He was born at Chimpay, a small town in Valle Medio, Río Negro Province, Argentina,[REF] the sixth child of Rosario Burgos and a Mapuche cacique, Manuel Namuncurá.
His father Manuel, Chief of the Mapuches, promoted to honorary colonel in the Argentine army, decided that his son study in Buenos Aires, in order to prepare himself "to be useful to his people."[REF]