Pehuenches are an indigenous people that are part of 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...

 peoples and live in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 in south central Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and Argentina

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...

. Their name derives from their habit of harvesting of piñones, the seeds of the Araucaria araucana

Araucaria araucana

Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing to tall with a trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina and south Brazil. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria...

or pehuén. In the 14th century Pehuenches lived in the mountainous territory marked by Lonquimay volcano

Lonquimay (volcano)

Lonquimay Volcano is a stratovolcano of late-Pleistocene to dominantly Holocene age, with the shape of a truncated cone. The cone is largely andesitic, though basaltic and dacitic rocks are present. It is located in the Araucanía Region of Chile, immediately SE of Tolhuaca volcano. Sierra Nevada...

 and Maule River

Maule river

The Maule river is one of the most important rivers of Chile and is inextricably linked to this country's pre-Hispanic times, the country's conquest, colonial period, wars of Independence, modern history, agriculture , culture , religion, economy and politics...

, but became later 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...

 and partially merged with 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...

 tribes.

Culture

Pehuenches incorporated horse meat

Horse meat

Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses...

 into their diet since wilderened Spanish horses reached the eastern foothills of the Andes. These herds had originated in the humid pampa

Humid Pampa

The Humid Pampa is an extensive region of flat, fertile grassland of loessic origin in Argentina. It has a precipitation average of 900 mm per year, in contrast with the Dry Pampas to the west, which average less than 700 mm.-Setting:...

, after the second abandonment of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 in 1541. At first they hunted horses as any other animal but later they began to grow horses for meat and transport. To conserve horse meat it was made into charqui

Charqui

Charqui or charque, is a form of jerky common in South America made from dried and salted meat, originally llama where this animal roamed, nowadays mostly beef. Llama is still widely used in Bolivia. This curing was done so the meat could be stored for a long period. This was a very popular way to...

 after being sun-dried in the high Andes.

In his work from 1787 Civic History of the Kingdom of Chile Juan Ignacio Molina

Juan Ignacio Molina

Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina was a Chilean Jesuit priest, naturalist, historian, botanist, ornithologist and geographer...

 described their dress as distinc from the Mapuches by not using trousers but skirts although he adds that their language

Mapudungun

The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...

 and religion are not too different. He also stated that mens used earring

Earring

Common locations for piercings, other than the earlobe, include the rook, tragus, and across the helix . The simple term "ear piercing" usually refers to an earlobe piercing, whereas piercings in the upper part of the external ear are often referred to as "cartilage piercings"...

s and manillas

Manillas

Manillas are penannular armlets, mostly in bronze or copper, very rarely gold, which served as a form of money or barter coinage and to a degree, ornamentation, amongst certain West African peoples...

. The manillas were used for counting. Molina described them as nomadic (vagabond in his words) and the most commercing and laborious among "all the savages".