passed along
from ancient Greek words who may have been pronounced differently.
For  example,  in  the  modern  word  ‘nike’,  or  ‘’  in  Greek  meaning  victory,  both  ‘’  and  
‘’  have  the  same  sound  today,  yet  in  the  original  ancient  Greek  word  they  probably  had  
slightly different sounds.
The ancients never made a spelling mistake, but in modern Greek spelling mistakes are
common, for  example,  switching  ‘’  for  ‘’  would  not  make  a  difference  in  the  
pronunciation of this word.

Word comparisons

*NOTE: ‘MAPUCHE’ words  in  capitals,  versus  ‘ancient  Greek  words’ in italic

The  Mapuche  God  of  Creation  is  ‘NGENECHEN’  pronounced  Genesis, the ancient
Greek word. So, here we have exactly the same word used by the Greeks and the
Mapuche! The word did not come from the Spanish, this is their own original, indigenous
word.

Mapuche  :  ‘MAPU’  is  for  ‘land’  and  ‘CHE’  stands  for  ‘people’.  The  most ancient name
for  ‘Greeks’,  was  the  ‘Acheans”.  Here,  there  is  similarity  in  their  names.  

One  of  their  dialects  is  called  ‘  NGOLUCHE’  which  is  pronounced  like  ‘glossa’  ,  or  
‘language’  in  Greek.  Again,  we  have  identical  names  by  both  peoples,  yet  so  far  away
from each other.

Words in Religion and Culture

‘PITREN”  their  oldest  religion  could  be  derived  from  the  oldest  known  religion  in  
Greece associated with the Delphic oracle, or ‘Pytho’,  the  ancient  name  for  ‘Delphi’.

‘MACHI”,  the  interpreter  of  the  oracle, doctor, sorcerer, or shaman compares with the
Greek  equivalent  ‘manti’.  In  Greece,  no  sound  instruments  were  known  to  accompany  
the  ceremonies  with  the  ‘manti’,  but  were  prominent  with  the  MACHI.  
However, Apollon was the God of music and was responsible for killing Python, the
sacred snake at Delphi and became in charge of the oracle at a later time. Thus, there is
some relationship between the oracle and music in both instances.

‘KULTRUN’ has  a  Greek  equivalent  in  ’koloos’  or  ‘sound’.

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 ‘Tru’  was  the  Greek  word  for  ‘sound’,  and  compares  well  with  the  Mapuche  word  for  
‘sound,  ‘TRUTRUCAS’.
‘PIFILKA”  the  wind  instrument  has  perhaps  an  equivalent  in  the  Greek  verb  ‘pifafsko’,  
to  ‘make  presentation  of  sound’.

‘KALCU’  the  sorcerer  may  be  equivalent  to  ‘Kalhas”  the  famous  ‘manti’ of the ancients
Greece who took part in the Trojan War and predicted the outcome of that war.

Their  most  sacred  site,  or  altar  ‘REWE’  (pronounced  exactly  like  Rea  in  Greek)  is  
probably  named  after  ‘Rea’,  the  mother  of  Cronus,  the  mother of Zeus. So, here we have
identical Gods, yet so far away.

The  family  house  ‘RUCA’  was  thatched,  its  Greek  equivalent  was  ‘ropas’  which  means  
branches and sticks of living trees.

The  head  of  family  is  ‘CACIQUE’,  or  ‘cacignitos’  in  ancient  Greek.  This Mapuche
name is also found as far north as the indigenous Crees of Canada meaning the same
thing.

The  oldest  man  was  the  chief,  or  ‘TOKI’.  This  compares  with  ‘tokas’  in  ancient  Greek  
with the same meaning.

A  small  family  group  is  ‘LOF’,  has  the  Greek  equivalent  in  either  ‘lohos’  that  stands  for  
a  group  of  people,  or  ‘lofos’,  which  stands  for  the  headdress.

Names of famous Mapuche Heroes and Leaders have also comparable Greek roots:

- ‘LAUTARO’,  compares  with  ‘Eleuthero”  which  means  free  or  freedom.

- ‘MICHIMALONGO’,  compares  with  ‘machimon’,  which  stands  for  ‘strong’,  
and  ‘someone  who  likes  war’.
- ‘PELANTARU’,  compares  with  ‘pelor’ which  stands  for  ‘great  man’,  and  
‘’someone  who  wins  in  war’

The  ‘wise  men’,  or  ‘elders’  of  the  community  were  ‘oulamos’  in ancient Greek, or
‘ULMEN’ in Mapudungun. The same name is also found in the Crees of Canada.

For  dressing  they  wore  ‘CHAMMALL’  or  ‘kalymma’  in  Greek  with  a  ‘TRARIWE’  or  
‘mitri’  in  Greek.  Women  wore  the  ‘QUIPAN’  or  ‘chiton’  in  Greek.

For weaving, Mapuche used  a  spindle  “COLIU’  ,  in  ancient  Greek  they  used  ‘kolops’.

‘AYUN’,  the  word  for  ‘love’,  literally  means  ‘dawn’,  or  ‘rising  sun’.  Thus,  it  resembles  
closely  the  ancient  Greek  ‘avgi’  which  has  the  same  meanings.

‘CHOL’  meaning  trees,  sounds  more  like  ‘chloe’,  with  similar  meaning.

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Love for freedom and Fierce resistance to an Occupation

Exhibited by the Mapuche

- against the Spanish conquerors (The Mapuche were never conquered by the
Spanish,  they  were  simply  ‘pacified’  by  the  Chilean  /  Argentinian governments)
- against  the  Chile  /  Argentine  occupying  ‘governments’  and  is  continuing  to  the  
present time
Exhibited by the Greeks
- against the Persians, the first invaders
- against several invaders during the Byzantine Empire ( Turks, Bulgarians, Arabs,
Persians, etc )
- against the Italians, Albanians, Germans & Bulgarians during WWII (none of the
other Europeans resisted the Germans for as long as the Greeks)

Love for nature & environment

Both the Greeks (especially the ancient Greeks) and the Mapuche are fierce defenders of
Mother Earth.
For example, ancient Greek marble quarries and mining operations were not noticeable
on the surface, they were obscured, almost hidden, so that nature would not be
“wounded”.
The Mapuche still defend their territory against government interference that resulted in
deforestation and animal extinctions. They are the most vigorous defenders of Mother
Earth in the world today! They would demonstrate en mass to preserve their land or even
die to preserve their environment.

Other similarities

The  Mapuche  have  also  been  known  as  the  only  “white  People”  in  South  America  in  
contrast with the darker-skin tribes closer to the equator. Location names also bear close
relationship to Greek words, peoples names, dancing in circles, names of mountains,
deep-rooted culture, amazing art works, etc, etc.

REFERENCES

Lonko Kilapan, The Greek Origin of the Araucanians of Chile, 1974. Translated into
Greek, published by Iliodromion, 1997 & 2003

Papageorgiou, K.,Homeric Dictionary (in Greek), publ. by Entos, Athens

Diodoros Sikeliotis (Diodorus Siculus), books 1-4, publ. by Kaktos, Athens,1997

Ballard, R.D., 2001, Deep Black Sea, National Geographic Magazine, May
www.mapuche.nl
www.mapuche-nation.org

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Passas, Ioannis, I Alithini Proistoria, publ. Ilios, 1945

Linguistics, Stanford University at www.mnsu.edu

Rehue Foundation at www.xs4all.nl

Issigonis, M., The Red-Skinned Natives of America and their Homeric Roots, Elliniki
Agogi, No.10, Issue 46/99, Oct. 2005