This talk explores the familiar topic of Chile under the Popular Unity Government (1970-1973) from a less familiar angle: the indigenous heartlands of the south. Here, unresolved territorial conflicts between European settlers and the Mapuche people accentuated the political divisions of a nation-state in denial about its indigenous heritage. Through the history of the Araucanía region, we can understand the obstacles to Allende’s “Chilean road to Socialism”, the hopes of Che Guevara-inspired revolutionaries and why a supposedly stable democracy gave way to a 17-year-long military dictatorship.