v44_1049 - ROYAUME D'ARAUCANIE ET DE PATAGONIE - ORÉLIE-ANTOINE Ier Piéfort en bronze de Un peso 1874

THIRD REPUBLIC - KINGDOM OF ARAUCANIA AND PATAGONIA - ORÉLIE-ANTOINE I

(1860-1878)

Orélie-Antoine de Tounens (05/12/1825-09/20/1878), French adventurer, originally from Chourgnac in the Dordogne, arrived in Chile in 1858. The following year, he reached Araucania where he was proclaimed king of the Araucaunians and the Patagonians on November 17, 1860. He was arrested in 1862 by the Chileans who judged him in Santiago and declared him insane. He returned to France in 1863. He made two attempts to return to Araucania in 1869 and in 1874. He died in poverty in Tourtoirac in 1878.