This article examines the description of South American nature and landscape in La Araucana, with the aim of revealing the relevance – for the configuration of the poem – of the author's life experience and view of nature during the eighteen months he spent in southern Chile. It examines what critics have pointed out in this regard, concluding that, in general, it overweighs the classical resonances and the literary imaginary and minimizes the role of the experience of the territory that Ercilla lived through. The article provides geographical background of the different sectors of the territory that Ercilla traveled during his stay, (Quiriquina, Nahuelbuta mountain range and trip and return"to the edge of the world"). The article shows that the poet did have eyes for local landscape, and that nature influenced the events that are narrated and how they are narrated.