Argentine Amerindians
Encyclopedia
Argentina
has thirty-five indigenous groups or Argentine Amerindians, according to the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous Peoples of 2004, in the first attempt in more than a hundred years that the government tried to recognize and classify the population according to ethnicity. In the survey, based on self-identification or self-ascription, around 600,000 Argentines declared to be Amerindian or first-generation descendants of Amerindians, that is, 1.6% of the population. The most populous of these were the Mapuche
, Kolla
, Toba, Guaraní, Wichí, Diaguita
, Mocoví, and Huarpe people
s. Many Argentines also claim at least one indigenous ancestor: in a recent genetic study conducted by the University of Buenos Aires
, more than 56% of the 320 Argentines sampled were shown to have at least one Amerindian ancestor, of which 10% had Amerindian ancestors in both parental lineages. Jujuy Province
, in the Argentine Northwest
, is home to the highest percentage of households (11%) with at least one indigenous person or a direct descendant of an indigenous people; Chubut
and Neuquén Province
s, in Patagonia
, have upwards of 8%.
archaeological site in Santa Cruz Province
, found to date from 11,000 BCE. The Cueva de las Manos
, in the same province, is over 10,000 years old. Both are among the oldest evidence of indigenous culture in the Americas, and have, with a number of similarly ancient sites elsewhere in the hemisphere, challenged the "Clovis First" hypothesis on the settlement of the Americas (the assumption, based on lacking evidence to the contrary, that the Clovis culture
was the first in the Western Hemisphere
).
from their territories by invading Mapuche
armies. By 1870 most of northern Patagonia and the south east Pampas were Araucanized
.
During the Generation of 1880
, European immigration was strongly encouraged as a way of occupying an empty territory, configuring the national population and, through their colonizing effort, gradually incorporating the nation into the world market. These changes were perhaps best summarized by the anthropological metaphor which states that “Argentines descend from ships.” The expansion of European immigrant communities and the railways
westward into the Pampas and south into Patagonia was met with Malón
raids by displaced tribes. This led to the Conquest of the Desert
in the 1870s, which resulted in over 1,300 indigenous dead. Indigenous cultures in Argentina were consequently affected by a process of invisibilization, promoted by the government during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th.
The extensive explorations, research and writing by Juan Bautista Ambrosetti
and other ethnographers during the 20th century encouraged wider interest in indigenous people in Argentina, and their contributions to the nation's culture were further underscored during the administration of President Juan Perón
in the 1940s and 1950s as part of the rustic criollo culture and values exalted by Perón during that era. Discriminatory policies toward these people and other minorities officially ended, moreover, with the August 3, 1988, enactment of the Antidiscrimination Law (Law 23.592) by President Raúl Alfonsín
, and were countered further with the establishment of a government bureau, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI), in 1995. Corrientes Province
, in 2004, became the first in the nation to award an indigenous language (Guaraní
) with co-official status, and all 35 native peoples were recognized by both the 2004 Indigenous Peoples Census and by their inclusion as self-descriptive categories in the 2010 census; indigenous communities and Afro-Argentines thus became the only groups accorded any recognition as ethnic categories by the 2010 census.
, Corrientes
, Entre Ríos
, Formosa
, Misiones
, Santa Fe
, and parts of Santiago del Estero Province
.
, Jujuy
, La Rioja, Salta
, San Juan, parts of Santiago del Estero Province
, and Tucumán
.
, Córdoba, La Pampa
, Mendoza
, and San Luis
.
, Neuquén
, Río Negro
, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego.
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
has thirty-five indigenous groups or Argentine Amerindians, according to the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous Peoples of 2004, in the first attempt in more than a hundred years that the government tried to recognize and classify the population according to ethnicity. In the survey, based on self-identification or self-ascription, around 600,000 Argentines declared to be Amerindian or first-generation descendants of Amerindians, that is, 1.6% of the population. The most populous of these were the Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
, Kolla
Kolla people
The Kolla are an indigenous people of Western Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, living in Jujuy and Salta Provinces. The 2004 Complementary Indigenous Survey reported 53,019 Kolla households living in Argentina. They moved freely between the borders of Argentina and Bolivia...
, Toba, Guaraní, Wichí, Diaguita
Diaguita
The Diaguita, also called Diaguita-Calchaquí, are a group of South American indigenous peoples. The Diaguita culture developed between the 8th and 16th centuries in what are now the provinces of Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja and Tucumán in northwestern Argentina, and in the Atacama and Coquimbo...
, Mocoví, and Huarpe people
Huarpe people
The Huarpes or Warpes were indigenous inhabitants of Cuyo, in Argentina. Some scholars assume that in the Huarpe language, this word means "sandy ground," but according Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua general del Reino de Chile, written by Andrés Fabres in Lima in 1765, the word Cuyo comes from...
s. Many Argentines also claim at least one indigenous ancestor: in a recent genetic study conducted by the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
, more than 56% of the 320 Argentines sampled were shown to have at least one Amerindian ancestor, of which 10% had Amerindian ancestors in both parental lineages. Jujuy Province
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.-History:...
, in the Argentine Northwest
Argentine Northwest
The Argentine Northwest is a region of Argentina composed by the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán.-Geography:The region had 5 different biomes:* Sub-Andean humid Sierras of the east...
, is home to the highest percentage of households (11%) with at least one indigenous person or a direct descendant of an indigenous people; Chubut
Chubut Province
Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
and Neuquén Province
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...
s, in Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
, have upwards of 8%.
Prehistory
The earliest evidence of indigenous peoples in what today is Argentina yet discovered is the Piedra MuseoPiedra Museo
Piedra Museo is an archaeological site in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, and one of the earliest known archaeological remains in the Americas.-Overview:...
archaeological site in Santa Cruz Province
Santa Cruz Province
Santa Cruz Province may refer to*Santa Cruz Province, Argentina*Santa Cruz Province, Peru*Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain...
, found to date from 11,000 BCE. The Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos is a cave or a series of caves located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is famous for the paintings of hands, made by the indigenous inhabitants some 9,000 years ago...
, in the same province, is over 10,000 years old. Both are among the oldest evidence of indigenous culture in the Americas, and have, with a number of similarly ancient sites elsewhere in the hemisphere, challenged the "Clovis First" hypothesis on the settlement of the Americas (the assumption, based on lacking evidence to the contrary, that the Clovis culture
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
was the first in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
).
History
In the XIX century major population movements altered the original Patagonian demography. Between 1820 and 1850 the original Tehuelche people were conquered and expelledForced migration
Forced migration refers to the coerced movement of a person or persons away from their home or home region...
from their territories by invading Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
armies. By 1870 most of northern Patagonia and the south east Pampas were Araucanized
Araucanization
The Araucanization of Patagonia was the process of expansion of Mapuche culture, influence and language from Araucanía into the Patagonic plains. Historians disagree in the time of the expansion but it would have occurred sometime between 1550 and 1850. Amerindian peoples such as the Puelches and...
.
During the Generation of 1880
Generation of '80
The Generation of '80 was the governing elite in Argentina from 1880 to 1916. Members of the oligarchy of the provinces and the country's capital, they first joined the League of Governors , and then the National Autonomist Party...
, European immigration was strongly encouraged as a way of occupying an empty territory, configuring the national population and, through their colonizing effort, gradually incorporating the nation into the world market. These changes were perhaps best summarized by the anthropological metaphor which states that “Argentines descend from ships.” The expansion of European immigrant communities and the railways
Rail transport in Argentina
The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...
westward into the Pampas and south into Patagonia was met with Malón
Malón
Malón or maloca was a military raiding tactic of the Mapuche peoples from the 17th to the 19th centuries.The "maloca" among the Mapuche is described as a means of obtaining justice, by Juan Ignacio Molina:...
raids by displaced tribes. This led to the Conquest of the Desert
Conquest of the Desert
The Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples...
in the 1870s, which resulted in over 1,300 indigenous dead. Indigenous cultures in Argentina were consequently affected by a process of invisibilization, promoted by the government during the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th.
The extensive explorations, research and writing by Juan Bautista Ambrosetti
Juan Bautista Ambrosetti
Juan Bautista Ambrosetti was an Argentine archaeologist, ethnographer and naturalist who helped pioneer anthropology in his country.-Life and work:...
and other ethnographers during the 20th century encouraged wider interest in indigenous people in Argentina, and their contributions to the nation's culture were further underscored during the administration of President Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
in the 1940s and 1950s as part of the rustic criollo culture and values exalted by Perón during that era. Discriminatory policies toward these people and other minorities officially ended, moreover, with the August 3, 1988, enactment of the Antidiscrimination Law (Law 23.592) by President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, and were countered further with the establishment of a government bureau, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI), in 1995. Corrientes Province
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
, in 2004, became the first in the nation to award an indigenous language (Guaraní
Guaraní language
Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of...
) with co-official status, and all 35 native peoples were recognized by both the 2004 Indigenous Peoples Census and by their inclusion as self-descriptive categories in the 2010 census; indigenous communities and Afro-Argentines thus became the only groups accorded any recognition as ethnic categories by the 2010 census.
Northeast
This region includes the provinces of ChacoChaco Province
Chaco is an Argentine province located in the north of the country, near the border with Paraguay. Its capital is Resistencia on the Paraná River opposite the city of Corrientes...
, Corrientes
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
, Entre Ríos
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
, Formosa
Formosa Province
Formosa Province is in northeastern Argentina, part of the Gran Chaco Region. Its northeast end touches Asunción, Paraguay, and borders the provinces of Chaco and Salta to its south and west, respectively...
, Misiones
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
, Santa Fe
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, and parts of Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...
.
- CharrúaCharruaThe Charrúa were an indigenous people of southern South America in the area today known as Uruguay and southern Brazil. They were a nomadic people that sustained themselves through fishing and foraging...
- LuleLuleLule may refer to:* an alternate spelling of Luleå, a town in Sweden* Lule River in Sweden* Lule Sami is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway* Lule language of northern Argentina* Yusuf Lule, former president of Uganda...
- Mbya-Guaraní
- Mocoví
- PilagáPilagáPilagá is a language spoken by 6,000 people in the Bermejo and Pilcomayo River valleys, western Formosa Province.-Sociocultural context:The geographical distribution into communites is permeated bypan-Chacoan social organization of people into bands...
- TobaTobaToba may refer to:In Geography:* Lake Toba, a lake in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, and site of the volcanic Toba eruption 75,000 years ago** Toba catastrophe theory, according to which modern human evolution was affected by the Toba eruption...
- Tonocoté
- VilelaVilelaVilela may refer to:* Vilela, Portugal, a parish in Amares municipality* Vilela language, an endangered Lule-Vilela language, indigenous to northwestern Argentina* Vilela people, indigenous people of Argentina...
- WichíWichíThe Wichí are an indigenous people of South America. They are a large group of tribes ranging about the headwaters of the Bermejo River and the Pilcomayo River, in Argentina and Bolivia.-Notes on designation:...
Northwest
This region includes the provinces of CatamarcaCatamarca Province
Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are : Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja...
, Jujuy
Jujuy Province
Jujuy is a province of Argentina, located in the extreme northwest of the country, at the borders with Chile and Bolivia. The only neighboring Argentine province is Salta to the east and south.-History:...
, La Rioja, Salta
Salta Province
Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...
, San Juan, parts of Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...
, and Tucumán
Tucumán Province
Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...
.
- Atacama
- Avá-Guaraní
- Chané
- Chorote
- Chulupí
- Diaguita-CalchaquíDiaguitaThe Diaguita, also called Diaguita-Calchaquí, are a group of South American indigenous peoples. The Diaguita culture developed between the 8th and 16th centuries in what are now the provinces of Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja and Tucumán in northwestern Argentina, and in the Atacama and Coquimbo...
- ChicoanaChicoana-External link:*, Spanish...
- Chicoana
- KollaKolla peopleThe Kolla are an indigenous people of Western Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, living in Jujuy and Salta Provinces. The 2004 Complementary Indigenous Survey reported 53,019 Kolla households living in Argentina. They moved freely between the borders of Argentina and Bolivia...
- Ocloya
- Omaguaca
- Tapiete
- Toba
- Tupí
- Wichí
- IncaInca EmpireThe Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
Central
This region includes the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the provinces of Buenos AiresBuenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, Córdoba, La Pampa
La Pampa Province
La Pampa is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza.-History:...
, Mendoza
Mendoza Province
The Province of Mendoza is a province of Argentina, located in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders to the north with San Juan, the south with La Pampa and Neuquén, the east with San Luis, and to the west with the republic of Chile; the international limit is...
, and San Luis
San Luis Province
San Luis is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.-History:...
.
- Atacama
- Avá Guaraní
- ComechingonComechingónComechingón is the common name for a group of people indigenous to the Argentine provinces of Córdoba and San Luis...
- Diaguita-CalchaquíDiaguitaThe Diaguita, also called Diaguita-Calchaquí, are a group of South American indigenous peoples. The Diaguita culture developed between the 8th and 16th centuries in what are now the provinces of Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja and Tucumán in northwestern Argentina, and in the Atacama and Coquimbo...
- HuarpeHuarpe peopleThe Huarpes or Warpes were indigenous inhabitants of Cuyo, in Argentina. Some scholars assume that in the Huarpe language, this word means "sandy ground," but according Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua general del Reino de Chile, written by Andrés Fabres in Lima in 1765, the word Cuyo comes from...
- KollaKolla peopleThe Kolla are an indigenous people of Western Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, living in Jujuy and Salta Provinces. The 2004 Complementary Indigenous Survey reported 53,019 Kolla households living in Argentina. They moved freely between the borders of Argentina and Bolivia...
- MapucheMapucheThe Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
- Rankulche
- Toba
- Tupí Guaraní
South
This region includes the provinces of ChubutChubut Province
Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
, Neuquén
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...
, Río Negro
Río Negro Province
Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...
, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego.
- MapucheMapucheThe Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
- Ona
- Tehuelche
- Yamana
See also
- Indigenous peoples of the AmericasIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
- Argentine peopleArgentine peopleArgentines are the citizens of Argentina, or their descendants abroad. Argentina is a multiethnic society, which means that it is home to people of many different ethnic backgrounds. According to the , Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, of which 1,527,320, or 4.2%, were born...
- Abipón peopleAbipón peopleThe Abipones were an indigenous nation of Argentina's Gran Chaco, part of the Guaycuru languages linguistic group. They ceased to exist as an ethnic group in the early 19th century...
- Alacaluf people
- AmaichaAmaichaThe Amaichas are a Diaguitan tribe who once lived in northwestern region of Argentina....
- CalchaquíCalchaquíThe Calchaquí were a tribe of South American Indians of the Diaguita group, now extinct, who formerly occupied northern Argentina. Stone and other remains prove them to have reached a high degree of civilization...
- CapayánCapayánThe Capayanes were an indigenous people nowadays extinct that lived in Argentine territory.-Description:Their geographical area was partly of the provinces of La Rioja, Catamarca, San Juan, from the mountainous zone understood to be between the limit of La Rioja with Catamarca on Colorado river and...
- FuegiansFuegiansFuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. In English, the term originally referred to the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego...
- Haush people
- Poya people
- Puelche people
External links
- About Argentina: Indigenous Population, Argentinian government website