The
Battle of Curalaba is the name given to the battle and ambush where
Mapuche people led by
Pelantaru soundly defeated Spanish conquerors led by
Martín García Óñez de Loyola at Curalaba, southern
Chile. In Chilean
historiography, where the event is often called
Disaster of Curalaba, the battle marks the end of the "Conquista" period in Chile's history, although the fast Spanish expansion in the south had already been halted in the 1550s.