In the mid-19th century, Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, an obscure French lawyer obsessed with grand ambition, decided to carve out his own empire in South America. Arriving in Chile in 1858, Tounens learned about the Mapuche people's long-standing resistance against Chilean military expansion. Seeing a unique opportunity, he traveled into the Araucanía region and presented himself to local Mapuche chieftains, claiming he could help them secure international recognition and protect their ancestral lands.
Fascinated by his legalistic promises and enthusiastic fervor, several chieftains agreed to form a constitutional monarchy, officially electing him King Orélie-Antoine I of Araucanía and Patagonia in November 1860. Tounens lost no time acting the part: he drafted a national constitution, created a royal coat of arms, composed a national anthem, and began issuing royal decrees. However, his self-proclaimed kingdom was short-lived.
Neither Chile nor Argentina recognized his authority, viewing his movement as an eccentric threat to national sovereignty. In 1862, Chilean troops captured Tounens, declared him mentally unstable, and deported him back to France. Undeterred by defeat, Tounens made three subsequent attempts to return to South America and reclaim his throne, spending the remainder of his life in European exile while continuously printing royal stamps and titles for a kingdom that existed almost entirely in his mind.