Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
northwest Argentina give vivid testimony to the heritage of political
competition among these agricultural peoples.
The Argentine northwest came very late into the Inca Empire. The
emperor Topa Inca (1471-93) gained the submission of the indigenous
groups of the region, but Inca influence never penetrated across the
Córdoba mountains to the Pampas or through the Gran Chaco into
modern-day Paraguay. Some chieftains of the Diaguita came to under-
stand the Quechua language of the Inca, but the imperial powers rested
lightly among these comparatively poor agriculturists. On the opposite
side of the Andes, the Argentine Diaguita's counterparts inhabited most
of present-day Chile down to what is now the city of Santiago. They
too submitted to the Inca. But farther south, another agricultural group
of different ethnic and linguist stock, the Araucanians, resisted the
ancient Peruvians. These peoples—the Huilliche, Picunche, and espe-
cially the Mapuche—would also become important later in Argentina,
rallying all remaining indigenous groups on the Pampas in resisting the
Spaniards.
The Mapuche
In the long transition from hunting, the Mapuche of what is today
southern Chile benefited from the agricultural breakthroughs among
the Diaguita. The Mapuche gradually adopted the cultivation of maize,
potatoes, and peppers—each plant acclimated to conditions found in
the temperate forests and valleys along the southern coasts of Chile.
Game and fish supplemented their diet, enabling the Mapuche to settle
into relatively permanent villages. Their deities represented the forces
of nature and the harvest, and the shamans sought to appease them
with offerings of food and sacrifices of domestic llamas. Masked danc-
ers warded off evil spirits. With stone tools only, the Mapuche harvested
the wood with which they constructed homes, corrals for llamas and
alpacas, and the defensive palisades. These people occasionally carried
out raids on neighboring villages, even though those attacked may have
been of the same cultural and linguistic family.
Their forts and warlike independence served the Mapuche well
when, in the 15th century, Topa Inca extended his conquests deep into
present-day Chile. The outside threat sufficed to unite the competitive
southern Chileans for an effective defense of their territory. Usually,
the leaders had little control over their subjects and warriors, much
like the decentralized political system among the Diaguita. To stop the
Inca armies, however, the Mapuche elected war leaders, formed larger
