Querandí
Encyclopedia
The Querandí were one of the Het peoples
, indigenous
South Americans who lived in the Pampas area of Argentina
; specifically, they were the eastern Didiuhet. The name Querandí was given by the Guaraní people, as they would consume animal fat in their daily diet. Thus, Querandí means "men with fat". They were also well-known as the Pampas prior to the 19th Century. Mapuche
(or araucanos) called them Puelche.
This is today the present Argentine provinces of La Pampa
, most of the province of Buenos Aires
, the center and the south of the province of Santa Fe
(especially to the south of the Tercero-Carcaraña River), a great part of the province of Cordova
(adapted ecologically to the temperate Pampasia, their northern limits were in the region of the Gran Chaco
- around 31º lat. South) and the peneplain
s of the present provinces of San Luis
and Mendoza
, although these zones were more difficult to inhabit due to its extreme climate and lack of surface water.
Physically, the Querandí Indians had a well-proportioned body. They were tall and extremely warlike. They wore leather clothes, similar to a fur blanket; women would also wear a skirt that covered their bodies down to their knees. With a semi sedentary lifestyle, they grouped their leather tents by their water supply in the winter, and they would go on their raids inland in the summer.
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans they stood out as great runners hunting, or rather, they captured by running down, Pampan deer, ñandúes, and even guanacos
, although to facilitate their activity they had invented two devices (one that would become a classic in Argentina): the bolas
, and the more primitive one consisting of a stone tied to a cord made with leather or sinews called by the Spaniards a stone-lost boleadora. They would also hunt tinamou
s, deer, quail
and ñandúes with the help of their bows and arrows and their bolas
. They also made pottery
.
They believed in a great god whom they called Soychu, who had a contender or evil spirit: Gualichu.
landed on the shores of the River Plate (Río de la Plata), but the natives resisted his attempt of conquest and the expedition failed.
Ferdinand Magellan
touched the port soon afterwards and went up the River Plate in search for a connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When he saw that there was no such connection, he continued navigating southwards along the land presently called Patagonia
, making contact with the Tehuelche peoples, whom he called Patagones. After this, he discovered the strait bearing his name and connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
The Querandi tribe first met Europeans when Pedro de Mendoza
's expedition arrived in the area of Buenos Aires
in 1535 AD. The first foundation of Buenos Aires took place in March 1536 by Don Pedro de Mendoza
(1487–1537), who had been given the title of “Adelantado
” and empowered by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
“to conquer and colonize the lands in Solis' River, called River Plate". The exact place where the city was founded is not accurately known, as no traces of the foundation act have been found.
The Querandí Indians, who lived in the surrounding area, were friendly at the beginning and obtained Spanish goods in exchange for food resulting from hunting and fishing; but, suddenly, they chose to interrupt contact and food became scarce among the Spaniards.
With the intention of subjugating the Querandí, Pedro de Mendoza organized a military expedition led by his brother, Diego de Mendoza, which was defeated on the banks of the Luján River
on June 15, 1536, in a battle between the Spaniards and the Querandí. The Spanish cavalry was neutralized by the Querandí bolas
and the remainder of the force managed to avoid being wiped out and retreated to Buenos Aires in the night. According to Ulrich Schmidl
, a soldier in the battle, about forty Spaniards and a thousand Indians were killed in the fight.
From that moment, Buenos Aires was at the mercy of hunger and the sporadic Querandí raids. The surviving Indians allied with one another to besiege and force the abandonment of the recently founded city. With the Spaniards abandoning their livestock, they adopted horse-riding and pursued wild cattle and other game, thus generating a new equestrian lifestyle. They continued being nomads, and they could more easily make contact with other native peoples and successfully made war on the Spanish.
Further attempts at conquest and population settlement in the Pampas by the Spaniards left from three different places: Perú
, Chile
and Asunción del Paraguay. From Peru, the cities of Santiago del Estero
(1553), Tucumán (1565), Córdoba
(1573), Salta
(1582), Catamarca
(1583), La Rioja
(1591) and Jujuy (1593) were founded.
From Chile were founded the cities of Mendoza
(1561), San Juan
(1562) and San Luis
(1594). And from Asunción del Paraguay, was founded Santa Fe
(1573) and Buenos Aires (1580) and Corrientes
(1588). Resistance by mounted warriors prevented the Spanish from settling further to the South. The Spanish conqueror, Juan de Garay
, who carried out the second foundation of Buenos Aires on June 11, 1580, was killed in 1583 during an ambush by Querandi Indians on his camp on the banks of the Carcarañá River
, near the old site of Sebastian Cabots
Sancti Spiritus Fort.
Het peoples
The Het were the people of the northern Patagonian pampas west of the Paraná River: The Chechehet, the Diuihet Didiuhet, and the Taluhet. The easternmost Didiuhet, near modern Buenos Aires and influenced by the Guarani, were called the Querandí...
, indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The 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...
South Americans who lived in the Pampas area of 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...
; specifically, they were the eastern Didiuhet. The name Querandí was given by the Guaraní people, as they would consume animal fat in their daily diet. Thus, Querandí means "men with fat". They were also well-known as the Pampas prior to the 19th Century. 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...
(or araucanos) called them Puelche.
This is today the present Argentine provinces of 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:...
, most of the province of Buenos Aires
Buenos 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...
, the center and the south of the province of 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...
(especially to the south of the Tercero-Carcaraña River), a great part of the province of Cordova
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
(adapted ecologically to the temperate Pampasia, their northern limits were in the region of the Gran Chaco
Gran Chaco
The Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region...
- around 31º lat. South) and the peneplain
Peneplain
A peneplain is a low-relief plain representing the final stage of fluvial erosion during times of extended tectonic stability. The existence of peneplains, and peneplanation as a geomorphological process, is not without controversy, due to a lack of contemporary examples and uncertainty in...
s of the present provinces of 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:...
and 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...
, although these zones were more difficult to inhabit due to its extreme climate and lack of surface water.
Physically, the Querandí Indians had a well-proportioned body. They were tall and extremely warlike. They wore leather clothes, similar to a fur blanket; women would also wear a skirt that covered their bodies down to their knees. With a semi sedentary lifestyle, they grouped their leather tents by their water supply in the winter, and they would go on their raids inland in the summer.
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans they stood out as great runners hunting, or rather, they captured by running down, Pampan deer, ñandúes, and even guanacos
Guañacos
Guañacos is a village and municipality in Neuquén Province in southwestern Argentina.-References:...
, although to facilitate their activity they had invented two devices (one that would become a classic in Argentina): the bolas
Bolas
Bolas are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs...
, and the more primitive one consisting of a stone tied to a cord made with leather or sinews called by the Spaniards a stone-lost boleadora. They would also hunt tinamou
Tinamou
The tinamous are a family comprising 47 species of birds found in Central and South America. One of the most ancient living groups of bird, they are related to the ratites. Generally ground dwelling, they are found in a range of habitats....
s, deer, quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
and ñandúes with the help of their bows and arrows and their bolas
Bolas
Bolas are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs...
. They also made pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
.
They believed in a great god whom they called Soychu, who had a contender or evil spirit: Gualichu.
Relations with the Europeans
In 1516, the Spaniard Juan Díaz de SolísJuan Díaz de Solís
Juan Díaz de Solís was a Spanish navigator and explorer.Díaz de Solís was probably born in Lebrija, Seville, although some other authors argue that his birth may have actually taken place in Portugal to an Andalusian emigree family....
landed on the shores of the River Plate (Río de la Plata), but the natives resisted his attempt of conquest and the expedition failed.
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
touched the port soon afterwards and went up the River Plate in search for a connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. When he saw that there was no such connection, he continued navigating southwards along the land presently called 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...
, making contact with the Tehuelche peoples, whom he called Patagones. After this, he discovered the strait bearing his name and connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
The Querandi tribe first met Europeans when Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, soldier and explorer, and the first adelantado of the Río de la Plata.- Setting sail :...
's expedition arrived in the area 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 1535 AD. The first foundation of Buenos Aires took place in March 1536 by Don Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza
Pedro de Mendoza y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, soldier and explorer, and the first adelantado of the Río de la Plata.- Setting sail :...
(1487–1537), who had been given the title of “Adelantado
Adelantado
Adelantado was a military title held by some Spanish conquistadores of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.Adelantados were granted directly by the Monarch the right to become governors and justices of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the...
” and empowered by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
“to conquer and colonize the lands in Solis' River, called River Plate". The exact place where the city was founded is not accurately known, as no traces of the foundation act have been found.
The Querandí Indians, who lived in the surrounding area, were friendly at the beginning and obtained Spanish goods in exchange for food resulting from hunting and fishing; but, suddenly, they chose to interrupt contact and food became scarce among the Spaniards.
With the intention of subjugating the Querandí, Pedro de Mendoza organized a military expedition led by his brother, Diego de Mendoza, which was defeated on the banks of the Luján River
Luján River
The Luján River runs from its source near Espora about east of Buenos Aires, Argentina to its outflow into the Río de la Plata north of the city.-See also:* List of rivers of Argentina-External links:*...
on June 15, 1536, in a battle between the Spaniards and the Querandí. The Spanish cavalry was neutralized by the Querandí bolas
Bolas
Bolas are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs...
and the remainder of the force managed to avoid being wiped out and retreated to Buenos Aires in the night. According to Ulrich Schmidl
Ulrich Schmidl
Ulrich Schmidl or Schmidel was a German Landsknecht, conquistador, explorer, chronicler and councilman. Schmidl was, beside Hans Staden, one of the few the Landsknechts, who wrote his experiences down.-Biography:...
, a soldier in the battle, about forty Spaniards and a thousand Indians were killed in the fight.
From that moment, Buenos Aires was at the mercy of hunger and the sporadic Querandí raids. The surviving Indians allied with one another to besiege and force the abandonment of the recently founded city. With the Spaniards abandoning their livestock, they adopted horse-riding and pursued wild cattle and other game, thus generating a new equestrian lifestyle. They continued being nomads, and they could more easily make contact with other native peoples and successfully made war on the Spanish.
Further attempts at conquest and population settlement in the Pampas by the Spaniards left from three different places: Perú
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, 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 Asunción del Paraguay. From Peru, the cities of Santiago del Estero
Santiago del Estero
Santiago del Estero is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 244,733 inhabitants, making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surface area of 2,116 km². It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of...
(1553), Tucumán (1565), Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
(1573), Salta
Salta
Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of 464,678 inhabitants as of the , making it Argentina's eighth largest city.-Overview:...
(1582), Catamarca
San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca
San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca is a city in northwestern Argentina and capital of Catamarca Province, on the Río Valle River, at the feet of the Cerro Ambato....
(1583), La Rioja
La Rioja, Argentina
La Rioja is the capital city of the Argentine province of La Rioja, located on the east of the province. The city has a population of almost 150,000 as per the ....
(1591) and Jujuy (1593) were founded.
From Chile were founded the cities of Mendoza
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993...
(1561), San Juan
San Juan de la Costa, Chile
San Juan de la Costa is a commune of Chile, located in the Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. The capital town of Puaucho is located 34 km from Osorno. San Juan de la Costa is known for its large population of indigenous Huilliches...
(1562) and San Luis
San Luis
San Luis, the Spanish name for Saint Louis, is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken. It may refer to:*Argentina** San Luis Province** San Luis, Argentina, that province's capital city*Colombia...
(1594). And from Asunción del Paraguay, was founded Santa Fe
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
(1573) and Buenos Aires (1580) and Corrientes
Corrientes
Corrientes is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, about from Buenos Aires and from Posadas, on National Route 12...
(1588). Resistance by mounted warriors prevented the Spanish from settling further to the South. The Spanish conqueror, Juan de Garay
Juan de Garay
Juan de Garay was a Spanish conquistador.Garay was born in Orduña, Spain. He served under the Spanish crown, in the Viceroyalty of Peru...
, who carried out the second foundation of Buenos Aires on June 11, 1580, was killed in 1583 during an ambush by Querandi Indians on his camp on the banks of the Carcarañá River
Carcarañá River
The Carcarañá River is a river in Argentina. It is born at the confluence of the Río Tercero and the Saladillo River in the south-east of the province of Córdoba and flows eastward into the province of Santa Fe, which it crosses.In Santa Fe the river first turns south, then...
, near the old site of Sebastian Cabots
Sebastian Cabot (explorer)
Sebastian Cabot was an explorer, born in the Venetian Republic.-Origins:...
Sancti Spiritus Fort.
Sources
- Ulrich SchmidlUlrich SchmidlUlrich Schmidl or Schmidel was a German Landsknecht, conquistador, explorer, chronicler and councilman. Schmidl was, beside Hans Staden, one of the few the Landsknechts, who wrote his experiences down.-Biography:...
, Viaje al Río de la Plata, 1567. - Thomas FalknerThomas FalknerThomas Falkner was an English Jesuit missionary, active in Patagonia.-Life:He was the son of Thomas Falkner, a Manchester apothecary, and obtained his education at the Manchester grammar school. Later on, having studied medicine under Dr...
, Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, Pugh, Hereford, 1774. - Bruce G. Trigger, Wilcomb E. Washburn , Richard E. W. Adams, The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Vol III South America Part 2. , Cambridge University Press, 2000.