Achagua
The Achagua are an indigenous South American people who live in Venezuela and eastern Colombia , especially in the Meta administrative district . Their language, which belongs to the Arawak family , is still spoken by around 400 people. Most of these speak not only the Spanish language in addition to the Achagua , but also the indigenous language Piapoco, which is similar to the Achagua .
Traditionally the Achagua practiced typical tropical agriculture , lived in large villages and cultivated bitter cassava and other crops. The Achagua were bellicose and one of the few South American indigenous people who used arrows poisoned with curare .
The social structure of the Achagua was characterized by numerous lineages, which were named after animals such as snake , bat , jaguar and fox . Each of these units lived in a community house in the village. The Achagua were polygynous , each man aspiring to have three or four wives. The chiefs also had concubines . The wives had equal rights, and each cultivated their own field. The women were excluded from the men's house and from a number of religious ceremonies. The Achagua believed in a higher being, in a god of fields, wealth, gods of earthquakes, madness and fire. They also worshiped lakes.
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Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Achagua. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed January 24, 2020 (English).