Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') (Mapudungun: Lef-Traru "swift hawk") (Spanish pronunciation: [lawˈtaɾo]; c. 1534 – April 29, 1557) was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would continue to be employed by the Mapuche during the long-running Arauco War. Levtaru was captured by Spanish forces in his early youth, and he spent his teenage years as a personal servant of chief conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. He graduated from servant to stableman; in this job he saw that their horses weren't godlike creatures like his people thought (the biggest animal they knew was the llama). He escaped in 1551 and told his people that the conquistadores and their horses were just mortals and they could defeat them. Back among his people he was declared Toqui and led Mapuche warriors into a series of victories against the Spanish, culminating in the Battle of Tucapel in December 1553, where Pedro of Valdivia was killed. The outbreak of a typhus plague, a drought and a famine prevented the Mapuche from taking further actions to expel the Spanish in 1554 and 1555. Between 1556 and 1557, a small group of Mapuche commanded by Levtaru attempted to reach Santiago to liberate the whole of Central Chile from Spanish rule. Levtaru's attempts ended in 1557 when he was killed in an ambush by the Spanish.

Today, Levtaru is revered among Mapuche and non-Mapuche Chileans for his resistance against foreign conquest, servitude and cruelty.

Lautaro was the son of a Mapuche lonko (a chief who holds office during peacetime) called Curiñancu (Kurüñamku in the Mapuche language, Mapudungun, ‘aguilucho negro’ meaning ‘black harrier’) and was born in 1533. He lived a normal life until, at the age of 11, he was captured by the Spanish and forced into servitude by Don Pedro de Valdivia and became his personal servant. Since it was difficult for the Spaniards to pronounce Lautaro’s original name, Leftraru, they gave him the name of Felipe Lautaro. Don Pedro de Valdivia was a Spanish conqueror of Chile and then became the captain general of Chile.

Lautaro learned the military ways and skills of the Spaniards' army by observation. He was witness to atrocities committed by the Spanish on captive Mapuche warriors. According to several historians, in the immediate vicinity of what is now the city of Concepción, Chile, Pedro de Valdivia ordered his men to cut off the feet and hands of every Mapuche in Curiñancu's tribe, for resisting Spanish colonization, among them Curiñancu and his wife, Lautaro’s parents, in order to teach the Mapuche a lesson. It is said that because of Valdivia’s command to cut off the toes of the Mapuche warriors, the Spanish soldiers named the place “El Valle de La Mocha”, whose name has been maintained over time. A great hatred of the Spanish and particularly of Pedro de Valdivia was born in the young Lautaro because of this incident. After his capture they made him a Yanakuna, meaning a “black slave” in Quechua. He remained a prisoner of the Spanish for three years. Because he kept his personal hatred of Valdivia hidden, Lautaro soon became his personal page. Among his daily tasks as a page, he was in charge of taking care of Valdivia’s horses and always accompanying them into battle and military exercises. This is how he learned not to fear horses and even become a good rider himself.

During this period he had a certain level of friendship with one of Valdivia’s principal captains by the name of Marcos Veas, who taught Lautaro how to use different kinds of weapons and cavalry tactics. This was a typical practice because as a yanakuna Lautaro was responsible to serve as an indigenous assistant during battles.

According to the Chilean novelist Isabel Allende in her historical novel, Inés del Alma Mía, the boy Lautaro had deliberately allowed himself to be captured by the Spanish in order to learn their secrets, and made no attempt to escape until he felt he had learned enough. In any case, he fled twice, first in 1550 and for good in 1552. In 1553 (the year Lautaro turned 19), the Mapuches convened to decide how to respond to the Spanish invasion. The convention decided upon war. The toqui Caupolicán chose Lautaro as vice toqui because he had served as a page in the Spanish cavalry, and thereby possessed knowledge of how to defeat the mounted conquistadors. Lautaro introduced use of horses to the Mapuche and designed better combat tactics. He organized a large, cohesive army—a military formation unfamiliar to the Mapuche.

With 6,000 warriors under his command, Lautaro attacked Fort Tucapel. The Spanish garrison couldn't withstand the assault and retreated to Purén. Lautaro seized the fort, sure that the Spaniards would attempt to retake it. That is exactly what Governor Valdivia tried to do with a reduced force, which was quickly surrounded and massacred by the Mapuches on Christmas Day, 1553. The Battle of Tucapel would be Pedro de Valdivia's last, as he was captured and then killed.

After the defeat at Tucapel, the Spanish hastily reorganized their forces, reinforcing the defenses of Fort Imperial and abandoning the settlements of Confines and Arauco in order to strengthen Concepción. However, Mapuche tradition dictated a lengthy victory celebration, which kept Lautaro from realizing his desire to pursue the military advantage he had just gained. It was only in February 1554 that he succeeded in putting together an army of 8,000 men, just in time to confront a punitive expedition under the command of Francisco de Villagra.