Diaguita
From 850 the people of the Diaguitas settled the territory in the Little North of Chile and the Región Noroeste Argentino , south of the people of the Atacameños , between the rivers Copiapó and Choapa . While the Diaguita culture perished in Chile in the 16th century, in Argentina in the 2001 census more than 30,000 people identified themselves as belonging to the Diaguitas.
The Diaguitas were traditionally sedentary, settled in villages and practiced cattle breeding and agriculture. They laid out their fields in terraces, which they irrigated via canals. They grew corn , beans, quinoa, and pumpkins . With the Changos who live on the Pacific , they exchanged goods extensively. They used the llama as a means of transport . Among other things, the Changos gave the Diaguitas guano as a fertilizer for their fields. No other culture in Chile has achieved such a degree of perfection in ceramic art as the Diaguitas. Gold, silver and copper were processed into weapons, jewelry and other utensils.
Their language Cacán , which was also spoken by the Calchaquíes , was extinct at the beginning of the 18th century; their relationship to other languages is unclear. It is believed that the Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena (1528–1598) documented the language, but the records appear to be lost.
On October 12, 2009, the human rights activist and Diaguita chief of Chuschagasta , Javier Chocobar , was shot dead in a Diaguita settlement in Trancas . The reason for the murder was an Argentine law ( Ley 26.160 from 2006), which stipulates the territorial claims of the Diaguita in Chuschagasta.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ W. Adelaar: The Andean Languages. Cambridge University Press (2004).
- ↑ Norma Giarracca: El asesinato de Javier Chocobar . Página / 12 of October 20, 2009