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The Diaguita people are a group of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
n
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the
Argentine Northwest The Argentine Northwest (''Noroeste Argentino'') is a geographic and historical region of Argentina composed of the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Geography The Argentine Northwest comprises ...
. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the
Transverse Valleys The Transverse Valleys (Spanish: ''Valles transversales'') are a group of transverse valleys in the semi-arid northern Chile. They run from east to west (traversing Chile), being among the most prominent geographical features in the regions they cr ...
which incised in a semi-arid environment. Eastern or Argentine Diaguitas lived in the provinces of
La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
and Catamarca and part of the provinces of Salta,
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
and Tucumán. The term ''Diaguita'' was first applied to peoples and archaeological cultures by
Ricardo E. Latcham Ricardo Eduardo Latcham Cartwright (Thornbury, England, 5 March 1869 - Santiago, Chile, 16 October 1943) was an English-Chilean archaeologist, ethnologist, folklore scholar and teacher. Born and raised near Bristol, England, as Richard Edward La ...
in the early 20th century. Ancient Diaguitas were not a unified people; the language or
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
s used by them seems to have varied from valley to other valleys and they were politically fragmented into several
chiefdom A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...
s. Coastal and inland Chilean Diaguitas traded, as evidenced by the archaeological findings of
mollusc shell The mollusc (or molluskOften spelled mollusk shell in the USA; the spelling "mollusc" are preferred by ) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, wh ...
s in the upper courses of Andean valleys. According to the 2010 census there are 67,410 self-identified Diaguita descendants in Argentina. In Chile, Diaguitas are the third-most populous indigenous ethnicity after the
Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...
and the
Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
, numbering 88,474 in 2017. The Diaguitas have been recognised as an indigenous people by the Chilean state since 2006.


Language

Early Spanish accounts, including
Jerónimo de Vivar Jerónimo de Vivar was a Spanish historian of the early conquest and settlement of the Kingdom of Chile, and author of ''Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile''. Little is known about his life except that according to his ...
's ''Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile'', claim the Diaguitas inhabiting the different
Transverse Valleys The Transverse Valleys (Spanish: ''Valles transversales'') are a group of transverse valleys in the semi-arid northern Chile. They run from east to west (traversing Chile), being among the most prominent geographical features in the regions they cr ...
spoke different languages.
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
s active in western Argentina also report a large number of languages for the region. Nevertheless, the Chilean Diaguitas scholar Herman Carvajal Lazo claims that they could very well have spoken different dialects instead, which would have differed among each other mainly regarding their
lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...
. Cacán was proposed by Rodolfo Schuller and
Ricardo E. Latcham Ricardo Eduardo Latcham Cartwright (Thornbury, England, 5 March 1869 - Santiago, Chile, 16 October 1943) was an English-Chilean archaeologist, ethnologist, folklore scholar and teacher. Born and raised near Bristol, England, as Richard Edward La ...
to be the single language of the Diaguitas.Téllez 2008, p. 58. This proposal has been questioned by some scholars but is accepted by others, like
Sergio Villalobos Sergio Villalobos Rivera (born April 19, 1930) is a Chilean historian, and Chilean National History Award The Chilean National History Award (Spanish: ''Premio Nacional de Historia''), part of the National Prize of Chile, is an award given for ...
. There is notable scarcity of Diaguita toponimy in Norte Chico, including the area of Elqui Valley where most indigenous toponyms has been attributed to either
Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...
or
Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
.


History

The origin of the Diaguita culture is traced back to an archaeological culture known as El Molle complex which existed from 300 to 700 CE. Later, this culture was replaced in Chile by the Las Ánimas complex that developed between 800 and 1000 CE. It is from this last culture that the archaeological Diaguita culture emerged around 1000 CE. The classical Diaguita period was characterized by advanced irrigation systems and by
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
painted in black, white and red.
Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
communities in the southern Diaguita lands – that is
Petorca Petorca is a Chilean town and commune located in the Petorca Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of . Since 2010 Petorca has been affected by a long-term drought aggravated by poor water administration that have allowed lim ...
,
La Ligua La Ligua () is a Chilean city and commune, capital of the Petorca Province in Valparaíso Region. The city is known for its textile manufacturing and traditional Chilean pastry production. Demographics According to data from the 2002 Census o ...
,
Combarbalá Combarbalá is the capital city of the commune of Combarbala. It is located in the Limarí Province, Region of Coquimbo, at an elevation of 900 m (2,952 ft). It is known for the tourist astronomic observatory Cruz del Sur; the petr ...
and Choapa – may be rooted in pre-Hispanic times at least several centuries before the Spanish arrival.Téllez 2008, p. 43. Mapuche toponymy is also found throughout the area. Around Elqui Valley almost all indigenous toponimy belongs either to
Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...
or
Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
. There is no Diaguita (Kakan) toponimy known in the valley. While there was an immigration of Mapuches to the southern Diaguita lands in colonial times, Mapuche culture there is judged to be older than this. Indeed, in 1954
Grete Mostny Grete Mostny (17 September 1914 – 15 December 1991) was a Jewish Austrian who became a leading Chilean anthropologist. She was born in Austria but had to leave because of the rise of the Nazis. She went to Belgium to complete her studies before ...
postulated the idea of a link between Mapuches and the archaeological culture of El Molle. It has been claimed that the Inca Empire expanded into Diaguita lands because of its mineral wealth. This hypothesis is currently under dispute. Another possibility is that the Incas invaded the relatively well-populated Eastern Diaguita valleys to obtain labor to send to Chilean mining districts. It is generally accepted that Diaguita incorporation into the Inca Empire was through warfare that caused a severe
depopulation A population decline (also sometimes called underpopulation, depopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size. Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth's total human population ...
in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico.Ampuero 1978, p. 45. According to scholar Ana María Lorandi the Diaguitas, and specially the Calchaquí Diaguitas, would not have been conquered easily by the Inca Empire. Once conquered, the eastern Diaguitas did not unanimously accept Inca rule. The Incas appointed
kuraka A ''kuraka'' (Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu), or curaca (hispanicized spelling), was an official of the Inca Empire who held the role of magistrate, about four levels down from the Sa ...
s and established
mitma Mitma was a policy of forced resettlement employed by the Incas. It involved the forceful migration of groups of extended families or ethnic groups from their home territory to lands recently conquered by the Incas. The objective was to transfer bo ...
s in the Chilean Diaguita lands. The Diaguitas took influences from the Incas, adopting pottery designs from
Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...
, and Inca techniques in agriculture and metalworking. The Chilean Diaguitas were conquered by Spaniards coming from Peru. The eastern Diaguitas lands were explored by Spaniards coming from Chile, the
Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...
and Peru.Montes 1961, p. 86. In what came to be called the
Calchaquí Wars The Calchaquí Wars ( es, Guerras calchaquíes) were a series of military conflicts between the Diaguita Confederation and the Spanish Empire in the 1560–1667 period. The wars raged in the Argentine Northwest, in what are now the provinces of ...
, the Spanish initially failed to conquer the fertile valleys inhabited by the Eastern Diaguitas, and could only control the eastern valley ends. By founding the cities of
Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surf ...
(1550s), Tucumán (1565), Salta (1582),
La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
(1591) and
Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies ne ...
(1593) the Spanish established an effective fence around the rebellious Eastern Diaguita valleys. To further dominate the Diaguitas, the city of Londres was founded in 1607 in the middle of the Eastern Diaguita territory.Montes 1961, p. 107. During the government of
García Hurtado de Mendoza García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pamp ...
in Chile (1557–1561) Chilean Diaguitas that had rebelled were decimated by the Spanish.Montes 1961, p. 102. The
Calchaquí The Calchaquí or Kalchakí were a tribe of South American Indians of the Diaguita group, now extinct, who formerly occupied northern Argentina. Stone and other remains prove them to have reached a high degree of civilization. Under the leadership ...
Diaguitas of the eastern side of the Andes rose against Spanish rule in 1630 and the last rebels fought until 1642–1643.Montes 1961, pp. 84–85. In this rebellion, the Spanish city of La Rioja came close to being destroyed. The Calchaquí Diaguitas only entered Spanish rule after 1665. The Diaguita languages in Chile may have been largely lost during a process of
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
with Mapuche-speaking populations.


Archaeological chronology in Chile


See also

* Atacameño people *
Chango people The Changos, also known as Camanchacos or Camanchangos, are an indigenous people or group of peoples who inhabited a long stretch of the Pacific coast from southern Peru to north-central Chile, including the coast of the Atacama desert. Although ...
*
Mapuche history As an archaeological culture, the Mapuche people of southern Chile and Argentina have a long history which dates back to 600–500 BC. The Mapuche society underwent great transformations after Spanish contact in the mid–16th century. These chang ...


References


Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control Indigenous peoples of the Andes Indigenous peoples of the Southern Cone Indigenous peoples in Argentina Salta Province Ethnic groups in Chile Ethnic groups in Argentina Indigenous peoples in Chile Archaeological cultures of South America