The Tonocotés or Tonokotés are an aboriginal people inhabiting the provinces 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 sur ...

and Tucumán in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

History

In ancient times inhabited the south-central plains of Santiago del Estero and the current city. By 1480 the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

occupied northwestern Argentina, incorporating part of the tonocotés. The Spaniards called the tonocotés and other peoples of the former Tucumán as ''Juríes'', deformation of the Quechua word ''xuri'' that means Rhea, because of the kind of

loincloth A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclo ...

feathers of this bird that the natives wore and that they moved into real flocks. In 1574 the name of ''tonocoté'' appears on a document and eventually supplanted the earlier denomination. They belong to brasílido type: height and nose are median and have broad face. They received a strong influence of Andean cultures, being sedentary and practicing

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

gathering Gather, gatherer, or gathering may refer to: Anthropology and sociology *Hunter-gatherer, a person or a society whose subsistence depends on hunting and gathering of wild foods * Intensive gathering, the practice of cultivating wild plants as a s ...

.Limited to the north by the lules, south by the sanavirones, west to the diaguitas and east by the Salado River.

Lifestyle

The houses were built on artificial mounds forming elevation, were round and made with slightly durable material and thatch. Enclosed their villages with palisades. The annual flooding of the Dulce and Salado rivers were used to irrigate their crops of corn, quinoa, beans and squash. Raised llamas and ostriches. They also practiced collecting ''algarroba'', chañar,

opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...

and wild honey. They stand out in

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

making large funeral urns and , with elaborate motifs. They also developed the

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

, feather ornaments and basketry. Their main god was ''Cacanchic'', the protector of crops.

Language

From its original language only are preserved two words: ''Gasta'' and ''Gualamba'', assumed mean ''people'' and ''large'' respectively. This was studied by Father Alonso de Bárzana.

Today

Current tonocotés are known as ''suritas''. They are partially

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

s descended from the ancient tonocotés and speak their own dialect derived from Santiago del Estero's quichua. They are distributed in 19 rural communities with about 6,000 residents in the departments of San Martín, Figueroa and Avellaneda from Santiago del Estero. (According to the 2010 national census, the tonocotés village had 4,853 inhabitants)

Communities

; In the

Alberdi Department Alberdi Department is a department of Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina in the region of the Chaco Santiagueño. It is bordered on the north by Copo Department, on the east by Chaco Province, on the south by Moreno Department and Figueroa ...

* Aboriginal Community Mistolito ; In the Avellaneda Department * Indigenous community tonokoté Mailín Ñaupa (from Villa Maulín) * Indigenous community tonokoté Breáyoj * Indigenous community tonokoté Taqo Sombreana (from San Antonio de Copo) * Paso Grande * Pozo Mosoj * San Roque * Tala Atun ; In San Martín Department * Aboriginal Community Linton * La Blanca ; In the Figueroa Department * Aboriginal Community Canteros

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toconote Indigenous peoples in Argentina Indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco