Achagua people
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Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Colombia, Venezuela | |
Languages | |
Achagua | |
Religion | |
Traditional religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Guahibo, U'wa, and Other Arawakan-speaking peoples Especially Baniwa, Tariana, and Tegua |
The Achagua (also Achawa and Axagua) are an indigenous people of Colombia and Venezuela.[1] At the time of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, their territory covered the present-day Venezuelan states of Bolívar, Guárico and Barinas.[2] In the late twentieth century there were several hundred Achaguas remaining.[2]
Municipalities belonging to Achagua territories
[edit]Name | Department | Altitude (m) urban centre | Map |
---|---|---|---|
Támara (shared with U'wa) | Casanare | 1156 | |
Nunchía (shared with U'wa) | Casanare | 398 | |
Yopal | Casanare | 390 | |
Aguazul (shared with Tegua) | Casanare | 290 | |
Tauramena | Casanare | 460 | |
Recetor (shared with Tegua) | Casanare | 800 | |
Chámeza (shared with Tegua) | Casanare | 1150 | |
Paya | Boyacá | 970 | |
Labranzagrande (shared with U'wa & Guahibo) | Boyacá | 1210 |
Culture
[edit]Achagua people live in large villages. Clans live together in communal houses. Polygamy is commonplace. They farm crops, such as bitter cassava. They traditionally poison their arrows with curare.[1]
There is a small town in Apure called Achaguas.[clarification needed]
Language
[edit]Achagua people speak the Achagua language, a Maipurean Arawakan language.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Achagua." Encyclopædia Britannica. (retrieved 1 December 2011)
- ^ a b James Stuart Olson (1991), The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group. p2
External links
[edit]- Achagua artwork, National Museum of the American Indian Archived 9 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine