The Yuqui are an
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 ...
of
Bolivia. They primarily live in the
Santa Cruz and
Cochabamba Department
Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa Jach'a Suyu, es, Departamento de Cochabamba , qu, Quchapampa Suyu), from Quechua ''qucha'' or ''qhucha'', meaning "lake", ''pampa'' meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the ...
s of eastern Bolivia.
[
]
Name
"Yuqui" has been used by Spanish-speakers since the colonial period. A possibility is the word derived from "Yaqui," meaning "younger relative." Their autonym is "Mbia," a Tupi-Guaraní term means "the people."[ They are also known as the Bia, Yuki, Yukí, or Yuquí people.][Olson 420][
]
Language
The Yuqui language
The Yuqui are an indigenous people of Bolivia. They primarily live in the Santa Cruz and Cochabamba Departments of eastern Bolivia.
Name
"Yuqui" has been used by Spanish-speakers since the colonial period. A possibility is the word derived from ...
is a Guarayú language
Guarayu is a Tupian language of Bolivia that is spoken by the Guarayo people who number 23,910 in 2012.
The name ''Guarayu (Gwarayú)'' is a variant of '' Guarayo'', which when used in a pejorative sense refers to several indigenous peoples in ...
of the Tupí-Guaraní language family, written in the Latin script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...
. The Bible was partially translated into Yuqui in 2000.[
]
History
Their first Spanish contact was in 1548.[ Linguists believe that Yuqui people may have separated from the Siriono people in the 17th century. According to their own history, Yuqui people experienced disease contracted from and warfare with local Bolivians.][ In the 1950s the Bolivian government came into conflict with Yuqui people.][
Outsiders thought that Yuqui people were part of the Siriono people; however, after sustained contact in the 1960s, a Siriono language-speaker attempted to communicate to Yuquis and discovered they were a distinct ethnic group. In 1953, there were only 43 Yuquis,][ while in 1990, there were 130.][
]
Subsistence
Yuqui traditionally have been nomadic and fished, hunted, and foraged instead of farming.[ Today they hunt fish, farm, sell crafts, and work as paid laborers.][
]
See also
* Yuki-Ichilo River Native Community Lands The Yuki–Indigenous Council of the Ichilo River Native Community Lands ( es, Tierra Comunitaria de Origen Yuqui-Consejo Indígena Río Ichilo, abbreviated ''TCO Yuqui-CIRI''), originally the Yuki Indigenous Territory, is a collectively-owned indig ...
References
References
* Olson, James Stuart
''The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary.''
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuqui People
Indigenous peoples in Bolivia
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon
Cochabamba Department
Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)