About Orélie-Antoine de Tounens
Orélie-Antoine de Tounens (born Antoine Tounens) (12 May 1825 – 17 September 1878) was a French avoué and adventurer who proclaimed by two decrees on 17 and 20 November 1860 that Araucanía and Patagonia did not depend of any other states and that he himself was King of Araucanía and Patagonia. On 5 January 1862, he was arrested by the Chilean army and imprisoned. He was declared insane by the court of Santiago on 2 September 1862, and expelled to France on 28 October 1862. He tried three further times to go back to Araucanía to regain his "kingdom", but without success, and he died in poverty on 17 September 1878, in Tourtoirac, France. == Biography == Antoine Tounens was born on 12 May 1825. His father was the French butcher Jean Tounens from La Chèze, while his mother, Katerina Zardon (Katerina Zartoudi) (Greek: Κατερίνα Ζαρτούδη), was a Greek seamstress from Patras, Greece. In 1858, Antoine de Tounens, a former avoué in Périgueux (France) had read the book of Alonso de Ercilla, La Araucana, and decided to go to Araucania, inspired by the book to become the King of Araucania. He disembarked at the port of Coquimbo in Chile and spent two years in Valparaíso and Santiago, studying Spanish. Later he moved South to the Bio-Bio where he met some loncos (Mapuche tribal leaders). He promised them arms and the help of France to maintain their independence from Chile.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.