The Guane were a

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 people that lived mainly in the area of Santander and north of Boyacá, both departments of present-day central-

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. They were

farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

cultivating

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

and other crops, and skilled

artisans An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...

working in cotton textiles. The Guane lived north of the

Chicamocha River Chicamocha River is a river of Boyacá and Santander in central-eastern Colombia. It is part of the Magdalena river system that flows into the Caribbean Sea. Chicamocha River originates in the municipality of Tuta in the department of Boyac ...

, around the Chicamocha Canyon in an area stretching from Vélez in the south to the capital of Santander;

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 6 ...

in the north.Guane people and their territories
/ref> Other sources state their territory did not extend so far north.Reconstruction of the Guane people
- El Espectador Guane, a corregimiento of

Barichara Barichara is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. In 2010, in recognition of its history, architecture, and touristic potential, Barichara was declared a Colombian '' Pueblo Patrimonio'' (heritage town). ...

, Santander, is said to have been the capital of the Guane people.

Etymology

The word ''guane'' in the Chibcha language of the people means "tree" or "lower part of a leaf", or "skirt".

Description

The Guane made their own weapons, including arrows and spears. They interchanged plants for the stewpot with the

Chitarero The Chitarero were an indigenous Chibcha-speaking people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia and north-western Venezuela. They were responsible for the death of the German ''conquistador'' Ambrosius Ehinger in 1533 by means of poisoned arrows ...

on the east and the Muisca to the south of their territories. The mantle making of the Guanes was well known in

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

Colombia. Mantles made from cotton have been dated back to the 11th century AD. The Guane cultivated

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and made products of fique. Like the Maya and many other civilizations in the world, the Guane deliberately deformed the skulls of their children.Cranial deformation of the Guane and other cultures worldwide
eldoradocolombia.com. Accessed 27 November 2022. In 1586, there were still some Guane left but there were no further references found after that date; nevertheless, the local archives indicated that they did not disappear completely. They mixed heavily with the Spanish colonizers, as the Guane were said to have European traits and very light skin.
elguane.blogspot.com.co. Accessed 27 November 2022. Like the Muisca, U'wa and Lache, the Guane spoke a Chibchan language. They adored Bochica, the messenger god in the Muisca religion.Description of the Guane people and their culture
, misteriosconxana.blogspot.com.co. Accessed 27 November 2022. The Guane traded with their neighbouring indigenous groups; Lache to the east, U'wa to the northeast, Muzo to the south and Muisca to the southeast.

Rock art In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also m ...

produced by the Guane have been found around the Chicamocha Canyon and on the Mesa de los Santos, Santander. The Guane people chewed

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, ...

combined with calcitic grains, using poporos.

Municipalities belonging to Guane territory

The Guane inhabited the area of central and south Santander, around the Chicamocha Canyon and a small part of Boyacá.

References

External links

*
Video about the Guane people and their culture
{{authority control Indigenous peoples in Colombia Andean civilizations

Etymology

Description

Municipalities belonging to Guane territory

See also

References

External links