The notion of malón , which comes from the Mapuche language, is used to refer to a sudden attack by indigenous people . Specifically, we can determine that it comes from the word “mapudungun”, which is synonymous with “making hostility to the enemy”. This word was also used to refer exactly to the surprise attacks that the Mapuches carried out against what were Spanish troops.
The term refers to a type of irruption used by aboriginal peoples in South America .
The malón was formed with numerous combatants on horseback who arrived unexpectedly at a place and carried out an offensive action. These groups could attack the ranches and populations of Europeans and Creoles or even against other indigenous communities.
By attacking Malón, the aborigines sought to steal supplies and livestock, take prisoners and kill their enemies. Many times the attack took place at night to increase the surprise factor , meaning that those attacked did not have time to organize their defense.
The indigenous people used to use boleadoras , maces and spears as weapons. In the forts, the Creoles installed mangrullos to try to spot the malones, although at night there were few lookouts and vision was difficult.
Malones were frequent in various areas of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata , the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Captaincy General of Chile . With the independence of Argentina and Chile , these attacks continued, even well into the 20th century , as occurred in the so-called Fortín Yunká massacre of 1919 .
One of the first known malones occurred in 1740 when the chief Cangapol carried out attacks in Luján, Arrecifes and even Magdalena. He did it with the help of Pehuenches, Huilliches and Tehuelches.
Another significant malón in history is the one that occurred in the year 1821, specifically on April 4. Specifically, what happened was that the Creole and malones leader José Luis Molina, who was leading some 1,500 indigenous people, attacked the well-known Argentine town of Dolores. Thanks to this offensive action he managed to obtain a whopping 15,000 head of cattle.
In the same way, we cannot ignore the existence of another attack that was called “El Malón Grande”. This began in November 1875 and was developed by Ranqueles as well as different Indians. They attacked places like Alvear, Tapalqué, Tandil, Juárez and even Azul. The result was that there were numerous deaths, but also that they managed to seize a large number of cattle and even prisoners. However, a year later, exactly on March 18, 1876, the Indians were defeated.
Malón , finally, is the name of an Argentine heavy metal band that emerged in 1995 after the dissolution of Hermética : Claudio O'Connor , Claudio Strunz and Antonio Romano , who were part of that group , remained together in the new group.
Malón released three studio albums ( “Espíritu combativo” , “Justicia o resistance” and “New world order” ), in addition to other live recordings.