Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
allied war groups, and mobilized great numbers of warriors. These
same Mapuche later were to effectively and aggressively maintain their
autonomy from European conquest, not submitting to outside author-
ity until the 1880s.
The Guaraní
To the east of the lands of the Diaguita, beyond the Gran Chaco, lay
the homeland of yet another agricultural warrior people, the Guaraní.
Known for facilitating European encroachment rather than resisting it,
the Guaraní's origins and survival strategies explain their later reaction
to the Europeans.
Bands of Guaraní occupied the semitropical forests of present-day
Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northeastern Argentina. They had
probably emigrated from the Amazon Basin of Brazil around 200
b
.
c
.,
displacing and marginalizing the previous indigenous groups. The
Guaraní peoples of the forests and rivers developed a civilization based
on hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn horticulture. They cut the
trees, burned off the underbrush, planted and harvested crops for sev-
eral years, then moved on, leaving the forest regrowth to replenish the
fertility of the soil. Cultivation fell to the women, who raised maize,
beans, sweet potatoes, peanuts, squash, and cassava.
Living patterns in the forest differed from the Andean pattern of the
Diaguita. Extended families of Guaraní lived together in large, long
straw-thatched huts. As many as 50 family members might live in
the house of an important leader. They slept in hammocks suspended
from the poles that supported the roof. Wooden palisades surrounded
a village of 20 to 30 long houses, reminders of the incessant competi-
tion for resources and territory among native groups. Clothes made of
feathers and animal skins warded off the winter's cold. In the summer
months, men and women customarily went about their chores entirely
naked. Spanish men later mistook the casual style of dress as a sign of
libidinousness.
The Guaraní, much like other indigenous groups throughout the
Americas, observed strict roles defined by gender. Besides working
in the fields, women took charge of preparing the meals, rearing the
children, making pottery, and weaving baskets. Guaraní women also
made the beverage
chicha,
which they infused with their own saliva
before cooking and fermentation. Men developed skills as warriors
and contributed to the diet through hunting and fishing. Guaraní boys
customarily carried bows and arrows from childhood and used hunting
