Puelche (people)

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Scene of the so-called "desert campaign" (1833–34), the Argentine war to subjugate the Puelche-Mapuche

Puelche (from the Mapudungun : pwelche - people of the east) is

  1. originally the name of the Mapuche from Chile for all South American Indian peoples of the Pampas and North Patagonia east of the Andes
  2. Since the second half of the 17th century at the latest, the name for a new ethnic group that emerged north of the Rio Negro from the mixture of Tehuelche groups from northern Patagonia and the Het from the southern Pampa region (probably the Cheche-Het ) and in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the course of the Araucanization (adoption of the Mapuche culture from Chile), other pampas peoples were absorbed. By the end of the 18th century, however, it was no longer possible to speak of an independent ethnic group, the Puelche, as they largely merged with the Mapuche or Pehuenche .
  3. Language of the Chon family and northern branch of the Tehuelche languages ​​(ISO 639-3).

people

After the Het (and all other peoples of the La Plata region) came into conflict with the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century and were decimated by unknown diseases, some of the survivors joined the northernmost Gennakenk-Tehuelche at the beginning of the 17th century from which they presumably took over the South American equestrian culture (horse breeding, horsemanship, mounted hunting and warfare). One speaks of a Tehuelchization . The Puelche called themselves Auca .

Culture

When a boy was born, according to the Tehuelche / Puelche custom, a mare was slaughtered and the newborn was briefly held in its open breast. It was believed that this would help the child to become a good rider one day.

Originally, like all Tehuelche groups, the Puelche were hunters and gatherers . They hunted Andean deer , guanacos , pampas hares , rheas and birds with bows and arrows . They also collected mussels , bird eggs, edible wild plants and roots. They used coats made of animal skins, which were decorated with geometric patterns in different colors, as clothing. Their footwear consisted of puma skin or, later, horse skin, which was cut raw. They lived in large tents (toldos), the framework of which was covered with greased and red-painted guanaco skins.

The Tehuelche were organized in local groups that originally included around 20 families under the direction of a leader. Each association had an extensive area at their disposal over which they could exercise their hunting rights. At the beginning of the 17th century the Gennakenk took over the horse imported from Europe from the Mapuche and learned to breed it and to use it excellently. Like them, they now moved to the previously uninhabited steppe to hunt feral cattle and horses ( Cimarrón ) and to trade. The bola and lances and throwing slings were mainly used for hunting . The local groups increased to 30 to 40 families with up to 500 people under one chief . Some Gennakenk groups mixed with the remnants of the Het and since then have formed the Puelche ethnic group.

The beliefs of the Puelche corresponded to the traditional religion of the Tehuelche .

language

The Puelche language corresponds to the Chon language of northern Tehuelche and was adopted by the Pampas peoples in the course of the 17th century, before it was more and more replaced by the Mapuche language in the 18th and 19th centuries. The last known native speaker died in 1934. Since then, the language has been listed as extinct (10 - Extinct) according to SIL International .

history

After the creation of the Puelche, in the first hundred years they often waged war against their Gennakenk, allied and related to the Mapuche, as well as against the Spanish conquerors, who built up ever greater pressure. In addition to European weapons, single-ball bolas and lances were also used. In the course of the final Araucanization in the 18th century, the Puelche also took over the language and culture of the Mapuche from the Andes. The alliance with the Araukans strengthened the Puelche, so that they could temporarily penetrate to the coastal cities. In the 19th century - after the end of the Mapuche state - they were forcibly subjugated in several campaigns by the new state of Argentina. The Puelche, who did not yet live with the Mapuche or Pehuenche, became part of the gaucho culture.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fritz Wenzel: On the anthropogeography of the Chilean Cordillera countries and the Argentine pampas region. Edition, Hünewaldt, Marburg-Lahn / Berlin 1929, p. 8.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Waldemar Stöhr: Lexicon of peoples and cultures. Volume 3, Westermann, Braunschweig 1972, ISBN 3-499-16160-5 . Pp. 41-42.
  3. ↑ a b Ethnological information according to ISO language code 639-3: pue on ethnologue.com. SIL International , accessed January 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ Evaristo Aguirre: Los Querandíes: Nuestro pueblo originario . In: museolosdesmochados.com.ar (Museo Particular de Antropología e Historia Natural “Los Desmochados”), Casilda (Arg), accessed on January 18, 2016.
  5. ^ Archiv für Völkerkunde, Volumes 20–22, W. Braumüller, 1966. P. 210.
  6. ^ Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon: Argentine Republic (trade and transportation). FA Brockhaus in Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna, 14th edition, 1894–1896, online access . P. 856.
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Lindig et al. Mark Münzel (Ed.): The Indians. Volume 2: Mark Münzel: Central and South America , 3rd revised and expanded edition of the 1st edition from 1978, dtv, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-04435-7 . P. 371.
  8. ↑ Willi Stegner (Ed.): Pocket Atlas Völker und Sprachen. 1st edition, Klett-Perthes, Gotha 2006, ISBN 978-3-12-828123-0 . P. 261.
  9. ↑ Hartmut Motz: Languages ​​and Peoples of the Earth - Linguistic-Ethnographic Lexicon. 1st edition, Volume 1, Projekt-Verlag Cornelius, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86634-368-9 . Pp. 213-214.