Tsachila

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Tour guide of the Tsáchila

The Tsáchilas are an indigenous people in Ecuador . They are one of the few pre-Inca cultures that still exist and live in the rainforest areas on the western slopes of the Andes around Santo Domingo de los Colorados and in the adjacent areas of the provinces of Pichincha and Esmeraldas . 'sáchilas ("true / real people") is their own name. The Spanish-language name Colorados (Spanish for "red dyed") comes from the fact that men in particular traditionally dyed their hair red with dyes made from achiote seeds . However, this tradition has lost much of its importance today and is practically only maintained by communities that are regularly visited by tourists. Traditional clothing is also increasingly mixed with “Western” imported goods.

The culture and settlement areas of the Tsáchila were and are threatened with extinction by the spread of Santo Domingo and adaptation to city life by many members. At present there are still around 200 families who live in a more or less traditional way on around 8,000-10,000 hectares of rainforest. In 1978 they were given official title to the land, but this is difficult to enforce in the event of illegal land occupation by new settlers ( invasiones ).

The Tsáchiles speak their own language, the Tsafiki , which is related to the Cha'palaachi of the neighboring Chachi and the extinct Caranqui of the Cara , and with them forms the family of the southern Barbacoa languages . Tsafiki / Colorado has the language code sai according to ISO 639-2 and COF according to SIL.

Most of the Tsáchiles are Roman Catholic today, but their traditional cosmovision knew a god who created the sun ( Pipowa ) and a goddess who, as the creator of the mountains, fields, rivers and seas, watched over agriculture and fishing ( Mapiyan ) .

The ancestors of the Tsáchilas, who probably descended from the Cara and Yumbo , lived further south. Probably as a result of the Inca conquests of today's Ecuador in the 15th century and the Spanish against the Inca in the 16th century, as well as a smallpox epidemic , their ancestors withdrew to the remote area around today's Santo Domingo.

In the colonial times they were subject to tribute and paid their taxes in kind, including wax , which was of great importance for the churches of Quito in the form of candles. In 1660 their chief asked for a delay in tribute, as they suffered greatly from the consequences of an eruption of the Pichincha volcano .

Today those Tsáchilas who have not adapted to life in Santo Domingo live mainly from agriculture (bananas, coffee, corn and yuka) and in some cases work as tour guides through the species-rich forests.

In Santo Domingo itself today, the names of hotels, streets and squares as well as a large iron monument for the Colorados in the center of a roundabout west of the city center are reminiscent of the Tsáchilas.

According to a report by journalist Charlotte Hahner, Johannes Rau is said to have been made honorary chief due to German funding for a bridge construction project.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charlotte Hahner, Ecuador's Indian Peoples on the Advance (PDF; 120 kB), In: With the Heinz Kühn Foundation on the move ... 13th yearbook of the Heinz Kühn Foundation (1999), pp. 73-103.

Web links

Commons : Tsáchila  - collection of images, videos and audio files