Puelche
Encyclopedia
Puelche is the name that the Mapuche
used to give the ethnic groups who inhabited the lands to the east of the Andes Mountains (in Argentine territory and some valleys of Chile) including the northern Tehuelches and Het
s, these last ones were also known as the Pampas or Querandí
es. By the end of the 18th century the survivors of the plagues and epidemic
s that decimated these ethnic groups were aculturated in a process of Araucanization
by Mapuche immigrants, so that in the 19th century the ethnically mixed group formed was basically Het and Tehuelche but Araucanized linguistically and culturally.
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
used to give the ethnic groups who inhabited the lands to the east of the Andes Mountains (in Argentine territory and some valleys of Chile) including the northern Tehuelches and Het
Het peoples
The Het were the people of the northern Patagonian pampas west of the Paraná River: The Chechehet, the Diuihet Didiuhet, and the Taluhet. The easternmost Didiuhet, near modern Buenos Aires and influenced by the Guarani, were called the Querandí...
s, these last ones were also known as the Pampas or Querandí
Querandí
The Querandí were one of the Het peoples, indigenous South Americans who lived in the Pampas area of Argentina; specifically, they were the eastern Didiuhet. The name Querandí was given by the Guaraní people, as they would consume animal fat in their daily diet. Thus, Querandí means "men with...
es. By the end of the 18th century the survivors of the plagues and epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
s that decimated these ethnic groups were aculturated in a process of Araucanization
Araucanization
The Araucanization of Patagonia was the process of expansion of Mapuche culture, influence and language from Araucanía into the Patagonic plains. Historians disagree in the time of the expansion but it would have occurred sometime between 1550 and 1850. Amerindian peoples such as the Puelches and...
by Mapuche immigrants, so that in the 19th century the ethnically mixed group formed was basically Het and Tehuelche but Araucanized linguistically and culturally.
Sources
- Thomas FalknerThomas FalknerThomas Falkner was an English Jesuit missionary, active in Patagonia.-Life:He was the son of Thomas Falkner, a Manchester apothecary, and obtained his education at the Manchester grammar school. Later on, having studied medicine under Dr...
, Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South America, Pugh, Hereford, 1774. - Juan Ignatius Molina, The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London, 1809
- Bruce G. Trigger, Wilcomb E. Washburn , Richard E. W. Adams, The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Vol III South America Part 2. , Cambridge University Press, 2000.